Beyond the standard seesaw: neutrino masses from Kahler operators and broken supersymmetry

We investigate supersymmetric scenarios in which neutrino masses are generated by effective d=6 operators in the Kahler potential, rather than by the standard d=5 superpotential operator. First, we discuss some general features of such effective operators, also including SUSY-breaking insertions, and compute the relevant renormalization group equations. Contributions to neutrino masses arise at low energy both at the tree level and through finite threshold corrections. In the second part we present simple explicit realizations in which those Kahler operators arise by integrating out heavy SU(2)_W triplets, as in the type II seesaw. Distinct scenarios emerge, depending on the mechanism and the scale of SUSY-breaking mediation. In particular, we propose an appealing and economical picture in which the heavy seesaw mediators are also messengers of SUSY breaking. In this case, strong correlations exist among neutrino parameters, sparticle and Higgs masses, as well as lepton flavour violating processes. Hence, this scenario can be tested at high-energy colliders, such as the LHC, and at lower energy experiments that measure neutrino parameters or search for rare lepton decays.Comment: LaTeX, 34 pages; some corrections in Section

W mass and Leptonic Z-decays in the NMSSM

We study a subset of electroweak-precision observables consisting of $M_W$, $\sin^2\theta_{{\tiny eff}}^{\tau}$, $BR(Z\to\tau^+\tau^-)$ and $\Gamma(Z\to\tau^+\tau^-)/\Gamma(Z\to e^+e^-)-1$ (characterizing leptonic $Z$-decays) in the context of the NMSSM. After a brief review of common MSSM-NMSSM effects, e.g. for $\Gamma(Z\to\tau^+\tau^-)/\Gamma(Z\to e^+e^-)-1$, which has been little discussed, even in the MSSM), specific NMSSM scenarios are studied, with the result that the NMSSM, considering existing constraints on its spectrum, is essentially consistent with available measurements, given the current accuracy.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figure