Metastable Rank-Condition Supersymmetry Breaking in a Chiral Example

We discuss generalizations of Intriligator-Seiberg-Shih (ISS) vacua to chiral models. We study one example, of an s-confining theory, in detail. In the IR, this example reduces to two ISS-like sectors, and exhibits a supersymmetry-breaking vacuum with all pseudo-moduli stabilized at the origin, and with the R-symmetry unbroken. The IR theory is interesting from the point of view of R-symmetry breaking. This theory is an O'Raifeartaigh model with all charges zero or two, but the presence of a second R-charged pseudo-modulus with superpotential couplings to the messengers in principle allows for R-symmetry breaking.Comment: 9 page

The GUT Scale and Superpartner Masses from Anomaly Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking

We consider models of anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking (AMSB) in which the grand unification (GUT) scale is determined by the vacuum expectation value of a chiral superfield. If the anomaly-mediated contributions to the potential are balanced by gravitational-strength interactions, we find a model-independent prediction for the GUT scale of order $M_{\rm Planck} / (16\pi^2)$. The GUT threshold also affects superpartner masses, and can easily give rise to realistic predictions if the GUT gauge group is asymptotically free. We give an explicit example of a model with these features, in which the doublet-triplet splitting problem is solved. The resulting superpartner spectrum is very different from that of previously considered AMSB models, with gaugino masses typically unifying at the GUT scale.Comment: 17 page

Models of Dynamical Supersymmetry Breaking with Gauged U(1)RU(1)_R Symmetry

We present simple models of dynamical supersymmetry breaking with gauged U(1)_R symmetry. The minimal supersymmetric standard model and supersymmetric SU(5) GUT are considered as the visible sector. The anomaly cancellation conditions for U(1)_R are investigated in detail and simple solutions of the R-charge assignments are found. We show that this scenario of dynamical supersymmetry breaking is phenomenologically viable with the gravitino mass of order 1 TeV or 10 TeV.Comment: 15 pages, uses REVTEX macro, No figure

Dynamical completions of generalized O'Raifeartaigh models

We present gauge theory completions of Wess-Zumino models admitting supersymmetry breaking vacua with spontaneously broken R-symmetry. Our models are simple deformations of generalized ITIY models, a supersymmetric theory with gauge group Sp(N), N+1 flavors plus singlets, with a modified tree level superpotential which explicitly breaks (part of) the global symmetry. Depending on the nature of the deformation, we obtain effective O'Raifeartaigh-like models whose pseudomoduli space is locally stable in a neighborhood of the origin of field space, or in a region not including it. Hence, once embedded in direct gauge mediation scenarios, our models can give low energy spectra with either suppressed or unsuppressed gaugino mass.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figure; v3: reference adde

Flavored Gauge-Mediation

The messengers of Gauge-Mediation Models can couple to standard-model matter fields through renormalizable superpotential couplings. These matter-messenger couplings generate generation-dependent sfermion masses and are therefore usually forbidden by discrete symmetries. However, the non-trivial structure of the standard-model Yukawa couplings hints at some underlying flavor theory, which would necessarily control the sizes of the matter-messenger couplings as well. Thus for example, if the doublet messenger and the Higgs have the same properties under the flavor theory, the resulting messenger-lepton couplings are parametrically of the same order as the lepton Yukawas, so that slepton mass-splittings are similar to those of minimally-flavor-violating models and therefore satisfy bounds on flavor-violation, with, however, slepton mixings that are potentially large. Assuming that fermion masses are explained by a flavor symmetry, we construct viable and natural models with messenger-lepton couplings controlled by the flavor symmetry. The resulting slepton spectra are unusual and interesting, with slepton mass-splittings and mixings that may be probed at the LHC. In particular, since the new contributions are typically negative, and since they are often larger for the first- and second-generation sleptons, some of these examples have the selectron or the smuon as the lightest slepton, with mass splittings of a few to tens of GeV.Comment: 16 pages v2: Explicit expressions (which are not needed in the analysis) for the pure Yukawa contributions removed. There was an error in some of these expressions in v1. References adde

