Intermediate scale inflation and metastable supersymmetry breaking

Abstract

We investigate the possibility of obtaining a low scale of supersymmetry breaking within the ISS framework using a metastable vacuum. This is achieved by introducing an R symmetry preserving gravitational coupling of the ISS sector to a relatively low scale inflationary sector. We find the allowed range for the supersymmetry breaking scale, 104 GeV≲μ≲108 GeV, which is low enough to be amenable to gauge supersymmetry breaking mediation. This scenario is based upon a so-called hilltop inflation phase whose initial condition problem is also addressed.