Flavor Physics in SO(10) GUTs with Suppressed Proton decay Due to Gauged Discrete Symmetry

Generic SO(10) GUT models suffer from the problem that Planck scale induced non-renormalizable proton decay operators require extreme suppression of their couplings to be compatible with present experimental upper limits. One way to resolve this problem is to supplement SO(10) by simple gauged discrete symmetries which can also simultaneously suppress the renormalizable R-parity violating ones when they occur and make the theory "more natural". Here we discuss the phenomenological viability of such models. We first show that for both classes of models, e.g the ones that use ${\bf 16}_H$ or ${\bf 126}_H$ to break B-L symmetry, the minimal Higgs content which is sufficient for proton decay suppression is inadequate for explaining fermion masses despite the presence of all apparently needed couplings. We then present an extended ${\bf 16}_H$ model, with three {\bf 10} and three {\bf 45}-Higgs, where is free of this problem. We propose this as a realistic and "natural" model for fermion unification and discuss the phenomenology of this model e.g. its predictions for neutrino mixings and lepton flavor violation.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figure

Baryon Asymmetry, Supersymmetry and Gravitational Anomalies

We discuss two independent issues about the baryon asymmetry of the universe. First, assuming that it is generated by an unspecified source at high temperatures, we study the effects of non-perturbative $SU(2)_W$ dynamics above the electroweak scale, in the context of supersymmetric models. We find that there is a substantial difference with the nonsupersymmetric case with the net effect of relaxing previous bounds on B and L violating interactions. In particular supersymmetry allows neutrino masses as large as 10 eV (preferred by solar neutrino and COBE data and measurable at future neutrino oscillation experiments). Second, we argue that the existence of a mixed lepton number-gravitational anomaly in the standard model will induce B-L violating interactions. These transitions would be catalized by Einstein-Yang-Mills instantons or sphalerons and could create a primordial B-L asymmetry at Planck temperatures or lower. Gravity (and the anomaly structure of the standard model) could then be the ultimate source of the baryon asymmetry. We analyze the viability of the presently known gravitational instantons and sphalerons to realize this scenario. (Talk presented by FQ at the Texas/Pascos Conference, Berkeley Dec.1992.)Comment: 8 pages,FTUAM-93-07 NEIP93-001, harvma

A Supersymmetric Contribution to the Neutrino Mass Matrix and Breaking of mu-tau Symmetry

Supersymmetry broken by anomaly mediation suffers from tachyonic slepton masses. A possible solution to this problem results in "decoupling", i.e., the first two generations of sfermions are much heavier than the third one. We note that in this scenario a sizable loop-induced contribution to the neutrino mass matrix results. As an application of this scenario we take advantage of the fact that the decoupling evidently not obeys 2-3 generation exchange symmetry. In the neutrino sector, this 2-3 symmetry (or mu-tau symmetry) is a useful Ansatz to generate zero theta_{13} and maximal theta_{23}. The induced deviations from these values are given for some examples, thereby linking SUSY breaking to the small parameters (including possibly the solar mass splitting) of the neutrino sector.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Seesaw Right Handed Neutrino as the Sterile Neutrino for LSND

We show that a double seesaw framework for neutrino masses with $\mu-\tau$ exchange symmetry can lead to one of the righthanded seesaw partners of the light neutrinos being massless. This can play the role of a light sterile neutrino, giving a $3+1$ model that explains the LSND results. We get a very economical scheme, which makes it possible to predict the full $4\times 4$ neutrino mass matrix if CP is conserved. Once CP violation is included, effect of the LSND mass range sterile neutrino is to eliminate the lower bound on neutrinoless double beta decay rate which exists for the three neutrino case with inverted mass hierarchy. The same strategy can also be used to generate a natural $3+2$ model for LSND, which is also equally predictive for the CP conserving case in the limit of exact $\mu-\tau$ symmetry.Comment: 13 pages and one figure; model extended to 3+2 cas

