arXiv subjects

Joern Kersten

Publications and source records attributed to Joern Kersten.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2019

The Price of Tiny Kinetic Mixing

We consider both "bottom-up" and "top-down" approaches to the origin of gauge kinetic mixing. We focus on the possibilities for obtaining kinetic mixings $ε$ which are consistent with experimental constraints and are much smaller than the naive estimates ($ε\sim 10^{-2} - 10^{-1}$) at the one-loop level. In the bottom-up approach, we consider the possible suppression from multi-loop processes. Indeed we argue that kinetic mixing through gravity alone, requires at least six loops and could be as large as $\sim 10^{-13}$. In the top-down approach we consider embedding the Standard Model and a $U(1)_X$ in a single grand-unified gauge group as well as the mixing between Abelian and non-Abelian gauge sectors.

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arXiv2018

Gaugino Mediation with Large Trilinears

Gaugino mediation is an attractive supersymmetry breaking scheme naturally avoiding flavor problems by suppressing the soft sfermion masses at a high-energy scale. We consider an extension of the original model which yields non-vanishing trilinear scalar couplings. This increases the viable parameter space predicting a sufficiently large Higgs mass. Assuming the gravitino to be the lightest superparticle, we consider additional constraints from direct searches at the LHC, finding allowed points with a neutralino, sneutrino or stau next-to-lightest superparticle.

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arXiv2016

Decoherence and oscillations of supernova neutrinos

Supernova neutrinos have several exceptional features which can lead to interesting physical consequences. At the production point their wave packets have an extremely small size $σ_x \sim 10^{-11}$ cm; hence the energy uncertainty can be as large as the energy itself, $σ_E \sim E$, and the coherence length is short. On the way to the Earth the wave packets of mass eigenstates spread to macroscopic sizes and separate. Inside the Earth the mass eigenstates split into eigenstates in matter and oscillate again. The coherence length in the Earth is comparable with the radius of the Earth. We explore these features and their consequences. (i) We present new estimates of the wave packet size. (ii) We consider the decoherence condition for the case of wave packets with spatial spread and show that it is not modified by the spread. (iii) We study the coherence of neutrinos propagating in a multi-layer medium with density jumps at the borders of layers. In this case coherence can be partially restored due to a "catch-up effect", increasing the coherence length beyond the usual estimate. This catch-up effect can occur for supernova neutrinos as they cross the shock wave fronts in the exploding star or the core of the Earth.

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arXiv2016

Suppressing structure formation at dwarf galaxy scales and below: late kinetic decoupling as a compelling alternative to warm dark matter

Warm dark matter cosmologies have been widely studied as an alternative to the cold dark matter paradigm, the characteristic feature being a suppression of structure formation on small cosmological scales. A very similar situation occurs if standard cold dark matter particles are kept in local thermal equilibrium with a, possibly dark, relativistic species until the universe has cooled down to keV temperatures. We perform a systematic phenomenological study of this possibility, and classify all minimal models containing dark matter and an arbitrary radiation component that allow such a late kinetic decoupling. We recover explicit cases recently discussed in the literature and identify new classes of examples that are very interesting from a model-building point of view. In some of these models dark matter is inevitably self-interacting, which is remarkable in view of recent observational support for this possibility. Hence, dark matter models featuring late kinetic decoupling have the potential not only to alleviate the missing satellites problem but also to address other problems of the cosmological concordance model on small scales, in particular the cusp-core and too-big-too-fail problems, in some cases without invoking any additional input.

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arXiv2015

Flavour, Electroweak Symmetry Breaking and Dark Matter: state of the art and future prospects

With the discovery of the Higgs boson the Standard Model has become a complete and comprehensive theory, which has been verified with unparalleled precision and in principle might be valid at all scales. However, several reasons remain why we firmly believe that there should be physics beyond the Standard Model. Experiments such as the LHC, new $B$ factories, and earth- and space-based astro-particle experiments provide us with unique opportunities to discover a coherent framework for many of the long-standing puzzles of our field. Here we explore several significant interconnections between the physics of the Higgs boson, the physics of flavour, and the experimental clues we have about dark matter.

