Gauge-mediated SUSY Breaking Research Articles

Search for long-lived particles using displaced vertices and missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at s=13 TeV

A search for the production of long-lived particles in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the CERN LHC is presented. The search is based on data collected by the CMS experiment in 2016–2018, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 137 fb−1. This search is designed to be sensitive to long-lived particles with mean proper decay lengths between 0.1 and 1000 mm, whose decay products produce a final state with at least one displaced vertex and missing transverse momentum. A machine learning algorithm, which improves the background rejection power by more than an order of magnitude, is applied to improve the sensitivity. The observation is consistent with the standard model background prediction, and the results are used to constrain split supersymmetry (SUSY) and gauge-mediated SUSY breaking models with different gluino mean proper decay lengths and masses. This search is the first CMS search that shows sensitivity to hadronically decaying long-lived particles from signals with mass differences between the gluino and neutralino below 100 GeV. It sets the most stringent limits to date for split-SUSY models and gauge-mediated SUSY breaking models with gluino proper decay length less than 6 mm. © 2024 CERN, for the CMS Collaboration 2024 CERN

Supersymmetric explanation of the muon g – 2 anomaly with and without stable neutralino

In this paper we explore the possibility of explaining the muon g − 2 anomaly in various types of supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model. In particular, we investigate and compare the phenomenological constraints in the MSSM with stable neutralino and the other types of scenarios where the neutralino is unstable. For the latter case we study the Gauge Mediated SUSY Breaking (GMSB) scenario with very light gravitino and the UDD-type R-Parity Violating (RPV) scenario. In the MSSM with stable neutralino, the parameter region favoured by the (g − 2)μ is strongly constrained by the neutralino relic abundance and the dark matter direct detection experiments, as well as by the LHC searches in the lepton plus missing transverse energy channel. On the other hand, the scenarios without stable neutralino are free from the dark matter constraints, while the LHC constraints depends strongly on the decay of the neutralino. We find that in GMSB the entire parameter region favoured by the muon g − 2 is already excluded if the Next Lightest SUSY Particle (NLSP) is the neutralino. In the GMSB scenario with a stau NSLP and in the RPV scenario, LHC constraints are weaker than the stable neutralino case and a larger region of parameter space is available to fit the (g − 2)μ anomaly.

Charms of strongly interacting conformal gauge mediation

By extending a previously proposed conformal gauge mediation model, we construct a gauge-mediated SUSY breaking (GMSB) model where a SUSY-breaking scale, a messenger mass, the μ-parameter and the gravitino mass in a minimal supersymmetric (SUSY) Standard Model (MSSM) are all explained by a single mass scale, a R-symmetry breaking scale. We focus on a low scale SUSY-breaking scenario with the gravitino mass m3/2 = mathcal{O}(1)mathrm{eV} , which is free from the cosmological gravitino problem and relaxes the fine-tuning of the cosmological constant. Both the messenger and SUSY-breaking sectors are subject to a hidden strong dynamics with the conformality above the messenger mass threshold (and hence the name of the model “strongly interacting conformal gauge mediation”). In our model, the Higgs B-term is suppressed and a large tan β is predicted, resulting in the relatively light second CP-even Higgs and the CP-odd Higgs with a sizable production cross section. These Higgs bosons can be tested at future LHC experiments.

Q-ball decay through A-term in the gauge-mediated SUSY breaking scenario

Q-balls are non-topological solitons whose classical stability is ensured by a global U(1) charge. In particular, Q-balls are produced in the framework of the Affleck-Dine baryogenesis where U(1) charge is the baryon number. Since some type of Q-balls is stable against quantum decay into nucleons, it can work as the dark matter. When the dark matter Q-balls are captured into the neutron star, they absorb the surrounding neutrons and grow to consume all the neutrons, which leads to a stringent constraint on the Q-ball dark matter. However, the Q-ball growth stops due to the U(1) breaking A-term. We revisit the constraint by the neutron star for the gauge-mediation type and the new type Q-ball, and find the allowed parameter space, in which Q-balls work as the dark matter.

