arXiv subjects

David Shih

Publications and source records attributed to David Shih.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

Slepton co-NLSPs at the Tevatron

We study the Tevatron signatures of promptly-decaying slepton co-NLSPs in the context of General Gauge Mediation (GGM). The signatures consist of trileptons plus MET and same-sign dileptons plus MET. Focusing first on electroweak production, where the Tevatron has an advantage over the early LHC, we establish four simple benchmark scenarios within the parameter space of GGM which qualitatively capture all the relevant phenomenology. We derive limits on these benchmarks from existing searches, estimate the discovery potential with 10 fb^-1, and discuss ways in which these searches can be optimized for slepton co-NLSPs. We also analyze the Tevatron constraints on a scenario with light gluinos that could be discovered at the early LHC. Overall, we find that the Tevatron still has excellent reach for the discovery of SUSY in multilepton final states. Finally, we comment on the possible interpretation of a mild "excess" in the CDF same-sign dilepton search in terms of slepton co-NLSPs.

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arXiv2010

Long-Lived Neutralino NLSPs

We investigate the collider signatures of heavy, long-lived, neutral particles that decay to charged particles plus missing energy. Specifically, we focus on the case of a neutralino NLSP decaying to Z and gravitino within the context of General Gauge Mediation. We show that a combination of searches using the inner detector and the muon spectrometer yields a wide range of potential early LHC discoveries for NLSP lifetimes ranging from 10^(-1)-10^5 mm. We further show that events from Z(l+l-) can be used for detailed kinematic reconstruction, leading to accurate determinations of the neutralino mass and lifetime. In particular, we examine the prospects for detailed event study at ATLAS using the ECAL (making use of its timing and pointing capabilities) together with the TRT, or using the muon spectrometer alone. Finally, we also demonstrate that there is a region in parameter space where the Tevatron could potentially discover new physics in the delayed Z(l+l-)+MET channel. While our discussion centers on gauge mediation, many of the results apply to any scenario with a long-lived neutral particle decaying to charged particles.

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arXiv2010

General Messenger Gauge Mediation

We discuss theories of gauge mediation in which the hidden sector consists of two subsectors which are weakly coupled to each other. One sector is made up of messengers and the other breaks supersymmetry. Each sector by itself may be strongly coupled. We provide a unifying framework for such theories and discuss their predictions in different settings. We show how this framework incorporates all known models of messengers. In the case of weakly-coupled messengers interacting with spurions through the superpotential, we prove that the sfermion mass-squared is positive, and furthermore, that there is a lower bound on the ratio of the sfermion mass to the gaugino mass.

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arXiv2009

Exploring General Gauge Mediation

We explore various aspects of General Gauge Mediation(GGM). We present a reformulation of the correlation functions used in GGM, and further elucidate their IR and UV properties. Additionally we clarify the issue of UV sensitivity in the calculation of the soft masses in the MSSM, highlighting the role of the supertrace over the messenger spectrum. Finally, we present weakly coupled messenger models which fully cover the parameter space of GGM. These examples demonstrate that the full parameter space of GGM is physical and realizable. Thus it should be considered a valid basis for future phenomenological explorations of gauge mediation.

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arXiv2009

Prompt Decays of General Neutralino NLSPs at the Tevatron

Recent theoretical developments have shown that gauge mediation has a much larger parameter space of possible spectra and mixings than previously considered. Motivated by this, we explore the collider phenomenology of gauge mediation models where a general neutralino is the lightest MSSM superpartner (the NLSP), focusing on the potential reach from existing and future Tevatron searches. Promptly decaying general neutralino NLSPs can give rise to final states involving missing energy plus photons, Zs, Ws and/or Higgses. We survey the final states and determine those where the Tevatron should have the most sensitivity. We then estimate the reach of existing Tevatron searches in these final states and discuss new searches (or optimizations of existing ones) that should improve the reach. Finally we comment on the potential for discovery at the LHC.

