44 research outputs found
Metastable Vacua in Superconformal SQCD-like Theories
We study dynamical supersymmetry breaking in vector-like superconformal N=1
gauge theories. We find appropriate deformations of the superpotential to
overcome the problem of the instability of the non supersymmetric vacuum. The
request for long lifetime translates into constraints on the physical couplings
which in this regime can be controlled through efficient RG analysis.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, JHEP3.cl
Higgs Boson Mass in Low Scale Gauge Mediation Models
We consider low scale gauge mediation models with a very light gravitino
m_{3/2}~16 eV, in the light of recent experimental hints on the Higgs boson
mass. The light gravitino is very interesting since there is no gravitino
over-production problem, but it seems difficult to explain the Higgs boson mass
of ~125 GeV. This is because of the conflict between the light gravitino mass
and heavy SUSY particle masses needed for producing the relatively heavy Higgs
boson mass. We consider two possible extensions in this paper: a singlet
extension of the Higgs sector, and strongly coupled gauge mediation. We show
that there is a large parameter space, in both scenarios, where the Higgs boson
mass of ~125 GeV is explained without any conflict with such a very light
gravitino.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figure
Solitonic supersymmetry restoration
Q-balls are a possible feature of any model with a conserved, global U(1)
symmetry and no massless, charged scalars. It is shown that for a broad class
of models of metastable supersymmetry breaking they are extremely influential
on the vacuum lifetime and make seemingly viable vacua catastrophically short
lived. A net charge asymmetry is not required as there is often a significant
range of parameter space where statistical fluctuations alone are sufficient.
This effect is examined for two supersymmetry breaking scenarios. It is found
that models of minimal gauge mediation (which necessarily have a messenger
number U(1)) undergo a rapid, supersymmetry restoring phase transition unless
the messenger mass is greater than 10^8 GeV. Similarly the ISS model, in the
context of direct mediation, quickly decays unless the perturbative
superpotential coupling is greater than the Standard Model gauge couplings.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, minor comments added, accepted for publication
in JHE
Exploring Holographic General Gauge Mediation
We study models of gauge mediation with strongly coupled hidden sectors,
employing a hard wall background as an holographic dual description. The
structure of the soft spectrum depends crucially on the boundary conditions one
imposes on bulk fields at the IR wall. Generically, vector and fermion
correlators have poles at zero momentum, leading to gauge mediation by massive
vector messengers and/or generating Dirac gaugino masses. Instead, non-generic
choices of boundary conditions let one cover all of GGM parameter space.
Enriching the background with R-symmetry breaking scalars, the SSM soft term
structure becomes more constrained and similar to previously studied top-down
models, while retaining the more analytic control the present bottom-up
approach offers.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures; v2: typos corrected and refs adde
Simplified R-Symmetry Breaking and Low-Scale Gauge Mediation
We argue that some of the difficulties in constructing realistic models of
low-scale gauge mediation are artifacts of the narrow set of models that have
been studied. In particular, much attention has been payed to the scenario in
which the Goldstino superfield in an O'Raifeartaigh model is responsible for
both supersymmetry breaking and R-symmetry breaking. In such models, the
competing problems of generating sufficiently massive gauginos while preserving
an acceptably light gravitino can be quite challenging. We show that by sharing
the burdens of breaking supersymmetry and R-symmetry with a second field, these
problems are easily solved even within the O'Raifeartaigh framework. We present
explicit models realizing minimal gauge mediation with a gravitino mass in the
eV range that are both calculable and falsifiable.Comment: 31 pages, 4 figures, references added, minor change
SU(7) Unification of SU(3)_C*SU(4)_W* U(1)_{B-L}
We propose the SUSY SU(7) unification of the SU(3)_C* SU(4)_W* U(1)_{B-L}
model. Such unification scenario has rich symmetry breaking chains in a
five-dimensional orbifold. We study in detail the SUSY SU(7) symmetry breaking
