arXiv subjects

Markus A. Luty

Publications and source records attributed to Markus A. Luty.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2000

Radion Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking

We point out that in supersymmetric theories with extra dimensions, radius stabilization can give rise to a VEV for the $F$ component of the radius modulus. This gives an important contribution to supersymmetry breaking of fields that propagate in the bulk. A particularly attractive class of models is obtained if the standard-model gauge fields propagate in the bulk, while the quark and lepton fields are localized on a brane. This leads to gaugino mediated supersymmetry breaking without the need for singlets in the hidden sector. We analyze a simple explicit model in which this idea is realized.

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arXiv2000

A Critical Cosmological Constant from Millimeter Extra Dimensions

We consider `brane universe' scenarios with standard-model fields localized on a 3-brane in 6 spacetime dimensions. We show that if the spacetime is rotationally symmetric about the brane, local quantities in the bulk are insensitive to the couplings on the brane. This potentially allows compactifications where the effective 4-dimensional cosmological constant is independent of the couplings on the 3-brane. We consider several possible singularity-free compactification mechanisms, and find that they do not maintain this property. We also find solutions with naked spacetime singularities, and we speculate that new short-distance physics can become important near the singularities and allow a compactification with the desired properties. The picture that emerges is that standard-model loop contributions to the effective 4-dimensional cosmological constant can be cut off at distances shorter than the compactification scale. At shorter distance scales, renormalization effects due to standard-model fields renormalize the 3-brane tension, which changes a deficit angle in the transverse space without affecting local quantities in the bulk. For a compactification scale of order 10^{-2} mm, this gives a standard-model contribution to the cosmological constant in the range favored by cosmology.

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arXiv2000

Electroweak Symmetry Breaking by Strong Supersymmetric Dynamics at the TeV Scale

We construct models in which electroweak symmetry is spontaneously broken by supersymmetric strong dynamics at the TeV scale. The order parameter is a composite of scalars, and the longitudinal components of the W and Z are strongly-coupled bound states of scalars. The usual phenomenological problems of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking are absent: the sign of the S parameter unconstrained in strongly interacting SUSY theories, and fermion masses are generated without flavor-changing neutral currents or large corrections to the rho parameter. The lightest neutral Higgs scalar can be heavier than M_Z without radiative corrections from standard-model fields. All the mass scales in the model can be naturally related in low-scale models of supersymmetry breaking. The mu problem can also be solved naturally, and the model can incorporate perturbative unification of standard-model gauge couplings with intermediate thresholds.

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arXiv1999

Gaugino Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking

We consider supersymmetric theories where the standard-model quark and lepton fields are localized on a "3-brane" in extra dimensions, while the gauge and Higgs fields propagate in the bulk. If supersymmetry is broken on another 3-brane, supersymmetry breaking is communicated to gauge and Higgs fields by direct higher-dimension interactions, and to quark and lepton fields via standard-model loops. We show that this gives rise to a realistic and predictive model for supersymmetry breaking. The size of the extra dimensions is required to be of order 10-100 times larger than fundamental scale (e.g. the string scale). The spectrum is similar to (but distinguishable from) the predictions of "no-scale" models. Flavor-changing neutral currents are naturally suppressed. The μterm can be generated by the Giudice-Masiero mechanism. The supersymmetric CP problem is naturally solved if CP violation occurs only on the observable sector 3-brane. These are the simplest models in the literature that solve all supersymmetric naturalness problems.