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arXiv2014

Understanding the correlation between $(g-2)_μ$ and $μ\rightarrow e γ$ in the MSSM

The supersymmetric contributions to the muon anomalous magnetic moment $a_μ$ and to the decay $μ\to eγ$ are given by very similar Feynman diagrams. Previous works reported correlations in specific scenarios, in particular if $a_μ$ is dominated by a single diagram. In this work we give an extensive survey of the possible correlations. We discuss examples of single-diagram domination with particularly strong correlations, and provide corresponding benchmark parameter points. We show how the correlations are weakened by significant cancellations between diagrams in large parts of the MSSM parameter space. Nevertheless, the order of magnitude of $\text{BR}(μ\to e γ)$ for a fixed flavor-violating parameter can often be predicted. We summarize the behavior by plotting the correlations as well as resulting bounds on the flavor-violating parameters under various assumptions on the MSSM spectrum.

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arXiv2014

Tight bonds between sterile neutrinos and dark matter

Despite the astonishing success of standard $Λ$CDM cosmology, there is mounting evidence for a tension with observations at small and intermediate scales. We introduce a simple model where both cold dark matter (DM) and sterile neutrinos are charged under a new $U(1)_X$ gauge interaction. The resulting DM self-interactions resolve the tension with the observed abundances and internal density structures of dwarf galaxies. At the ame time, the sterile neutrinos can account for both the small hot DM component favored by cosmological observations and the neutrino anomalies found in short-baseline experiments.

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arXiv2013

Flavour constraints on scenarios with two or three heavy squark generations

We re-assess constraints from flavour-changing neutral currents in the kaon system on supersymmetric scenarios with a light gluino, two heavy generations of squarks and a lighter third generation. We compute for the first time limits in scenarios with three heavy squark families, taking into account QCD corrections at the next-to-leading order. We compare our limits with those in the case of two heavy families. We use the mass insertion approximation and consider contributions from gluino exchange to constrain the mixing between the first and second squark generation. While it is not possible to perform a general analysis, we assess the relevance of each kind of flavour- and CP-violating parameters. We also provide ready to use magic numbers for the computation of the Wilson coefficients at 2 GeV for these scenarios.

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arXiv2012

Flavour issues for string-motivated heavy scalar spectra with a low gluino mass: the G2-MSSM case

In recent years it has been learned that scalar superpartner masses and trilinear couplings should both generically be larger than about 20 TeV at the short distance string scale if our world is described by a compactified string or M-theory with supersymmetry breaking and stabilized moduli. Here we study implications of this, somewhat generally and also in detail for a particular realization (compactification of M-theory on a G_2 manifold) where there is significant knowledge of the superpotential and gauge kinetic function, and a light gluino. In a certain sense this yields an ultraviolet completion of minimal flavour violation. Flavour violation stems from off-diagonal and non-universal diagonal elements of scalar mass matrices and trilinear couplings, and from renormalization group running. We also examine stability bounds on the scalar potential. While heavy scalars alone do not guarantee the absence of flavour problems, our studies show that models with heavy scalars and light gluinos can be free from such problems.

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arXiv2012

Proceedings of the first workshop on Flavor Symmetries and consequences in Accelerators and Cosmology (FLASY2011)

The main goals of the first "Workshop on FLAvor SYmmetries and consequences in accelerators and cosmology" (FLASY) was to summarize the theoretical status of flavor symmetries, bringing together young researchers in the field to stimulate discussions and new collaborations, with the aim of investigating possible new physics scenarios to be tested at the LHC, as well as in future neutrino, cosmology experiments and dark matter searches.

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arXiv2011

Production of long-lived staus in the Drell-Yan process

We investigate the phenomenology of the gravitino dark matter scenario with a stau as the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle at the LHC. For a wide range of gravitino masses the lighter stau is stable on the scale of a detector and gives rise to a prominent signature as a "slow muon". The direct stau production via the Drell-Yan process is always present and independent of the mass spectrum of the other superparticles, thus providing a lower bound for the discovery potential of this scenario. Performing a careful analysis with particular emphasis on the criteria for observing stau pairs and for distinguishing them from the background, we find that the 14 TeV run of the LHC has a promising potential for finding long-lived staus from Drell-Yan production up to very large stau masses.