into SU(3)_C* SU(4)_W* U(1)_{B-L} by boundary conditions in a Randall-Sundrum
background and its AdS/CFT interpretation. We find that successful gauge
coupling unification can be achieved in our scenario. Gauge unification favors
low left-right and unification scales with tree-level \sin^2\theta_W=0.15. We
use the AdS/CFT dual of the conformal supersymmetry breaking scenario to break
the remaining N=1 supersymmetry. We employ AdS/CFT to reproduce the NSVZ
formula and obtain the structure of the Seiberg duality in the strong coupling
region for 3/2N_c<N_F<3N_C. We show that supersymmetry is indeed broken in the
conformal supersymmetry breaking scenario with a vanishing singlet vacuum
expectation value.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figure
A precision study of the fine tuning in the DiracNMSSM
Recently the DiracNMSSM has been proposed as a possible solution to reduce
the fine tuning in supersymmetry. We determine the degree of fine tuning needed
in the DiracNMSSM with and without non-universal gaugino masses and compare it
with the fine tuning in the GNMSSM. To apply reasonable cuts on the allowed
parameter regions we perform a precise calculation of the Higgs mass. In
addition, we include the limits from direct SUSY searches and dark matter
abundance. We find that both models are comparable in terms of fine tuning,
with the minimal fine tuning in the GNMSSM slightly smaller.Comment: 20 pages + appendices, 10 figure
Lysophosphatidic acid production and action: critical new players in breast cancer initiation and progression
Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a potent lipid mediator that acts on a series of specific G protein-coupled receptors, leading to diverse biological actions. Lysophosphatidic acid induces cell proliferation, survival and migration, which are critically required for tumour formation and metastasis. This bioactive lipid is produced by the ectoenzyme lysophospholipase D or autotaxin (ATX), earlier known as an autocrine motility factor. The ATXβLPA signalling axis has emerged as an important player in many types of cancer. Indeed, aberrant expression of ATX and LPA receptors occurs during the development and progression of breast cancer. Importantly, expression of either ATX or LPA receptors in the mammary gland of transgenic mice is sufficient to induce the development of a high frequency of invasive and metastatic mammary cancers. The focus of research now turns to understanding the mechanisms by which ATX and LPA promote mammary tumourigenesis and metastasis. Targeting the ATXβLPA signalling axis for drug development may further improve outcomes in patients with breast cancer
RNA-Seq of Human Neurons Derived from iPS Cells Reveals Candidate Long Non-Coding RNAs Involved in Neurogenesis and Neuropsychiatric Disorders
Genome-wide expression analysis using next generation sequencing (RNA-Seq) provides an opportunity for in-depth molecular profiling of fundamental biological processes, such as cellular differentiation and malignant transformation. Differentiating human neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provide an ideal system for RNA-Seq since defective neurogenesis caused by abnormalities in transcription factors, DNA methylation, and chromatin modifiers lie at the heart of some neuropsychiatric disorders. As a preliminary step towards applying next generation sequencing using neurons derived from patient-specific iPSCs, we have carried out an RNA-Seq analysis on control human neurons. Dramatic changes in the expression of coding genes, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), pseudogenes, and splice isoforms were seen during the transition from pluripotent stem cells to early differentiating neurons. A number of genes that undergo radical changes in expression during this transition include candidates for schizophrenia (SZ), bipolar disorder (BD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) that function as transcription factors and chromatin modifiers, such as POU3F2 and ZNF804A, and genes coding for cell adhesion proteins implicated in these conditions including NRXN1 and NLGN1. In addition, a number of novel lncRNAs were found to undergo dramatic changes in expression, one of which is HOTAIRM1, a regulator of several HOXA genes during myelopoiesis. The increase we observed in differentiating neurons suggests a role in neurogenesis as well. Finally, several lncRNAs that map near SNPs associated with SZ in genome wide association studies also increase during neuronal differentiation, suggesting that these novel transcripts may be abnormally regulated in a subgroup of patients