Search for supersymmetry using Higgs boson to diphoton decays at sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

A search for supersymmetry (SUSY) is presented where at least one Higgs boson is produced and decays to two photons in the decay chains of pair-produced SUSY particles. Two analysis strategies are pursued: one focused on strong SUSY production and the other focused on electroweak SUSY production. The presence of charged leptons, additional Higgs boson candidates, and various kinematic variables are used to categorize events into search regions that are sensitive to different SUSY scenarios. The results are based on data from proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the CMS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 77.5 fb−1. No statistically significant excess of events is observed relative to the standard model expectations. We exclude bottom squark pair production for bottom squark masses below 530 GeV and a lightest neutralino mass of 1 GeV; wino-like chargino-neutralino production in gauge-mediated SUSY breaking (GMSB) for chargino and neutralino masses below 235 GeV with a gravitino mass of 1 GeV; and higgsino-like chargino-neutralino production in GMSB, where the neutralino decays exclusively to a Higgs boson and a gravitino for neutralino masses below 290 GeV.

Simplified models for displaced dark matter signatures

We propose a systematic programme to search for long-lived neutral particle signatures through a minimal set of displaced searches (dMETs). Our approach is to extend the well-established dark matter simplified models to include displaced vertices. The dark matter simplified models are used to describe the primary production vertex. A displaced secondary vertex, characterised by the mass of the long-lived particle and its lifetime, is added for the displaced signature. We show how these models can be motivated by, and mapped onto, complete models such as gauge-mediated SUSY breaking and models of neutral naturalness. We also outline how this approach may be used to extend other simplified models to incorporate displaced signatures and to characterise searches for long-lived charged particles. Displaced vertices are a striking signature which is often virtually background free, and thus provide an excellent target for the high-luminosity run of the Large Hadron Collider. The proposed models and searches provide a first step towards a systematic broadening of the displaced dark matter search programme.

New type of charged Q -ball dark matter in gauge mediated SUSY breaking models

We examined the viability of a new type of charged $Q$-ball dark matter scenario. We considered the case where the relics can be treated as ordinary ions, to which we applied the observational constraint from the MICA experiment, where no trail of heavy ionlike object is observed in $1{0}^{9}$ year-old ancient muscovite mica. We have found that the allowed parameter region exists but is smaller than the neutral $Q$-ball dark matter case. We have also discussed whether our scenario is actually consistent with Affleck-Dine mechanism.

Reducing the fine-tuning of gauge-mediated SUSY breaking

Despite their appealing features, models with gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking (GMSB) typically present a high degree of fine-tuning, due to the initial absence of the top trilinear scalar couplings, $A_t=0$. In this paper, we carefully evaluate such a tuning, showing that is worse than per mil in the minimal model. Then, we examine some existing proposals to generate $A_t\neq 0$ term in this context. We find that, although the stops can be made lighter, usually the tuning does not improve (it may be even worse), with some exceptions, which involve the generation of $A_t$ at one loop or tree level. We examine both possibilities and propose a conceptually simplified version of the latter; which is arguably the optimum GMSB setup (with minimal matter content), concerning the fine-tuning issue. The resulting fine-tuning is better than one per mil, still severe but similar to other minimal supersymmetric standard model constructions. We also explore the so-called "little $A_t^2/m^2$ problem", i.e. the fact that a large $A_t$-term is normally accompanied by a similar or larger sfermion mass, which typically implies an increase in the fine-tuning. Finally, we find the version of GMSB for which this ratio is optimized, which, nevertheless, does not minimize the fine-tuning.

Supersoft supersymmetry, conformal sequestering, and single scale supersymmetry breaking

Supersymmetric Standard Models (SSMs) with Dirac gauginos have the appealing supersoft property that they only cause finite contributions to scalar masses. Considering gauge mediated SUSY breaking with conformal sequestering and assuming there is one and only one fundamental parameter with dimension mass arising from supersymmetry breaking, we find a cancellation between the dominant terms that contribute to the EWFT. The resulting EWFT measure can be of order one even for supersymmetric particle masses and $\mu$-terms in the TeV range.