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arXiv2010

Supersymmetric Musings on the Predictivity of Family Symmetries

We discuss the predictivity of family symmetries for the soft supersymmetry breaking parameters in the framework of supergravity. We show that unknown details of the messenger sector and the supersymmetry breaking hidden sector enter into the soft parameters, making it difficult to obtain robust predictions. We find that there are specific choices of messenger fields which can improve the predictivity for the soft parameters.

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arXiv2009

Gravitino Dark Matter in Gravity Mediation

We study general conditions for the gravitino to be the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) in models with gravity mediated supersymmetry breaking. We find that the decisive quantities are the Kaehler potential K and the gauge kinetic function f. In constrained MSSM (CMSSM) type models, the gravitino LSP occurs if the gaugino mass at the GUT scale is greater than approximately 2.5 gravitino masses. This translates into \sqrt{K"}/f' < 0.2, where the derivatives are taken with respect to the dominant SUSY breaking field. This requirement can easily be satisfied in string-motivated setups.

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arXiv2007

The Gravitino-Stau Scenario after Catalyzed BBN

We consider the impact of Catalyzed Big Bang Nucleosynthesis on theories with a gravitino LSP and a charged slepton NLSP. In models where the gravitino to gaugino mass ratio is bounded from below, such as gaugino-mediated SUSY breaking, we derive a lower bound on the gaugino mass parameter m_1/2. As a concrete example, we determine the parameter space of gaugino mediation that is compatible with all cosmological constraints.

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arXiv2007

Can LHC Test the See-Saw Mechanism?

We discuss the prospects for detecting right-handed neutrinos which are introduced in the see-saw mechanism at future colliders. This requires a very accurate cancellation between contributions from different right-handed neutrinos to the light neutrino mass matrix. We search for possible symmetries behind this cancellation and find that they have to include lepton number conservation. Light neutrino masses can be generated as a result of small symmetry-breaking perturbations. The impact of these perturbations on LHC physics is negligible, so that the mechanism of neutrino mass generation and LHC physics are decoupled in general. In constrained cases, accelerator observables and neutrino masses and mixings can be correlated.

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arXiv2007

Right-Handed Neutrinos at LHC and the Mechanism of Neutrino Mass Generation

We consider the possibility to detect right-handed neutrinos, which are mostly singlets of the Standard Model gauge group, at future accelerators. Substantial mixing of these neutrinos with the active neutrinos requires a cancellation of different contributions to the light neutrino mass matrix at the level of 10^{-8}. We discuss possible symmetries behind this cancellation and argue that they always lead to conservation of total lepton number. Light neutrino masses can be generated by small perturbations violating these symmetries. In the most general case, LHC physics and the mechanism of neutrino mass generation are essentially decoupled; with additional assumptions, correlations can appear between collider observables and features of the neutrino mass matrix.

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arXiv2007

SUSY at the Pole

We study the role neutrino telescopes could play in discovering supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model with a long-lived stau next-to-lightest superparticle. In such a setup, pairs of staus are produced by cosmic neutrino interactions in the Earth matter. In optimistic scenarios, one can expect several pair events per year in a cubic kilometer detector such as IceCube. We also show that no significant event rate can be expected for decays of staus stopped in the detector.

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arXiv2006

Dark Matter from Gaugino Mediation

We study dark matter for gaugino-mediated supersymmetry breaking and compact dimensions of order the grand unification scale. Higgs fields are bulk fields, and in general their masses differ from those of squarks and sleptons at the unification scale. As a consequence, at different points in parameter space, the gravitino, a neutralino or a scalar lepton can be the lightest (LSP) or next-to-lightest (NLSP) superparticle. We investigate the constraints from primordial nucleosynthesis on the different scenarios. While neutralino and gravitino dark matter with a sneutrino NLSP are consistent for a wide range of parameters, gravitino dark matter with a stau NLSP is strongly constrained.

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