ALEPH Four-Jet Excess, RbR_b and R−R-Parity Violation

We review briefly the indications for some relatively light superpartners based on the ~$R_b$ ~anomaly and discuss the dependence of the potential increase in $R_b$ on the assumption about ~$R-$parity (non)conservation. We point out that the exotic 4-jet events reported by ALEPH may constitute a signal for supersymmetry with such a light spectrum and with explicitly broken $R-$parity. A parton level simulation shows that production of a pair of light charginos with their subsequent baryon-number violating decays (either through a stop or through a neutralino) could possibly give rise to this excess. The decay \chi^- \ra \tilde{t}_R^\ast b \ra d s b with m_{\chi^-_1} \sim 60 \gev and m_{\tilde t} \sim 52 \gev leads to signatures very close to the experimental observations.Comment: 17 pages, submited as uuencoded gz-compressed .tar file containing LATEX file and figures. Some typos fixed and the important error in the caption of Fig. 7 correcte

Flavour Changing Neutral Currents and Inverted Sfermion Mass Hierarchy

We study the contraints on non-flavour-blind soft supersymmetry breaking terms coming from flavour and CP violating processes in the presence of hierarchical Yukawa couplings, and quantify how much these constraints are weakened in the regions of the MSSM parameter space characterized by heavy gauginos and multi-TeV sfermion masses, respectively. We also study the inverted sfermion mass hierarchy scenario in the context of D-term supersymmetry breaking, and show that generic hierarchical Yukawa couplings with arbitrary phases require first generation squarks in the few 10 TeV range.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. Talk given at the XLth Rencontres de Moriond on Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories, La Thuile, Aosta Valley, Italy, 5-12 March 2005. V3: one reference correcte

The fine-tuning price of LEP

We quantify the amount of fine tuning of input parameters of the Minimal Supersymmetric Extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) that is needed to respect the lower limits on sparticle and Higgs masses imposed by precision electroweak measurements at LEP, measurements of $b\to X_s\gamma$, and searches at LEP 2. If universal input scalar masses are assumed in a gravity-mediated scenario, a factor of \gappeq180 is required at $\tan\beta\sim1.65$, decreasing to $\sim20$ at $\tan\beta\sim10$. The amount of fine tuning is not greatly reduced if non-universal input scalar Higgs masses are allowed, but may be significantly reduced if some theoretical relations between MSSM parameters are assumed.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures. Two references added, one corrected. A typo correcte

Haggling over the fine-tuning price

We amplify previous discussions of the fine-tuning price to be paid by supersymmetric models in the light of LEP data, especially the lower bound on the Higgs boson mass, studying in particular its power of discrimination between different parameter regions and different theoretical assumptions. The analysis is performed using the full one-loop effective potential. The whole range of $\tan\beta$ is discussed, including large values. In the minimal supergravity model with universal gaugino and scalar masses, a small fine-tuning price is possible only for intermediate values of $\tan\beta$. However, the fine-tuning price in this region is significantly higher if we require $b-\tau$ Yukawa-coupling unification. On the other hand, price reductions are obtained if some theoretical relation between MSSM parameters is assumed, in particular between $\mu_0$, $M_{1/2}$ and $A_0$. Significant price reductions are obtained for large $\tan\beta$ if non-universal soft Higgs mass parameters are allowed. Nevertheless, in all these cases, the requirement of small fine tuning remains an important constraint on the superpartner spectrum. We also study input relations between MSSM parameters suggested in some interpretations of string theory: the price may depend significantly on these inputs, potentially providing guidance for building string models. However, in the available models the fine-tuning price may not be reduced significantly.Comment: 35 pages, 16 figure

Bottom-up approach and supersymmetry breaking

We present a bottom-up approach to the question of supersymmetry breaking in the MSSM. Starting with the experimentally measurable low-energy supersymmetry breaking parameters, which can take any values consistent with present experimental constraints, we evolve them up to an arbitrary high energy scale. Approximate analytical expressions for such an evolution, valid for low and moderate values of $tan\beta$, are presented. We then discuss qualitative properties of the high-energy parameter space and, in particular, identify the conditions on the low energy spectrum that are necessary for the parameters at the high energy scale to satisfy simple regular pattern such as universality or partial universality. As an illustrative example, we take low energy parameters for which light sparticles, within the reach of the LEP2 collider, appear in the spectrum, and which do not affect the Standard Model agreement with the precision measurement data. Comparison between supersymmetry breaking at the GUT scale and at a low energy scale is made.Comment: 33 pages (14 figures

Neutrino Unification

Present neutrino data are consistent with neutrino masses arising from a common seed at some ``neutrino unification'' scale $M_X$. Such a simple theoretical ansatz naturally leads to quasi-degenerate neutrinos that could lie in the electron-volt range with neutrino mass splittings induced by renormalization effects associated with supersymmetric thresholds. In such a scheme the leptonic analogue of the Cabibbo angle $\theta_{\odot}$ describing solar neutrino oscillations is nearly maximal. Its exact value is correlated with the smallness of $\theta_{reactor}$. These features agree both with latest data on the solar neutrino spectra and with the reactor neutrino data. The two leading mass-eigenstate neutrinos present in \ne form a pseudo-Dirac neutrino, avoiding conflict with neutrinoless double beta decay.Comment: RevTex format, 2 figures, 4 pages, a few new references, no other important change, figures unchanged, version to be published in PR