Can thermal inflation be consistent with baryogenesis in gauge-mediated SUSY breaking models?

Thermal inflation is an attractive idea to dilute cosmic density of unwanted particles such as moduli fields which cause cosmological difficulties. However, it also dilutes preexisting baryon asymmetry and some viable baryogenesis is necessary for a cosmologically consistent scenario. We investigate whether the Affleck-Dine mechanism can produce baryon asymmetry enough to survive after the dilution in gauge-mediated SUSY breaking models. Flat directions except for $LH_u$ flat direction cannot provide such huge baryon number because of Q-ball formation. We show that although the $LH_u$ flat direction is special in terms of having $\mu$-term which prevents Q-ball formation, it cannot explain the observed baryon asymmetry either.

Long-Lived Gluinos and Stable Axinos.

In this Letter we present a novel version of "long-lived" gluinos in supersymmetric models with the gluino lightest ordinary supersymmetric particle (LOSP) and the axino lightest supersymmetric particle. Within certain ranges of the axion decay constant f_{a}<1×10^{10} GeV, the gluino mass bounds are reduced to less than 1000GeV. The best limits can be obtained by looking for decaying R hadrons in the detector where the gluino decays to a gluon and axino in the calorimeters. Supersymmetry (SUSY) models with a gluino LOSP can occur over a significant region of parameter space in either mirage mediation or general gauge-mediated SUSY breaking models. The gluino LOSP is not constrained by cosmology, but in this scenario the axion or axino may be a good dark matter candidate.

Towards the natural gauge mediation

The sweet spot supersymmetry (SUSY) solves the μ/B μ problem in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) with gauge mediated SUSY breaking (GMSB) via the generalized Giudice-Masiero (GM) mechanism where only the μ-term and soft Higgs masses are generated at the unification scale of the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) due to the approximate PQ symmetry. Because all the other SUSY breaking soft terms are generated via the GMSB below the GUT scale, there exists SUSY electroweak (EW) fine-tuning problem to explain the 125 GeV Higgs boson mass due to small trilinear soft term. Thus, to explain the Higgs boson mass, we propose the GMSB with both the generalized GM mechanism and Higgs-messenger interactions. The renormalization group equations are runnings from the GUT scale down to EW scale. So the EW symmetry breaking can be realized easier. We can keep the gauge coupling unification and solution to the flavor problem in the GMSB, as well as solve the μ/B μ -problem. Moreover, there are only five free parameters in our model. So we can determine the characteristic low energy spectra and explore its distinct phenomenology. The fine-tuning measure can be as low as 100. For some benchmark points, the stop mass can be as low as 1.7 TeV while the glunio mass is around 2.5 TeV. The gravitino dark matter can come from a thermal production with the correct relic density and be consistent with the thermal leptogenesis. Because gluino and stop can be relatively light in our model, how to search for such GMSB at the upcoming run II of the LHC experiment could be very interesting.

Z-peaked excess in goldstini scenarios

We study a possible explanation of a 3.0 σ excess recently reported by the ATLAS Collaboration in events with Z-peaked same-flavour opposite-sign lepton pair, jets and large missing transverse momentum in the context of gauge-mediated SUSY breaking with more than one hidden sector, the so-called goldstini scenario. In a certain parameter space, the gluino two-body decay chain g˜→gχ˜1,20→gZG˜′ becomes dominant, where χ˜1,20 and G˜′ are the Higgsino-like neutralino and the massive pseudo-goldstino, respectively, and gluino pair production can contribute to the signal. We find that a mass spectrum such as mg˜∼1000 GeV, mχ˜1,20∼800 GeV and mG˜′∼600 GeV demonstrates the rate and the distributions of the excess, without conflicting with the stringent constraints from jets plus missing energy analyses and with the CMS constraint on the identical final state.

