arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Luc Darmé.
We use the method of characteristics to study superluminal graviton (thereof called swift graviton) propagation in theories of higher curvature gravity of the form $($Riemann$)^2$, $($Riemann$)^3$, $\nabla^2 ($Riemann$)^2$ and $($Riemann$)^4$. We consider a pp-wave background. When probed by gravitons with an appropriate polarisation, several of the gravitational theories under consideration exhibit characteristic hypersurfaces outside the flat spacetime light-cone.
We present two distinct topics: I) We describe the propagation of a spin-3/2 state in a background which preserves invariance under space translations and rotations but not under Lorentz boost transformations. We start by building a generalisation of the Volkov-Akulov Lagrangian for a goldstino in a fluid. A super-Higgs mechanism leads to the modified Rarita-Schwinger Lagrangian describing a slow gravitino. We identify the physical propagating degrees of freedom and derive the corresponding equations of motion. This includes some new results. II) Fake Split Supersymmetry Models are proposed to alleviate some of the problems of the original Split SUSY. In particular it is no more necessary to restrict to a Mini-Split scenario as higher values of the supersymmetry breaking scale (Mega-Split) are now allowed. The FSSM relies on swapping the higgsinos for new states in identical gauge group representations but different Yukawa couplings.
We study two realisations of the Fake Split Supersymmetry Model (FSSM), the simplest model that can easily reproduce the experimental value of the Higgs mass for an arbitrarily high supersymmetry scale, as a consequence of swapping higgsinos for equivalent states, fake higgsinos, with suppressed Yukawa couplings. If the LSP is identified as the main Dark matter component, then a standard thermal history of the Universe implies upper bounds on the supersymmetry scale, which we derive. On the other hand, we show that renormalisation group running of soft masses above the supersymmetry scale barely constrains the model - in stark contrast to Split Supersymmetry - and hence we can have a "Mega Split" spectrum even with all of these assumptions and constraints, which include the requirements of a correct relic abundance, a gluino life-time compatible with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and absence of signals in present direct detection experiments of inelastic dark matter. In an appendix we describe a related scenario, Fake Split Extended Supersymmetry, which enjoys similar properties.
When the supersymmetry breaking sector is a fluid background, Lorentz invariance is broken spontaneously. The super-Higgs mechanism leads to a gravitino Lagrangian with Lorentz symmetry violating terms. We analyse the resulting field equations and constraints. We identify the physical spin 3/2 and spin 1/2 helicity states, derive their equations of motion and construct the propagator. The violation of Lorentz symmetry implies that the longitudinal mode has a non-relativistic dispersion relation, whose speed is lower than the speed of light. We briefly comment on possible implications to gravitino cosmology and phenomenology.
We consider a scenario where supersymmetry is broken at a high energy scale, out of reach of the LHC, but leaves a few fermionic states at the TeV scale. The particle content of the low-energy effective theory is similar to that of Split Supersymmetry. However, the gauginos and higgsinos are replaced by fermions carrying the same quantum numbers but having different couplings, which we call fake gauginos and fake higgsinos. We study the prediction for the light-Higgs mass in this Fake Split SUSY Model (FSSM). We find that, in contrast to Split or high-scale supersymmetry, a 126 GeV Higgs boson is easily obtained even for arbitrarily high values of the supersymmetry scale. For a supersymmetry scale greater than roughly 100 PeV, the Higgs mass is almost independent of the supersymmetry scale and the stop mixing parameter, while the observed value is achieved for tan beta between 1.3 and 1.8 depending on the gluino mass.