Supersymmetry and Inflation

A variant of hybrid inflation which is applicable in a wide class of supersymmetric grand unified models and reproduces the observed temperature perturbations of cosmic background radiation with natural values of the parameters is presented. The theory is consistent with the unification of the minimal supersymmetric standard model gauge couplings as measured at LEP. The termination of inflation is smooth and does not produce any topological defects. Numerical investigation of the cosmological evolution of the system shows that for almost all initial values of the fields we do get an adequate amount of inflation. Finally, the "reheating" process following inflation and the production of the baryon asymmetry of the universe via a primordial lepton asymmetry are briefly discussed and some important implications for right handed neutrino Majorana masses are investigated.Comment: 5 pages LaTeX 1 eps figure. Talk presented at SUSY 96,Maryland,May 1996. Published in Nuclear Physics B(Proc.Suppl.) 52A(1997)242-24

Neutrino Masses and Mixing from Supersymmetric Inflation

A supersymmetric model based on a left-right symmetric gauge group is proposed where hybrid inflation, baryogenesis and neutrino oscillations are linked.This scheme, supplemented by a familiar ansatz for the neutrino Dirac masses and mixing of the two heaviest families and with the MSW resolution of the solar neutrino puzzle, implies that $m_{\nu_{\tau}}$ lies between 1 and 9 eV. The mixing angle $\theta_{\mu \tau}$ is predicted to lie in a narrow range which will be partially tested by the Chorus/Nomad experiment.Comment: 6 pages, 2 postscript figures, uses spocl.sty To be published in the proceedings of COSMO-97,International Workshop on Particle Physics and the Early Universe,15-19 September 1997, Ambleside,Lake District,Englan

MSSM and Large tanβtan\beta from SUSY Trinification

We construct a supersymmetric model based on the semi-simple gauge group $SU(3)_c \times SU(3)_L \times SU(3)_R$ with the relation $tan\beta \simeq m_t/m_b$ automatically arising from its structure. The model below a scale $\sim 10^{16}$ GeV gives naturally rise just to the minimal supersymmetric standard model and therefore to the presently favored values for $sin^2 \theta_w$ and $\alpha_s$ without fields in representations higher than the fundamental.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX, UT-STPD-3-9

Degenerate Neutrinos and Supersymmetric Inflation

A moderate extension of the minimal supersymmetric standard model which includes a U(1)_(B-L) gauge group (B and L being the baryon and lepton number) and a Peccei-Quinn symmetry, U(1)_PQ, is presented. The hybrid inflationary scenario is automatic and `natural' in this model. The mu problem of the minimal supersymmetric standard model is solved by coupling the electroweak higgses to fields which break U(1)_PQ. Baryon number conservation and, thus, proton stability are automatic consequences of a R-symmetry. Neutrinos are assumed to acquire degenerate masses of about 1.5 eV by coupling to SU(2)_L triplet superfields, thereby providing the hot dark matter of the universe. The inflaton decays into these triplets which, via their subsequent decay, produce a primordial lepton asymmetry later converted into the observed baryon asymmetry of the universe. The gravitino and baryogenesis constraints can be satisfied with `natural' values (of order 10^{-3}) of the relevant coupling constants.Comment: 13 pages, Revtex, minor correction

F-Term Hybrid Inflation Followed by a Peccei-Quinn Phase Transition

We consider a cosmological set-up, based on renormalizable superpotential terms, in which a superheavy scale F-term hybrid inflation is followed by a Peccei-Quinn phase transition, resolving the strong CP and mu problems of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. We show that the field which triggers the Peccei-Quinn phase transition can remain after inflation well above the Peccei-Quinn scale thanks to (i) its participation in the supergravity and logarithmic corrections during the inflationary stage and (ii) the high reheat temperature after the same period. As a consequence, its presence influences drastically the inflationary dynamics and the universe suffers a second period of reheating after the Peccei-Quinn phase transition. Confronting our inflationary predictions with the current observational data, we find that, for about the central value of the spectral index, the grand unification scale can be identified with its supersymmetric value for the relevant coupling constant \kappa=0.002 and, more or less, natural values, +/-(0.01-0.1), for the remaining parameters. On the other hand, the final reheat temeperature after the Peccei-Quinn phase transition turns out to be low enough so as the gravitino problem is avoided.Comment: 15 pages including 8 figures, version published in Phys. Rev.

Yukawa Quasi-Unification and Inflation

We review the construction of a concrete supersymmetric grand unified model, which naturally leads to a moderate violation of "asymptotic" Yukawa unification and, thus, can allow an acceptable b-quark mass within the constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model with mu>0. The model possesses a wide and natural range of parameters which is consistent with the data on the cold dark matter abundance in the universe, b-->s gamma, the muon anomalous magnetic moment and the Higgs boson masses. Also, it automatically leads to a new version of shifted hybrid inflation, which avoids overproduction of monopoles at the end of inflation by using only renormalizable terms.Comment: Talk presented by G. Lazarides at the BW2003 Workshop, Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia, 29 August-2 September 2003 (to appear in the proceedings), 15 pages including 3 figures, uses ws-procs9x6.cls and rotating_pr.st