Splitting theW-ino multiplet by higher-dimensional operators in anomaly mediation

Abstract

In a class of anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking (AMSB) models, the splitting in the $W$-ino multiplet turns out to be very small, such as the often-quoted 170 MeV in minimal AMSB, which originates from minimal supersymmetric standard model loops. Such a small mass gap is potentially a window into higher scale physics, as it may be sensitive to higher-dimensional operators. We show that still within AMSB one can get a much larger splitting in the $W$-ino multiplet---a few GeV---if the scale of the new physics is comparable to the gravitino mass (which is indeed often the scale of new physics in anomaly mediation).