Dynamical mass scale and approximate scaling symmetry in the Higgs sector

We investigate basic consequences of the assumption that the mass scale of the perturbative sector responsible for the spontaneous symmetry breaking is generated dynamically in a theory with a large UV scale. It is assumed that in addition to an elementary scalar there exists an additional scalar, a modulus, which controls the dynamical hierarchy of scales in the manner similar to that of supersymmetric gaugino condensation. It is shown that a light degree of freedom appears that couples to the gauge bosons and to charged fermions in a specific way which is different from the couplings of the dilaton of the exact scale invariance.

Beyond MFV in family symmetry theories of fermion masses

Minimal Flavour Violation (MFV) postulates that the only source of flavour changing neutral currents and CP violation, as in the Standard Model, is the CKM matrix. However it does not address the origin of fermion masses and mixing and models that do usually have a structure that goes well beyond the MFV framework. In this paper we compare the MFV predictions with those obtained in models based on spontaneously broken (horizontal) family symmetries, both Abelian and non-Abelian. The generic suppression of flavour changing processes in these models turns out to be weaker than in the MFV hypothesis. Despite this, in the supersymmetric case, the suppression may still be consistent with a solution to the hierarchy problem, with masses of superpartners below 1 TeV. A comparison of FCNC and CP violation in processes involving a variety of different family quantum numbers should be able to distinguish between various family symmetry models and models satisfying the MFV hypothesis.

On Gauge Mediation and Cosmological Vacuum Selection

Gauge mediation of supersymmetry breakdown has many attractive features and can be realized in phenomenologically interesting string-motivated models. We point out that in models with the Polonyi-like field stabilized at a low expectation value by quantum corrections, gravity seems to limit from above the admixture of gravity mediation to the dominant gauge mediation channel. However, we also point out that in a class of such models the low energy metastable supersymmetry breaking vaccum appears to be cosmologically disfavoured. These features should hold also in the case of typical stabilized models with anomalous U(1) groups.

Dynamics of Domain Walls for Split and Runaway Potentials

We demonstrate that the evolution of wall-like inhomogeneities in run-away potentials, characteristic of dynamical supersymmetry breaking and moduli stabilisation, is very similar to the evolution of domain wall networks associated with double well potentials. Instabilities that would lead to a rapid decay of domain walls can be significantly ameliorated by compensation effects between a non-degeneracy of the vacua and a biased initial distribution, which can be naturally expected in a wide class or particle physics models that lead to out-of-equilibrium phase transitions. Within this framework, it is possible to obtain domain walls that live long enough to be relevant for the cosmic power spectrum and galaxy clustering, while being compatible with the observed cosmic microwave background anisotropies.

Moduli and multi-field inflation

Moduli with flat or run-away classical potentials are generic in theories based on supersymmetry and extra dimensions. They mix between themselves and with matter fields in kinetic terms and in the nonperturbative superpotentials. As the result, interesting structure appears in the scalar potential which helps to stabilise and trap moduli and leads to multi-field inflation. The new and attractive feature of multi-inflationary setup are isocurvature perturbations which can modify in an interesting way the final spectrum of primordial fluctuations resulting from inflation.