No Arabic abstract
Gauge coupling unification and the stability of the Higgs vacuum are among two of the cherished features of low-energy supersymmetric models. Putting aside questions of naturalness, supersymmetry might only be realised in nature at very high energy scales. If this is the case, the preservation of gauge coupling unification and the stability of the Higgs vacuum would certainly require new physics, but it need not necessarily be at weak scale energies. New physics near the unification scale could in principle ensure Grand Unification, while new physics below $mu sim 10^{10}$ GeV could ensure the stability of the Higgs vacuum. Surprisingly however, we find that in the context of a supersymmetric SO(10) Grand Unified Theory, gauge coupling unification and the Higgs vacuum stability, when taken in conjunction with existing phenomenological constraints, require the presence of $mathcal{O}$(TeV)-scale physics. This weak-scale physics takes the form of a complex scalar SU(2)$_L$ triplet with zero hypercharge, originating from the $mathbf{210}$ of SO(10).
We show that the supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model modifies the structure of the low lying BFKL discrete pomeron states (DPS) which give a sizable contribution to the gluon structure function in the HERA x and Q2 region. The comparison of the gluon density, determined within DPS with N=1 SUSY, with data favours a supersymmetry scale of the order of 10 TeV. The DPS method described here could open a new window to the physics beyond the Standard Model.
Various theoretical and experimental considerations motivate models with high scale supersymmetry breaking. While such models may be difficult to test in colliders, we propose looking for signatures at much lower energies. We show that a keV line in the X-ray spectrum of galaxy clusters (such as the recently disputed 3.5 keV observation) can have its origin in a universal string axion coupled to a hidden supersymmetry breaking sector. A linear combination of the string axion and an additional axion in the hidden sector remains light, obtaining a mass of order 10 keV through supersymmetry breaking dynamics. In order to explain the X-ray line, the scale of supersymmetry breaking must be about $10^{11-12}$ GeV. This motivates high scale supersymmetry as in pure gravity mediation or minimal split supersymmetry and is consistent with all current limits. Since the axion mass is controlled by a dynamical mass scale, this mass can be much higher during inflation, avoiding isocurvature (and domain wall) problems associated with high scale inflation. In an appendix we present a mechanism for dilaton stabilization that additionally leads to $mathcal{O}(1)$ modifications of the gaugino mass from anomaly mediation.
Despite the successes of the Standard Model of particle physics, it is known to suffer from a number of deficiencies. Several of these can be addressed within non-supersymmetric theories of grand unification based on $mathrm{SO}(10)$. However, achieving gauge coupling unification in such theories is known to require additional physics below the unification scale, such as symmetry breaking in multiple steps. Many such models are disfavored due to bounds on the proton lifetime. Corrections arising from threshold effects can, however, modify these conclusions. We analyze all seven relevant breaking chains with one intermediate symmetry breaking scale, assuming the survival hypothesis for the scalar masses. Two are allowed by proton lifetime and two are disfavored by a failure to unify the gauge couplings. The remaining three unify at a too low scale, but can be salvaged by various amounts of threshold corrections. We parametrize this and thereby rank the models by the size of the threshold corrections required to save them.
In hybrid inflation, the inflaton generically has a tadpole due to gravitational effects in supergravity, which significantly changes the inflaton dynamics in high-scale supersymmetry. We point out that the tadpole can be cancelled if there is a supersymmetry breaking singlet with gravitational couplings, and in particular, the cancellation is automatic in no-scale supergravity. We consider the LARGE volume scenario as a concrete example and discuss the compatibility between the hybrid inflation and the moduli stabilization. We also point out that the dark radiation generated by the overall volume modulus decay naturally relaxes a tension between the observed spectral index and the prediction of the hybrid inflation.
We consider the thermal production of axino dark matter in high-scale supersymmetry where all the superpartners except the axino are heavier than the maximum and reheating temperatures. In this case, the axinos are produced dominantly in pairs from the scattering of SM particles in thermal plasma in the early Universe after inflation. We find that the thermal averaged scattering cross section for the axino pair production is given by $langlesigma vrangle propto T^4$ in Kim-Shifman-Vainstein-Zakharov (KSVZ) axion model, while it does not depend on the temperature in Dine-Fischler-Srednicki-Zhitnitski (DFSZ) axion model. As a result, the axinos produced during the early matter domination is diluted by the entropy production, so the axino abundance is determined mainly by the reheating temperature, unlike the case with gravitino dark matter. We show that the axino pair production in DFSZ model opens up new parameter space for axino dark matter, due to non-decoupled Higgsino interactions at tree level.