Cosmology of Brane-Bulk Models in Five Dimensions

We study the cosmology of models with four space and one time dimension where our universe is a 3-brane and report a few results which extend existing work in several directions. Assuming a stable fifth dimension, we obtain a solution for the metric, which does not depend on any arbitrary parameters. We discuss some implications of this result.Comment: Minor changes: brane energy conservation law and some typos corrected. All main results unchanged. 11 pages, no figures, LaTeX fil

Minimal Seesaw as an Ultraviolet Insensitive Cure for the Problems of Anomaly Mediation

We show that an intermediate scale supersymmetric left-right seesaw scenario with automatic R-parity conservation can cure the problem of tachyonic slepton masses that arises when supersymmetry is broken by anomaly mediation, while preserving ultraviolet insensitivity. The reason for this is the existence of light B - L = 2 higgses with yukawa couplings to the charged leptons. We find these theories to have distinct predictions compared to the usual mSUGRA and gauge mediated models as well as the minimal AMSB models. Such predictions include a condensed gaugino mass spectrum and possibly a correspondingly condensed sfermion spectrum.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figur

Searching for Strongly Interacting Massive Particles (SIMPs)

We consider laboratory experiments that can detect stable, neutral strongly interacting massive particles (SIMPs). We explore the SIMP annihilation cross section from its minimum value (restricted by cosmological bounds) to the barn range, and vary the mass values from a GeV to a TeV. We calculate, as a function of the SIMP-nucleon cross section, the minimum nucleon number A for which there should be binding in a nucleus. We consider accelerator mass spectrometry with a gold (A=200) target, and compute the likely abundance of anomalous gold nuclei if stable neutral SIMPs exist. We also consider the prospects and problems of detecting such particles at the Tevatron. We estimate optimistically that such detection might be possible for SIMPs with SIMP-nucleon cross sections larger than 0.1 millibarn and masses between 25 and 50 GeV.Comment: RevTeX, 10 pages, 3 figures; Minor updates to match published versio

Phenomenological Consequences of sub-leading Terms in See-Saw Formulas

Several aspects of next-to-leading (NLO) order corrections to see-saw formulas are discussed and phenomenologically relevant situations are identified. We generalize the formalism to calculate the NLO terms developed for the type I see-saw to variants like the inverse, double or linear see-saw, i.e., to cases in which more than two mass scales are present. In the standard type I case with very heavy fermion singlets the sub-leading terms are negligible. However, effects in the percent regime are possible when sub-matrices of the complete neutral fermion mass matrix obey a moderate hierarchy, e.g. weak scale and TeV scale. Examples are cancellations of large terms leading to small neutrino masses, or inverse see-saw scenarios. We furthermore identify situations in which no NLO corrections to certain observables arise, namely for mu-tau symmetry and cases with a vanishing neutrino mass. Finally, we emphasize that the unavoidable unitarity violation in see-saw scenarios with extra fermions can be calculated with the formalism in a straightforward manner.Comment: 22 pages, matches published versio

Two Categories of Approximately mu-tau Symmetric Neutrino Mass Textures

Our approximately \mu-\tau symmetric neutrino mass textures fall into two different categories, whose behaviors in the \mu-\tau symmetric limit are characterized by either \sin(theta_{13})->0 (referred to as C1)), or \sin(theta_{12})->0 (referred to as C2)). We present ten phenomenologically viable neutrino mass textures: two for the normal mass hierarchy, three for the inverted mass hierarchy, and five for the quasi degenerate mass pattern. Tiny \mu-\tau symmetry breaking ensures that \sin^2(theta_{13}) << 1 for C1), and \Delta m^2_\odot/\Delta m^2_{atm} (\equiv R) << 1 for C2). A correlation among small quantities is provided by \cos 2(theta_{23}) \sim \sin(theta_{13}) for C1), and by either \cos(2theta_{23}) \sim R, or \cos(2theta_{23})\sin(theta_{13}) \sim R for C2). It is further shown that \tan(2theta_{12}) \sim \cos(2theta_{23})/\sin(theta_{13}) is satisfied for C2). We find specific properties for each mass ordering, which are discussed in this article.Comment: 31 pages, 15 figures (High-resolution figures can be downloaded from http://www.sp.u-tokai.ac.jp/~yasue/two_categories_of.pdf.tar.gz