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arXiv1999

Radius Stabilization and Anomaly-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking

We analyze in detail a specific 5-dimensional realization of a "brane-universe" scenario where the visible and hidden sectors are localized on spatially separated 3-branes coupled only by supergravity, with supersymmetry breaking originating in the hidden sector. Although general power counting allows order 1/M_{Planck}^2 contact terms between the two sectors in the 4-dimensional theory from exchange of supergravity Kaluza-Klein modes, we show that they are not present by carefully matching to the 5-dimensional theory. We also find that the radius modulus corresponding to the size of the compactified dimension must be stabilized by additional dynamics in order to avoid run-away behavior after supersymmetry breaking and to understand the communication of supersymmetry breaking. We stabilize the radius by adding two pure Yang--Mills sectors, one in the bulk and the other localized on a brane. Gaugino condensation in the 4-dimensional effective theory generates a superpotential that can naturally fix the radius at a sufficiently large value that supersymmetry breaking is communicated dominantly by the recently-discovered mechanism of anomaly mediation. The mass of the radius modulus is large compared to m_{3/2}. The stabilization mechanism requires only parameters of order one at the fundamental scale, with no fine-tuning except for the cosmological constant.

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arXiv1999

Massive Higher-dimensional Gauge Fields as Messengers of Supersymmetry Breaking

We consider theories with one or more compact dimensions with size r > 1/M, where M is the fundamental Planck scale, with the visible and hidden sectors localized on spatially separated "3-branes." We show that a bulk U(1) gauge field spontaneously broken on the hidden-sector 3-brane is an attractive candidate for the messenger of supersymmetry breaking. In this scenario scalar mass-squared terms are proportional to U(1) charges, and therefore naturally conserve flavor. Arbitrary flavor violation at the Planck scale gives rise to exponentially suppressed flavor violation at low energies. Gaugino masses can be generated if the standard gauge fields propagate in the bulk; μand Bμterms can be generated by the Giudice-Masiero or by the VEV of a singlet in the visible sector. The latter case naturally solves the SUSY CP problem. Realistic phenomenology can be obtained either if all microscopic parameters are order one in units of M, or if the theory is strongly coupled at the scale M. (For the latter case, we estimate parameters by extending "naive dimensional analysis" to higher-dimension theories with branes.) In either case, the only unexplained hierarchy is the "large" size of the extra dimensions in fundamental units, which need only be an order of magnitude. All soft masses are naturally within an order of magnitude of m_{3/2}, and trilinear scalar couplings are negligible. Squark and slepton masses can naturally unify even in the absence of grand unification.

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arXiv1999

Soft Supersymmetry Breaking in Deformed Moduli Spaces, Conformal Theories, and N = 2 Yang-Mills Theory

We give a self-contained discussion of recent progress in computing the non-perturbative effects of small non-holomorphic soft supersymmetry breaking, including a simple new derivation of these results based on an anomaly-free gauged U(1)_R background. We apply these results to N = 1 theories with deformed moduli spaces and conformal fixed points. In an SU(2) theory with a deformed moduli space, we completely determine the vacuum expectation values and induced soft masses. We then consider the most general soft breaking of supersymmetry in N = 2 SU(2) super-Yang-Mills theory. An N = 2 superfield spurion analysis is used to give an elementary derivation of the relation between the modulus and the prepotential in the effective theory. This analysis also allows us to determine the non-perturbative effects of all soft terms except a non-holomorphic scalar mass, away from the monopole points. We then use an N = 1 spurion analysis to determine the effects of the most general soft breaking, and also analyze the monopole points. We show that naive dimensional analysis works perfectly. Also, a soft mass for the scalar in this theory forces the theory into a free Coulomb phase.

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arXiv1999

Realistic Anomaly-mediated Supersymmetry Breaking

We consider supersymmetry breaking communicated entirely by the superconformal anomaly in supergravity. This scenario is naturally realized if supersymmetry is broken in a hidden sector whose couplings to the observable sector are suppressed by more than powers of the Planck scale, as occurs if supersymmetry is broken in a parallel universe living in extra dimensions. This scenario is extremely predictive: soft supersymmetry breaking couplings are completely determined by anomalous dimensions in the effective theory at the weak scale. Gaugino and scalar masses are naturally of the same order, and flavor-changing neutral currents are automatically suppressed. The most glaring problem with this scenario is that slepton masses are negative in the minimal supersymmetric standard model. We point out that this problem can be simply solved by coupling extra Higgs doublets to the leptons. Lepton flavor-changing neutral currents can be naturally avoided by approximate symmetries. We also describe more speculative solutions involving compositeness near the weak scale. We then turn to electroweak symmetry breaking. Adding an explicit μterm gives a value for Bμthat is too large by a factor of order 100. We construct a realistic model in which the μterm arises from the vacuum expectation value of a singlet field, so all weak-scale masses are directly related to m_{3/2}. We show that fully realistic electroweak symmetry breaking can occur in this model with moderate fine-tuning.

