31 research outputs found
Lectures on Supersymmetry Breaking
We review the subject of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. First we
consider supersymmetry breaking in a semiclassical theory. We illustrate it
with several examples, demonstrating different phenomena, including metastable
supersymmetry breaking. Then we give a brief review of the dynamics of
supersymmetric gauge theories. Finally, we use this dynamics to present various
mechanisms for dynamical supersymmetry breaking. These notes are based on
lectures given by the authors in 2007, at various schools.Comment: 47 pages. v2: minor correction
Global Symmetries and D-Terms in Supersymmetric Field Theories
We study the role of D-terms in supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking. By carefully
analyzing the SUSY multiplets containing various conserved currents in theories
with global symmetries, we obtain a number of constraints on the
renormalization group flow in supersymmetric field theories. Under broad
assumptions, these results imply that there are no SUSY-breaking vacua, not
even metastable ones, with parametrically large D-terms. This explains the
absence of such D-terms in models of dynamical SUSY-breaking. There is,
however, a rich class of calculable models which generate comparable D-terms
and F-terms through a variety of non-perturbative effects; these D-terms can be
non-abelian. We give several explicit examples of such models, one of which is
a new calculable limit of the 3-2 model.Comment: 34 pages, 2 figures; reference added, minor change
The Phase Structure of an SU(N) Gauge Theory with N_f Flavors
We investigate the chiral phase transition in SU(N) gauge theories as the
number of quark flavors, , is varied. We argue that the transition takes
place at a large enough value of so that it is governed by the infrared
fixed point of the function. We study the nature of the phase
transition analytically and numerically, and discuss the spectrum of the theory
as the critical value of is approached in both the symmetric and broken
phases. Since the transition is governed by a conformal fixed point, there are
no light excitations on the symmetric side. We extend previous work to include
higher order effects by developing a renormalization group estimate of the
critical coupling.Comment: 34 pages, 1 figure. More references adde
Anomaly Cancelation in Field Theory and F-theory on a Circle
We study the manifestation of local gauge anomalies of four- and
six-dimensional field theories in the lower-dimensional Kaluza-Klein theory
obtained after circle compactification. We identify a convenient set of
transformations acting on the whole tower of massless and massive states and
investigate their action on the low-energy effective theories in the Coulomb
branch. The maps employ higher-dimensional large gauge transformations and
precisely yield the anomaly cancelation conditions when acting on the one-loop
induced Chern-Simons terms in the three- and five-dimensional effective theory.
The arising symmetries are argued to play a key role in the study of the
M-theory to F-theory limit on Calabi-Yau manifolds. For example, using the fact
that all fully resolved F-theory geometries inducing multiple Abelian gauge
groups or non-Abelian groups admit a certain set of symmetries, we are able to
generally show the cancelation of pure Abelian or pure non-Abelian anomalies in
these models.Comment: 48 pages, 2 figures; v2: typos corrected, comments on circle fluxes
adde
Electroweak Baryogenesis and Dark Matter with an approximate R-symmetry
It is well known that R-symmetric models dramatically alleviate the SUSY
flavor and CP problems. We study particular modifications of existing
R-symmetric models which share the solution to the above problems, and have
interesting consequences for electroweak baryogenesis and the Dark Matter (DM)
content of the universe. In particular, we find that it is naturally possible
to have a strongly first-order electroweak phase transition while
simultaneously relaxing the tension with EDM experiments. The R-symmetry (and
its small breaking) implies that the gauginos (and the neutralino LSP) are
pseudo-Dirac fermions, which is relevant for both baryogenesis and DM. The
singlet superpartner of the U(1)_Y pseudo-Dirac gaugino plays a prominent role
in making the electroweak phase transition strongly first-order. The
pseudo-Dirac nature of the LSP allows it to behave similarly to a Dirac
particle during freeze-out, but like a Majorana particle for annihilation today
and in scattering against nuclei, thus being consistent with current
constraints. Assuming a standard cosmology, it is possible to simultaneously
have a strongly first-order phase transition conducive to baryogenesis and have
the LSP provide the full DM relic abundance, in part of the allowed parameter
space. However, other possibilities for DM also exist, which are discussed. It
is expected that upcoming direct DM searches as well as neutrino signals from
DM annihilation in the Sun will be sensitive to this class of models.
Interesting collider and Gravity-wave signals are also briefly discussed.Comment: 50 pages, 10 figure