arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M. Dine.
This report summarizes the findings of the DPF Theory Panel which was formed with a goal of understanding the scientific problems and opportunities of the next decade, as well as the challenges involved in sustaining a first-class program in theoretical particle physics research in the United States.
These reports present the results of the 2013 Community Summer Study of the APS Division of Particles and Fields ("Snowmass 2013") on the future program of particle physics in the U.S. Chapter 1 contains the Executive Summary and the summaries of the reports of the nine working groups.
In the landscape, if there is to be any prospect of scientific prediction, it is crucial that there be states which are distinguished in some way. The obvious candidates are states which exhibit symmetries. Here we focus on states which exhibit discrete symmetries. Such states are rare, but one can speculate that they are cosmological attractors. We investigate the problem in model landscapes and cosmologies which capture some of the features of candidate flux landscapes. In non-supersymmetric theories we find no evidence that such states might be cosmologically favored. In supersymmetric theories, simple arguments suggest that states which exhibit $R$ symmetries might be. Our considerations lead us to raise questions about some popular models of eternal inflation.
In the landscape, states with $R$ symmetries at the classical level form a distinct branch, with a potentially interesting phenomenology. Some preliminary analyses suggested that the population of these states would be significantly suppressed. We survey orientifolds of IIB theories compactified on Calabi-Yau spaces based on vanishing polynomials in weighted projective spaces, and find that the suppression is quite substantial. On the other hand, we find that a $Z_2$ R-parity is a common feature in the landscape. We discuss whether the cosmological constant and proton decay or cosmology might select the low energy branch. We include also some remarks on split supersymmetry.
With respect to the question of supersymmetry breaking, there are three branches of the flux landscape. On one of these, if one requires small cosmological constant, supersymmetry breaking is predominantly at the fundamental scale; on another, the distribution is roughly flat on a logarithmic scale; on the third, the preponderance of vacua are at very low scale. A priori, as we will explain, one can say little about the first branch. The vast majority of these states are not accessible even to crude, approximate analysis. On the other two branches one can hope to do better. But as a result of the lack of access to branch one, and our poor understanding of cosmology, we can at best conjecture about whether string theory predicts low energy supersymmetry or not. If we hypothesize that are on branch two or three, distinctive predictions may be possible. We comment of the status of naturalness within the landscape, deriving, for example, the statistics of the first branch from simple effective field theory reasoning.
The renormalization of operators responsible for soft supersymmetry breaking is usually calculated by starting at some high scale and including only visible sector interactions in the evolution equations, while ignoring hidden sector interactions. Here we explain why this is correct only for the most trivial structures in the hidden sector, and discuss possible implications. This investigation was prompted by the idea of conformal sequestering. In that framework hidden sector renormalizations by nearly conformal dynamics are critical. In the original models of conformal sequestering it was necessary to impose hidden sector flavor symmetries to achieve the sequestered form. We present models which can evade this requirement and lead to no-scale or anomaly mediated boundary conditions; but the necessary structures do not seem generic. More generally, the ratios of scalar masses to gaugino masses, the $μ$-term, the $Bμ$-term, $A$-terms, and the gravitino mass can be significantly affected.
Various authors have noted that in particular models, the upper bound on the axion decay constant may not hold. We point out that within supersymmetry, this is a generic issue. For large decay constants, the cosmological problems associated with the axion's scalar partner are far more severe than those of the axion. We survey a variety of models, both for the axion multiplet and for cosmology, and find that in many cases where the cosmological problems of the saxion are solved, the usual upper bound on the axion is significantly relaxed. We discuss, more generally, the cosmological issues raised by the pseudoscalar members of moduli multiplets, and find that they are potentially quite severe.
We argue that models in which an observable variation of the fine structure constant is explained by motion of a cosmic scalar field, are not stable under renormalization, and require massive fine tuning that cannot be explained by any known mechanism.
We consider scattering processes in the matrix model with three incoming and three outgoing gravitons. We find a discrepancy between the amplitude calculated from the matrix model and the supergravity prediction. Possible sources for this discrepancy are discussed.
This is the text of a talk given at the Inaugural Conference of the Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics, Seoul, Korea, June 9, 1996. If nature is described by string theory, and if the compactification radius is large (as suggested by the unification of couplings), then the theory is in a regime best described by the low energy limit of $M$-theory. We discuss some phenomenological aspects of this view. The scale at which conventional quantum field theory breaks down is of order the unification scale and consequently (approximate) discrete symmetries are essential to prevent proton decay. There are one or more light axions, one of which solves the strong CP problem. Modular cosmology is still problematic but much more complex than in perturbative string vacua.