Dynamical Supersymmetry Breaking

Supersymmetry is one of the most plausible and theoretically motivated frameworks for extending the Standard Model. However, any supersymmetry in Nature must be a broken symmetry. Dynamical supersymmetry breaking (DSB) is an attractive idea for incorporating supersymmetry into a successful description of Nature. The study of DSB has recently enjoyed dramatic progress, fueled by advances in our understanding of the dynamics of supersymmetric field theories. These advances have allowed for direct analysis of DSB in strongly coupled theories, and for the discovery of new DSB theories, some of which contradict early criteria for DSB. We review these criteria, emphasizing recently discovered exceptions. We also describe, through many examples, various techniques for directly establishing DSB by studying the infrared theory, including both older techniques in regions of weak coupling, and new techniques in regions of strong coupling. Finally, we present a list of representative DSB models, their main properties, and the relations between them.Comment: 113 pages, Revtex. Minor changes, references added and corrected. To appear in Reviews of Modern Physic

Composite Intermediary and Mediator Models of Gauge-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking

We discuss gauge-mediated models which employ a tree-level mass term in the superpotential. We give explicit composite realizations in which the mass terms are not fundamental. Instead, they arise as effective terms in the superpotential from confining gauge dynamics.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX, 1 figur

General Messenger Gauge Mediation

We discuss theories of gauge mediation in which the hidden sector consists of two subsectors which are weakly coupled to each other. One sector is made up of messengers and the other breaks supersymmetry. Each sector by itself may be strongly coupled. We provide a unifying framework for such theories and discuss their predictions in different settings. We show how this framework incorporates all known models of messengers. In the case of weakly-coupled messengers interacting with spurions through the superpotential, we prove that the sfermion mass-squared is positive, and furthermore, that there is a lower bound on the ratio of the sfermion mass to the gaugino mass.Comment: 37 pages; minor change

A Complete Model of Low-Scale Gauge Mediation

Recent signs of a Standard Model-like Higgs at 125 GeV point towards large A-terms in the MSSM. This presents special challenges for gauge mediation, which by itself predicts vanishing A-terms at the messenger scale. In this paper, we review the general problems that arise when extending gauge mediation to achieve large A-terms, and the mechanisms that exist to overcome them. Using these mechanisms, we construct weakly-coupled models of low-scale gauge mediation with extended Higgs-messenger couplings that generate large A-terms at the messenger scale and viable mu/B_mu-terms. Our models are simple, economical, and complete realizations of supersymmetry at the weak scale.Comment: 33 pages; v2: refs added, minor change

Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with the Gauge Mediation of Supersymmetry Breaking

We study the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) as the simplest candidate solution to the $\mu$-problem in the context of the gauge mediation of supersymmetry breaking (GMSB). We first review various proposals to solve the $\mu$-problem in models with the GMSB. We find none of them entirely satisfactory and point out that many of the scenarios still lack quantitative studies, and motivate the NMSSM as the simplest possible solution. We then study the situation in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) with the GMSB and find that an order 10% cancellation is necessary between the $\mu$-parameter and the soft SUSY-breaking parameters to correctly reproduce $M_Z$. Unfortunately, the NMSSM does not to give a phenomenologically viable solution to the $\mu$-problem. We present quantitative arguments which apply both for the low-energy and high-energy GMSB and prove that the NMSSM does not work for either case. Possible modifications to the NMSSM are then discussed. The NMSSM with additional vector-like quarks works phenomenologically, but requires an order a few percent cancellation among parameters. We point out that this cancellation has the same origin as the cancellation required in the MSSM.Comment: 36 pages, LaTeX, epsf.sty, 5 figures, references added, comments on some other papers based on our misundestanding corrected, none of our results change