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arXiv1999

Single Sector Supersymmetry Breaking

We review recent work on realistic models that break supersymmetry dynamically and give rise to composite quarks and leptons, all in a single sector. These models have a completely natural suppression of flavor-changing neutral currents, and the hierarchy of Yukawa couplings is explained by the dimensionality of composite states. The generic signatures are unification of scalar masses with different quantum numbers at the compositeness scale, and lighter gaugino, Higgsino, and third-generation sfermion masses.

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arXiv1998

Gaugino Mass without Singlets

In models with dynamical supersymmetry breaking in the hidden sector, the gaugino masses in the observable sector have been believed to be extremely suppressed (below 1 keV), unless there is a gauge singlet in the hidden sector with specific couplings to the observable sector gauge multiplets. We point out that there is a pure supergravity contribution to gaugino masses at the quantum level arising from the superconformal anomaly. Our results are valid to all orders in perturbation theory and are related to the `exact' beta functions for soft terms. There is also an anomaly contribution to the A terms proportional to the beta function of the corresponding Yukawa coupling. The gaugino masses are proportional to the corresponding gauge beta functions, and so do not satisfy the usual GUT relations.

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arXiv1998

Improved Single Sector Supersymmetry Breaking

Building on recent work by N. Arkani-Hamed and the present authors, we construct realistic models that break supersymmetry dynamically and give rise to composite quarks and leptons, all in a single strongly-coupled sector. The most important improvement compared to earlier models is that the second-generation composite states correspond to dimension-2 "meson" operators in the ultraviolet. This leads to a higher scale for flavor physics, and gives a completely natural suppression of flavor-changing neutral currents. We also construct models in which the hierarchy of Yukawa couplings is explained by the dimensionality of composite states. These models provide an interesting and viable alternative to gravity- and gauge-mediated models. The generic signatures are unification of scalar masses with different quantum numbers at the compositeness scale, and lighter gaugino, Higgsino, and third-generation squark and slepton masses. We also analyze large classes of models that give rise to both compositeness and supersymmetry breaking, based on gauge theories with confining, fixed-point, or free-magnetic dynamics.

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arXiv1998

Calculable Dynamical Supersymmetry Breaking on Deformed Moduli Spaces

We consider models of dynamical supersymmetry breaking in which the extremization of a tree-level superpotential conflicts with a quantum constraint. We show that in such models the low-energy effective theory near the origin of moduli space is an O'Raifeartaigh model, and the sign of the mass-squared for the pseudo-flat direction at the origin is calculable. We analyze vector-like models with gauge groups SU(N) and Sp(2N) with and without global symmetries. In all cases there is a stable minimum at the origin with an unbroken U(1)_R symmetry.

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arXiv1998

Dynamical determination of the unification scale by gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking

We propose a mechanism for generating the GUT scale dynamically from the Planck scale. The idea is that the GUT scale is fixed by the vacuum expectation value of a "GUT modulus" field whose potential is exactly flat in the supersymmetric limit. If supersymmetry is broken by gauge mediation, a potential for the GUT modulus is generated at 2 loops, and slopes away from the origin for a wide range of parameters. This potential is stabilized by Planck-suppressed operators in the Kahler potential, and the GUT scale is fixed to be of order M_* / (4π^2) (where M_* ~ 10^{18} GeV is the reduced Planck scale) independently of the supersymmetry breaking scale. The cosmology of this scenario is acceptable if there is an epoch of inflation with reheat temperature small compared to the supersymmetry-breaking scale. We construct a realistic GUT that realizes these ideas. The model is based on the gauge group SU(6), and solves the doublet-triplet splitting problem by a sliding singlet mechanism. The GUT sector contains no dimensionful couplings or tuned parameters, and all mass scales other than the Planck scale are generated dynamically. This model can be viewed as a realistic implementation of the inverted hierarchy mechanism.

