Abstract
We initiate the study of gravitational wave (GW) signals from first-order phase transitions in supersymmetry-breaking hidden sectors. Such phase transitions often occur along a pseudo-flat direction universally related to supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking in hidden sectors that spontaneously break R-symmetry. The potential along this pseudo-flat direction imbues the phase transition with a number of novel properties, including a nucleation temperature well below the scale of heavy states (such that the temperature dependence is captured by the low-temperature expansion) and significant friction induced by the same heavy states as they pass through bubble walls. In low-energy SUSY-breaking hidden sectors, the frequency of the GW signal arising from such a phase transition is guaranteed to lie within the reach of future interferometers given existing cosmological constraints on the gravitino abundance. Once a mediation scheme is specified, the frequency of the GW peak correlates with the superpartner spectrum. Current bounds on supersymmetry are compatible with GW signals at future interferometers, while the observation of a GW signal from a SUSY-breaking hidden sector would imply superpartners within reach of future colliders.
Highlights
If supersymmetry is a property of our universe, how will it be discovered? Conventionally, searches for evidence of supersymmetry (SUSY) have focused on the Standard Model, looking for supersymmetric partners of Standard Model particles in direct production at colliders, scattering in dark matter experiments, and virtual effects in precision measurements
We explore a new avenue for discovering supersymmetry in the physics of the early universe: using the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) produced by a first-order phase transition to directly probe the sector responsible for breaking supersymmetry [3]
We began by asking if future gravity wave detectors could provide a new window into supersymmetry by probing SUSY-breaking hidden sectors in a region not yet excluded by LHC searches
Summary
If supersymmetry is a property of our universe, how will it be discovered? Conventionally, searches for evidence of supersymmetry (SUSY) have focused on the Standard Model, looking for supersymmetric partners of Standard Model particles in direct production at colliders, scattering in dark matter experiments, and virtual effects in precision measurements. We explore a new avenue for discovering supersymmetry in the physics of the early universe: using the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) produced by a first-order phase transition to directly probe the sector responsible for breaking super-. Sensitivity of current and proposed GW interferometers to stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds broadly motivates identifying beyond-the-Standard Model (BSM) scenarios whose first-order phase transitions may generate such a signal and exploring the complementarity of GW interferometry with other probes of new physics such as present and future colliders.. A consistent cosmological history (in which the production of gravitinos in the early universe is consistent with the present dark matter abundance and small-scale structure constraints) guarantees that low-energy supersymmetry-breaking phase transitions produce a peak frequency in the range accessible to current and future interferometers [17,18,19,20]. The dark cyan region marked as inaccessible in LESB is always excluded by a combination of gravitino overabundance [30] and BBN constraints [31] (see section 5 for details)
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