Generalized messengers of supersymmetry breaking and the sparticle mass spectrum

We investigate the sparticle spectrum in models of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking. In these models, supersymmetry is spontaneously broken at an energy scale only a few orders of magnitude above the electroweak scale. The breakdown of supersymmetry is communicated to the standard model particles and their superpartners by "messenger" fields through their ordinary gauge interactions. We study the effects of a messenger sector in which the supersymmetry-violating F-term contributions to messenger scalar masses are comparable to the supersymmetry-preserving ones. We also argue that it is not particularly natural to restrict attention to models in which the messenger fields lie in complete SU(5) GUT multiplets, and we identify a much larger class of viable models. Remarkably, however, we find that the superpartner mass parameters in these models are still subject to many significant contraints.Comment: 24 pages, LaTeX, uses epsf.sty, 4 figures. Assumptions clarified, numerical bounds tweaked, typos correcte

One-Loop Corrections to Bubble Nucleation Rate at Finite Temperature

We present an evaluation of the 1-loop prefactor in the lifetime of a metastable state which decays at finite temperature by bubble nucleation. Such a state is considered in one-component phi^4 model in three space dimensions. The calculation serves as a prototype application of a fast numerical method for evaluating the functional determinants that appear in semiclassical approximations.Comment: DO-TH-93/18, 15 pages, 11 Figures available on request, LaTeX, no macros neede

Transmission of Supersymmetry Breaking from a 4-Dimensional Boundary

In the strong-coupling limit of the heterotic string theory constructed by Horava and Witten, an 11-dimensional supergravity theory is coupled to matter multiplets confined to 10-dimensional mirror planes. This structure suggests that realistic unification models are obtained, after compactification of 6 dimensions, as theories of 5-dimensional supergravity in an interval, coupling to matter fields on 4-dimensional walls. Supersymmetry breaking may be communicated from one boundary to another by the 5-dimensional fields. In this paper, we study a toy model of this communication in which 5-dimensional super-Yang-Mills theory in the bulk couples to chiral multiplets on the walls. Using the auxiliary fields of the Yang-Mills multiplet, we find a simple algorithm for coupling the bulk and boundary fields. We demonstrate two different mechanisms for generating soft supersymmetry breaking terms in the boundary theory. We also compute the Casimir energy generated by supersymmetry breaking.Comment: 26 pages, latex + 7 eps figures, final correction

On the Inconsistency of Fayet-Iliopoulos Terms in Supergravity Theories

Motivated by recent discussions, we revisit the issue of whether globally supersymmetric theories with non-zero Fayet-Iliopoulos terms may be consistently coupled to supergravity. In particular, we examine claims that a fundamental inconsistency arises due to the conflicting requirements which are imposed on the $R$-symmetry properties of the theory by the supergravity framework. We also prove that certain kinds of Fayet-Iliopoulos contributions to the supercurrent supermultiplets of theories with non-zero Fayet-Iliopoulos terms fail to exist. A key feature of our discussion is an explicit comparison between results from the chiral (or ``old minimal'') and linear (or ``new minimal'') formulations of supergravity, and the effects within each of these formalisms that are induced by the presence of non-zero Fayet-Iliopoulos terms.Comment: Comments: 69 pages, LaTeX, 2 figures, 7 tables. Significant new material on conformal-compensator formalisms added, previous results clarified and extended, references adde

The Tokyo Axion Helioscope Experiment

A preliminary result of the solar axion search experiment at the University of Tokyo is presented. We searched for axions which could be produced in the solar core by exploiting the axion helioscope. The helioscope consists of a superconducting magnet with field strength of 4 Tesla over 2.3 meters. From the absence of the axion signal we set a 95 % confidence level upper limit on the axion coupling to two photons $g_{a\gamma\gamma} < 6.0 \times 10^{-10} GeV^{-1}$ for the axion mass $m_a < 0.03$ eV. This is the first solar axion search experiment whose sensitivity to $g_{a\gamma\gamma}$ exceeds the limit inferred from the solar age consideration.Comment: 5 pages, 5 eps files included, uses espcrc2.sty, to be published in Proc. AXION WORKSHOP, Gainesville, Florida, 13-15 March 1998, ed. by P.Sikivi

Localized tadpoles of anomalous heterotic U(1)'s

We investigate the properties of localized anomalous U(1)'s in heterotic string theory on the orbifold T^6/Z_3. We argue that the local four dimensional and original ten dimensional Green-Schwarz mechanisms can be implemented simultaneously, making the theory manifestly gauge invariant everywhere, in the bulk and at the fixed points. We compute the shape of the Fayet-Iliopoulos tadpoles, and cross check this derivation for the four dimensional auxiliary fields by a direct calculation of the tadpoles of the internal gauge fields. Finally we study some resulting consequences for spontaneous symmetry breaking, and derive the profile of the internal gauge field background over the orbifold.Comment: 35 pages, LaTeX, with figure

Dark Matters in Axino Gravitino Cosmology

It is suggested that the axino mass in the 1 MeV region and gravitino mass in the eV region can provide an axino lifetime of order of the time of photon decoupling. In this case, some undecayed axinos act like cold dark matters and some axino decay products (gravitinos and hot axions) act like hot dark matters at the time of galaxy formation.Comment: 9 pages, Late

One-loop corrections to the metastable vacuum decay

We evaluate the one-loop prefactor in the false vacuum decay rate in a theory of a self interacting scalar field in 3+1 dimensions. We use a numerical method, established some time ago, which is based on a well-known theorem on functional determinants. The proper handling of zero modes and of renormalization is discussed. The numerical results in particular show that quantum corrections become smaller away from the thin-wall case. In the thin-wall limit the numerical results are found to join into those obtained by a gradient expansion.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figure

Superconformal Flavor Simplified

A simple explanation of the flavor hierarchies can arise if matter fields interact with a conformal sector and different generations have different anomalous dimensions under the CFT. However, in the original study by Nelson and Strassler many supersymmetric models of this type were considered to be 'incalculable' because the R-charges were not sufficiently constrained by the superpotential. We point out that nearly all such models are calculable with the use of a-maximization. Utilizing this, we construct the simplest vector-like flavor models and discuss their viability. A significant constraint on these models comes from requiring that the visible gauge couplings remain perturbative throughout the conformal window needed to generate the hierarchies. However, we find that there is a small class of simple flavor models that can evade this bound.Comment: 43 pages, 1 figure; V3: small corrections and clarifications, references adde

New supersymmetric higher-derivative couplings: Full N=2 superspace does not count!

An extended class of N=2 locally supersymmetric invariants with higher-derivative couplings based on full superspace integrals, is constructed. These invariants may depend on unrestricted chiral supermultiplets, on vector supermultiplets and on the Weyl supermultiplet. Supersymmetry is realized off-shell. A non-renormalization theorem is proven according to which none of these invariants can contribute to the entropy and electric charges of BPS black holes. Some of these invariants may be relevant for topological string deformations.Comment: 24 pages, v2: version published in JHEP, one reference added and typos corrected, v3: reference adde