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arXiv1998

Composite Quarks and Leptons from Dynamical Supersymmetry Breaking without Messengers

We present new theories of dynamical SUSY breaking in which the strong interactions that break SUSY also give rise to composite quarks and leptons with naturally small Yukawa couplings. In these models, SUSY breaking is communicated directly to the composite fields without ``messenger'' interactions. The compositeness scale can be anywhere between 10 TeV and the Planck scale. These models can naturally solve the supersymmetric flavor problem, and generically predict sfermion mass unification independent from gauge unification.

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arXiv1998

New Mechanisms of Dynamical Supersymmetry Breaking and Direct Gauge Mediation

We construct supersymmetric gauge theories with new mechanisms of dynamical supersymmetry breaking. The models have flat directions at the classical level, and different mechanisms lift these flat directions in different regions of the classical moduli space. In one branch of the moduli space, supersymmetry is broken by confinement in a novel manner. The models contain only dimensionless couplings and have large groups of unbroken global symmetries, making them potentially interesting for model-building. As an illustrative application, we couple the standard model gauge group to a model with an SU(5) global symmetry, resulting in a model with composite messengers and a non-minimal spectrum of superpartner masses.

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arXiv1997

Effective Lagrangians and Light Gravitino Phenomenology

We construct the low-energy effective lagrangian for a light gravitino coupled to the minimal supersymmetric standard model under the assumption that supersymmetry breaking is communicated to the observable sector dominantly through soft terms. Our effective lagrangian is written in terms of the spin-1/2 Goldstino (the longitudinal component of the gravitino) transforming under a non-linear realization of supersymmetry. In this lagrangian, the Goldstino is derivatively coupled and all couplings of the Goldstino to light fields are determined uniquely by the supersymmetry-breaking scale \sqrt{F}. This lagrangian is therefore a useful starting point for further investigation of the light gravitino in gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking models. We show that the invisible width of the Z into Goldstinos gives the constraint \sqrt{F} > 140 GeV.

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arXiv1997

Simple Gauge-mediated Models with Local Minima

We describe a simple class of supersymmetric gauge theories that can act as supersymmetry-breaking sectors for gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking. The models have a local supersymmetry-breaking minimum along a direction in field space where a singlet gets a large expectation value. The potential along this direction has a runaway behavior stabilized by supersymmetry breaking in the effective low-energy theory. The supersymmetric vacua are at infinite field values, and cosmological bounds on false vacuum decay are easily satisfied. The models have no dimensionful parameters, and all mass scales arise through strong coupling dynamics. Simple variants of the model are compatible with perturbative unification, can naturally have dynamical supersymmetry breaking at a scale as low as 10 TeV, and can solve the R axion problem without appealing to Planck-scale effects.

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arXiv1997

Naive Dimensional Analysis and Supersymmetry

In strongly-coupled theories with no small parameters, there are factors of 4πthat appear when the couplings of the low-energy effective lagrangian are written in units of the effective cutoff Λ. These numerical factors can be explained using "naive dimensional analysis." We extend these ideas to supersymmetric theories, and show how to systematically include small parameters and couplings to weakly-interacting fields. The basic principle is that if the fundamental theory is strongly coupled, then the effective theory must also be strongly coupled at the scale Λ. We use our results to analyze several examples where strong supersymmetric dynamics may be relevant for phenomenology. For models that break supersymmetry through strong dynamics with no small parameters, we show that the Goldstino decay constant F is of order \La^{2} / (4π). We also consider theories with standard-model gauge bosons coupled directly to strong supersymmetry-breaking dynamics near the weak scale; smoothly-confining theories; and a model that breaks supersymmetry through the mechanism of a deformed moduli space.

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