Recent work has made clear that we have far more control over the dynamics of supersymmetric than non-supersymmetric theories. Here, I discuss some issues in dynamical supersymmetry breaking both in ordinary field theory and in string theory. In string theory, in particular, it is possible to show, in some circumstances, that stringy non-perturbative effects are {\it smaller} than effects visible in the low energy field theory. Observations of this sort suggest a general approach to string phenomenology.
We present a model in which supersymmetry is dynamically broken at comparatively low energies. Previous efforts to construct simple models of this sort have been hampered by the presence of axions. The present model, which exploits an observation of Bagger, Poppitz and Randall to avoid this problem, is far simpler than previous constructions. Models of this kind do not suffer from the naturalness difficulties of conventional supergravity models, and make quite definite predictions for physics over a range of scales from $100$'s of GeV to $1000$'s of TeV. Thus ``Renormalizable Visible Sector Models'' are a viable alternative to more conventional approaches. Our approach also yields a viable example of hidden sector dynamical supersymmetry breaking.
String theory, if it describes nature, is probably strongly coupled. As a result, one might despair of making any statements about the theory. In the framework of a set of clearly spelled out assumptions, we show that this is not necessarily the case. Certain discrete gauge symmetries, combined with supersymmetry, tightly constrain the form of the effective action. Among our assumptions are that the true ground state can be obtained from some perturbative ground state by varying the coupling, and that the actual numerical value of the low energy field theoretic coupling ${g^2 \over 4π}$ is small. It follows that the low energy theory is approximately supersymmetric; corrections to the superpotential and gauge coupling function are small, while corrections to the Kahler potential are large; the spectrum of light particles is the same at strong as at weak coupling. We survey the phenomenological consequences of this viewpoint. We also note that the string axion can serve as QCD axion in this framework (modulo cosmological problems).
In supersymmetric theories, one can obtain striking results and insights by exploiting the fact that the superpotential and the gauge coupling function are holomorphic functions of the model parameters. The precise meaning of this holomorphy is subtle, and has been explained most clearly by Shifman and Vainshtein, who have stressed the role of the Wilsonian effective action. In this note, we elaborate on the Shifman-Vainshtein program, applying it to examples in grand unification, supersymmetric QCD and string theory. We stress that among the ``model parameters" are the cutoffs used to define the Wilsonian action itself, and that generically these must be defined in a field-dependent manner to obtain holomorphic results.
The original version of this paper contains an error; when this is corrected the basic conclusion changes. A revised manuscript will be submitted shortly.
One possible solution to the strong CP problem is that CP is an exact symmetry, spontaneously broken at some scale. Some years ago, Nelson and Barr suggested a mechanism for obtaining $θ=0$ at tree level in this framework, and showed that radiative corrections were small in some non-supersymmetric models. Further investigations suggested that the same could be true in supersymmetric theories. In this note, we show that these analyses assumed an extraordinarily high degree of degeneracy among squark masses and among other supersymmetry breaking parameters. We argue, using naturalness as well as expectations from string theory, that this is not very plausible.
If supersymmetry exists at low energies, it is necessary to understand why the squark spectrum exhibits sufficient degeneracy to suppress flavor changing neutral currents. In this note, we point out that gauged horizontal symmetries can yield realistic quark mass matrices, while at the same time giving just barely enough squark degeneracy to account for neutral $K$-meson phenomenology. This approach suggests likely patterns for squark masses, and indicates that there could be significant supersymmetric contributions to $B-\bar{B}$ and $D-\bar{D}$ mixing and CP violation in the $K$ and $B$ systems.
Models with dynamical supersymmetry breaking have the potential to solve many of the naturalness problems of hidden sector supergravity models. We review the argument that in a generic supergravity theory in which supersymmetry is {\it dynamically} broken in the hidden sector, only tiny Majorana masses for gauginos are generated. This situation is similar to that of theories with continuous R-symmetries, for which Hall and Randall have suggested that gluino masses could arise through mixings with an octet of chiral fields. We note that in hidden sector models, such mixing can only occur if the auxiliary D field of a $U(1)$ gauge field has an expectation value. This in turn gives rise to a catastrophically large Fayet-Iliopoulos term for ordinary hypercharge. To solve this problem it is necessary to unify hypercharge at least partially in a non-Abelian group. We consider, also, some general issues in models with continuous or discrete R symmetries, noting that it may be necessary to include $SU(2)$ triplet fields, and that these are subject to various constraints. In the course of these discussions, we consider a number of naturalness problems. We suggest that the so-called ``$μ$-problem" is not a problem, and point out that in models in which the axion decay constant is directly related to the SUSY breaking scale, squarks, sleptons and Higgs particles generically acquire huge masses.