Small numbers in supersymmetric theories of nature

Abstract

The Standard Model of particle interactions is a successful theory for describing the interactions of quarks, leptons and gauge bosons at microscopic distance scales. Despite these successes, the theory contains many unsatisfactory features. The origin of particle masses is a central mystery that has eluded experimental elucidation. In the Standard Model the known particles obtain their mass from the condensate of the so-called Higgs particle. Quantum corrections to the Higgs mass require an unnatural fine tuning in the Higgs mass of one part in 10{sup {minus}32} to obtain the correct mass scale of electroweak physics. In addition, the origin of the vast hierarchy between the mass scales of the electroweak and quantum gravity physics is not explained in the current theory. Supersymmetric extensions to the Standard Model are not plagued by this fine tuning issue and may therefore be relevant in Nature. In the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model there is also a natural explanation for electroweak symmetry breaking. Supersymmetric Grand Unified Theories also correctly predict a parameter of the Standard Model. This provides non-trivial indirect evidence for these theories. The most general supersymmetric extension to the Standard Model however, is excluded by many physical processes, such as rare flavor changingmore » processes, and the non-observation of the instability of the proton. These processes provide important information about the possible structure such a theory. In particular, certain parameters in this theory must be rather small. A physics explanation for why this is the case would be desirable. It is striking that the gauge couplings of the Standard Model unify if there is supersymmetry close to the weak scale. This suggests that at high energies Nature is described by a supersymmetric Grand Unified Theory. But the mass scale of unification must be introduced into the theory since it does not coincide with the probable mass scale of strong quantum gravity. The subject of this dissertation is both the phenomenology and model-building opportunities that may lie behind the small numbers that appear in supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model.« less