Minimal Nonminimal Supersymmetric Standard Model

We review the basic field-theoretic and phenomenological features of the recently introduced Minimal Nonminimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MNSSM). The introduced model is the simplest and most economic version among the proposed nonminimal supersymmetric models, in which the so-called $\mu$-problem can be successfully addressed. As opposed to the MSSM and the frequently-discussed NMSSM, the MNSSM can naturally predict the existence of a light charged Higgs boson with a mass smaller than 100 GeV. Such a possible realization of the Higgs sector can be soon be tested at the upgraded Run II phase of the Tevatron collider.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, talk given at the conference ``Beyond the Desert 2002,'' 2--7 June 2002, Oulu, Finlan

CP-odd Neutral Higgs Effects in Top -- anti-Top Production

We study $CP$ violation in the process $e^+e^- \to t\bar{t} \nu\bar{\nu}$ at an $e^+e^-$-TeV collider. As the source of $CP$ violation we assume a two-Higgs doublet model with an explicitly $CP$-noninvariant Higgs potential. Sizeable $CP$-odd observables originating from the subprocess reaction, $W^+W^- \to t\bar{t}$, may arise as a result of finite width effects of the neutral Higgs particles. $CPT$ constraints due to final (initial) state interactions are also taken into account. Numerical estimates of the $CP$ asymmetry are given.Comment: 28 pages(2 Figs not included), LaTeX, MZ-TH/92-5

Thermal Right-Handed Sneutrino Dark Matter

We discuss the relic abundance of the right-handed sneutrinos in the supersymmetric F_D-term model of hybrid inflation. As well as providing a natural solution to the mu- and gravitino overabundance problems, the model offers the lightest right-handed sneutrino as a candidate for thermal dark matter. The F_D-term model predicts a new quartic coupling of purely right-handed sneutrinos to the Higgs doublets that thermalizes the sneutrinos and makes them annihilate sufficiently fast to a level compatible with the current cosmic microwave background data. We discuss this scenario and identify favourable regions of the parameter space within mSUGRA.Comment: Submitted for the SUSY08 proceedings, 3 pages, LaTeX, 2 eps figure

Higgs Sector Radiative Corrections and s-Channel Production

Higgs boson mass sum rules of supersymmetric models offer attractive targets for precision tests at future muon colliders. These sum rules involve the gauge boson masses as well as the masses of the Higgs boson states which can be precisely measured in the $s$-channel production process at a muon collider. These measurements can sensitively probe radiative corrections to the Higgs boson masses as well as test for CP-violation and nonminimality of the Higgs sector.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, published versio

CP-Violating MSSM Higgs Bosons in the Light of LEP 2

In the MSSM, the CP parities of the neutral Higgs bosons may be mixed by radiative effects induced by explicit CP violation in the third generation of squarks. To allow for this possibility, we argue that the charged Higgs-boson mass and tan(beta) should be used to parametrize the MSSM Higgs sector. We introduce a new benchmark scenario of maximal CP violation appropriate for direct searches of CP-violating MSSM Higgs bosons. We show that the bounds established by LEP 2 on the MSSM Higgs sector may be substantially relaxed at low and intermediate values of tan(beta) in the presence of CP violation, and comment on possible Higgs boson signatures at LEP 2 within this framework.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, 4 encapsulated figure

Double beta decay and the extra-dimensional seesaw mechanism

We study the model-building conditions under which an observable 0vBB decay signal is predicted due to Kaluza-Klein singlet neutrinos in theories with large extra dimensions. Our analysis is based on 5-dimensional singlet-neutrino models compactified on an S^1/Z_2 orbifold, where the Standard-Model fields are localized on a 3-brane. We show that sizeable 0vBB rates within the above minimal 5-dimensional framework would require a non-vanishing shift of the 3-brane from the orbifold fixed points by an amount smaller than the typical scale 100 inverse MeV characterizing the Fermi nuclear momentum. The resulting 5-dimensional models predict a sizeable effective Majorana-neutrino mass that could be several orders of magnitude larger than the light neutrino masses.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, talk presented by H. Paes at AHEP-2003, Valencia, Spai

Renormalization-Group-Improved Effective Potential for the MSSM Higgs Sector with Explicit CP Violation

We perform a systematic study of the one-loop renormalization-group-improved effective potential of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM), including CP violation induced radiatively by soft trilinear interactions related to squarks of the third generation. We calculate the charged and neutral Higgs-boson masses and couplings, including the two-loop logarithmic corrections that arise from QCD effects, as well as those associated with the top- and bottom-quark Yukawa couplings. We also include the potentially large two-loop non-logarithmic corrections induced by one-loop threshold effects on the top- and bottom-quark Yukawa couplings, due to the decoupling of the third-generation squarks. Within this minimal CP-violating framework, the charged and neutral Higgs sectors become intimately related to one another and therefore require a unified treatment. In the limit of a large charged Higgs-boson mass, M_{H^+} >> M_Z, the lightest neutral Higgs boson resembles that in the Standard Model (SM), and CP violation occurs only in the heavy Higgs sector. Our analysis shows that sizeable radiative effects of CP violation in the Higgs sector of the MSSM may lead to significant modifications of previous studies for Higgs-boson searches at LEP2, the Tevatron and the LHC. In particular, CP violation could enable a relatively light Higgs boson to escape detection at LEP2.Comment: 55 pages, LaTeX, 9 eps figures, typo in (A.12) eliminate

On Gauge Invariance of Breit-Wigner Propagators

We present an approach to bosonic ($Z^0, W^{\pm}$) as well as fermionic (top-quark) Breit-Wigner propagators which is consistent with gauge invariance arguments. In particular, for the $Z^0$-boson propagator we extend previous analyses and show that the part proportional to $k_{\mu} k_{\nu}/M^2$ must be modified near the resonance. We derive a mass shift which agrees with results obtained elsewhere by different methods. The modified form of a resonant heavy fermion propagator is also given.Comment: 16 p., TeX, (final version