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arXiv2009

Pseudomoduli Dark Matter

We point out that pseudomoduli -- tree-level flat directions that often accompany dynamical supersymmetry breaking -- can be natural candidates for TeV-scale dark matter in models of gauge mediation. The idea is general and can be applied to different dark matter scenarios, including (but not limited to) those of potential relevance to recent cosmic ray anomalies. We describe the requirements for a viable model of pseudomoduli dark matter, and we analyze two example models to illustrate the general mechanism -- one where the pseudomoduli carry Higgsino-like quantum numbers, and another where they are SM singlets but are charged under a hidden-sector $U(1)'$ gauge group.

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arXiv2009

Notes on SUSY and R-Symmetry Breaking in Wess-Zumino Models

We study aspects of Wess-Zumino models related to SUSY and R-symmetry breaking at tree-level. We present a recipe for constructing a wide class of tree-level SUSY and R-breaking models. We also deduce a general property shared by all tree-level SUSY breaking models that has broad application to model building. In particular, it explains why many models of direct gauge mediation have anomalously light gauginos (even if the R-symmetry is broken spontaneously by an order one amount). This suggests new approaches to dynamical SUSY breaking which can generate large enough gaugino masses.

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arXiv2008

Surveying Pseudomoduli: the Good, the Bad and the Incalculable

We classify possible types of pseudomoduli which arise when supersymmetry is dynamically broken in infrared-free low-energy theories. We show that, even if the pseudomoduli potential is generated only at higher loops, there is a regime where the potential can be simply determined from a combination of one-loop running data. In this regime, we compute whether the potential for the various types of pseudomoduli is safe, has a dangerous runaway to the UV cutoff of the low-energy theory, or is incalculable. Our results are applicable to building new models of supersymmetry breaking. We apply the results to survey large classes of models.

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arXiv2008

Dynamical SUSY and R-symmetry breaking in SQCD with massive and massless flavors

We show that supersymmetry and R-symmetry can be dynamically broken in a long-lived metastable vacuum of SQCD with massive and massless flavors. The vacuum results from a competition of a (leading) two-loop effect and small "Planck" suppressed higher-dimension operators. This mechanism provides a particularly simple realization of dynamical SUSY and R-symmetry breaking, and as such it is a good starting point for building phenomenologically viable models of gauge mediation. We take a preliminary step in this direction by constructing a complete model of minimal gauge mediation. Here we find that the parameters of the model are surprisingly constrained by the hidden sector. Similar mechanisms for creating long-lived states operate in a large class of models.

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arXiv2008

General Gauge Mediation

We give a general definition of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking which encompasses all the known gauge mediation models. In particular, it includes both models with messengers as well as direct mediation models. A formalism for computing the soft terms in the generic model is presented. Such a formalism is necessary in strongly-coupled direct mediation models where perturbation theory cannot be used. It allows us to identify features of the entire class of gauge mediation models and to distinguish them from specific signatures of various subclasses.

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arXiv2007

(Extra)Ordinary Gauge Mediation

We study models of "(extra)ordinary gauge mediation," which consist of taking ordinary gauge mediation and extending the messenger superpotential to include all renormalizable couplings consistent with SM gauge invariance and an R-symmetry. We classify all such models and find that their phenomenology can differ significantly from that of ordinary gauge mediation. Some highlights include: arbitrary modifications of the squark/slepton mass relations, small mu and Higgsino NLSP's, and the possibility of having fewer than one effective messenger. We also show how these models lead naturally to extremely simple examples of direct gauge mediation, where SUSY and R-symmetry breaking occur not in a hidden sector, but due to the dynamics of the messenger sector itself.

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arXiv2007

Supersymmetry Breaking, R-Symmetry Breaking and Metastable Vacua

Models of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking generically have an R-symmetry, which is problematic for obtaining gaugino masses and avoiding light R-axions. The situation is improved in models of metastable supersymmetry breaking, which generically have only an approximate R-symmetry. Based on this we argue, with mild assumptions, that metastable supersymmetry breaking is inevitable. We also illustrate various general issues regarding spontaneous and explicit R-symmetry breaking, using simple toy models of supersymmetry breaking.

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arXiv2006

Dynamical SUSY Breaking in Meta-Stable Vacua

Dynamical supersymmetry breaking in a long-lived meta-stable vacuum is a phenomenologically viable possibility. This relatively unexplored avenue leads to many new models of dynamical supersymmetry breaking. Here, we present a surprisingly simple class of models with meta-stable dynamical supersymmetry breaking: N=1 supersymmetric QCD, with massive flavors. Though these theories are strongly coupled, we definitively demonstrate the existence of meta-stable vacua by using the free-magnetic dual. Model building challenges, such as large flavor symmetries and the absence of an R-symmetry, are easily accommodated in these theories. Their simplicity also suggests that broken supersymmetry is generic in supersymmetric field theory and in the landscape of string vacua.

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arXiv2006

Exact Black Hole Degeneracies and the Topological String

Motivated by the recent conjecture of Ooguri, Strominger and Vafa, we compute the semi-canonical partition function of BPS black holes in N=4 and N=8 string theories, to all orders in perturbation theory. Not only are the black hole partition functions surprisingly simple; they capture the full topological string amplitudes, as expected from the OSV conjecture. The agreement is not perfect, however, as there are differences between the black hole and topological string partition functions even at the perturbative level. We propose a minimal modification of the OSV conjecture, in which these differences are understood as a nontrivial measure factor for the topological string.

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arXiv2006

Recounting Dyons in N=4 String Theory

A recently discovered relation between 4D and 5D black holes is used to derive weighted BPS black hole degeneracies for 4D N=4 string theory from the well-known 5D degeneracies. They are found to be given by the Fourier coefficients of the unique weight 10 automorphic form of the modular group Sp(2,Z). This result agrees exactly with a conjecture made some years ago by Dijkgraaf, Verlinde and Verlinde.

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arXiv2005

Counting Dyons in N=8 String Theory

A recently discovered relation between 4D and 5D black holes is used to derive exact (weighted) BPS black hole degeneracies for 4D N=8 string theory from the exactly known 5D degeneracies. A direct 4D microscopic derivation in terms of weighted 4D D-brane bound state degeneracies is sketched and found to agree.

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arXiv2005

Flux Vacua and Branes of the Minimal Superstring

We analyze exactly the simplest minimal superstring theory, using its dual matrix model. Its target space is one dimensional (the Liouville direction), and the background fields include a linear dilaton, a possible tachyon condensate, and RR flux. The theory has both charged and neutral branes, and these exhibit new and surprising phenomena. The smooth moduli space of charged branes has different weakly coupled boundaries in which the branes have different RR charges. This new duality between branes of different charges shows that the semiclassical notion of localized charge is not precise in the quantum theory, and that the charges of these branes can fluctuate. Correspondingly, the RR flux in some parts of target space can also fluctuate -- only the net flux at infinity is fixed. We substantiate our physical picture with a detailed semiclassical analysis of the exact answers. Along the way, we uncover new subtleties in super-Liouville theory.

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arXiv2005

Open/Closed String Duality for Topological Gravity with Matter

The exact FZZT brane partition function for topological gravity with matter is computed using the dual two-matrix model. We show how the effective theory of open strings on a stack of FZZT branes is described by the generalized Kontsevich matrix integral, extending the earlier result for pure topological gravity. Using the well-known relation between the Kontsevich integral and a certain shift in the closed-string background, we conclude that these models exhibit open/closed string duality explicitly. Just as in pure topological gravity, the unphysical sheets of the classical FZZT moduli space are eliminated in the exact answer. Instead, they contribute small, nonperturbative corrections to the exact answer through Stokes' phenomenon.

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