ChargedQ-balls in gauge mediated SUSY breaking models

It is known that after Affleck-Dine baryogenesis, spatial inhomogeneities of Affleck-Dine field grow into non-topological solitons called Q-balls. In gauge mediated SUSY breaking models, sufficiently large Q-balls with baryon charge are stable while Q-balls with lepton charge can always decay into leptons. For a Q-ball that carries nonzero $B$ and $L$ charges, the difference between the baryonic component and the leptonic component in decay rate may induce nonzero electric charge on the Q-ball. This implies that charged Q-ball, also called gauged Q-ball, may emerge in our universe. In this paper, we investigate two complex scalar fields, a baryonic scalar field and a leptonic one, in an Abelian gauge theory. We find stable solutions of gauged Q-balls for different baryon and lepton charges. Those solutions shows that a Coulomb potential arises and the Q-ball becomes electrically charged as expected. It is energetically favored that some amount of leptonic component decays, but there is an upper bound on its amount due to the Coulomb force. The baryonic decay also becomes possible by virtue of electrical repulsion and we find the condition to suppress it so that the charged Q-balls can survive in the universe.

Search for supersymmetry in events with large missing transverse momentum, jets, and at least one tau lepton in 20 fb−1 of s $$ \sqrt{s} $$ = 8 TeV proton-proton collision data with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry (SUSY) in events with large missing transverse momentum, jets, at least one hadronically decaying tau lepton and zero or one additional light leptons (electron/muon), has been performed using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. No excess above the Standard Model background expectation is observed in the various signal regions and 95% confidence level upper limits on the visible cross section for new phenomena are set. The results of the analysis are interpreted in several SUSY scenarios, significantly extending previous limits obtained in the same final states. In the framework of minimal gauge-mediated SUSY breaking models, values of the SUSY breaking scale $\Lambda$ below 63 TeV are excluded, independently of tan$\beta$. Exclusion limits are also derived for an mSUGRA/CMSSM model, in both the R-parity-conserving and R-parity-violating case. A further interpretation is presented in a framework of natural gauge mediation, in which the gluino is assumed to be the only light coloured sparticle and gluino masses below 1090 GeV are excluded.

Multiphoton signatures of goldstini at the LHC

We study models of gauge mediated SUSY breaking with more than one hidden sector. In these models the neutralino sector of the MSSM is supplemented with additional light neutral fermions, the nearly massless gravitino and the massive pseudo-goldstini. For the case where the Bino is the lightest ordinary SUSY particle, its preferred decay is to a photon and the heaviest pseudo-goldstino, which generically cascades down to lighter pseudo-goldstini, or to the gravitino, in association with photons. This gives rise to multiphoton plus missing energy signatures at the LHC. We investigate in detail simplified models where the SUSY spectrum consists of the right-handed sleptons, a Bino-like neutralino, the pseudo-goldstini and the gravitino. We compare against existing LHC searches and show that the sensitivity to our models could be significantly improved by relaxing the kinematic cuts and requiring additional final state particles. We propose inclusive searches in the final state with at least three photons plus missing energy and in the final state with at least two photons plus two leptons plus missing energy, the former being sensitive to any production mode and the latter being optimized for slepton pair production. We show that they could lead to an observation (or strong constraints) already with the data set from LHC Run I, and present prospects for LHC Run II.

MSSM with $$m_\mathrm{h}=125$$ m h = 125 GeV in high-scale gauge mediation

After the discovery of SM-like Higgs with $m_{h}=125$ GeV, it is increasingly urgent to explore a solution to the hierarchy problem. In the context of MSSM from gauge-mediated SUSY breaking, the lower bound on gluino mass suggests that the messenger scale $M$ is probably large if the magnitude of $\Lambda\sim 100$ TeV. In this paper, we study $\overline{\mathbf{5}}+ \mathbf{5}$ model with $M\sim 10^{8}-10^{12}$ GeV and $\Lambda\simeq 100$ TeV. For moderate Higgs-messenger coupling, it will be shown a viable model with moderate fine tuning. In this model, $\mu\sim 800$ GeV and $B_{\mu}$ nearly vanishes at input scale, which can be constructed in microscopic model.

Formula omitted] mediation for the natural SUSY and the anomalous muon [formula omitted

We propose a U(1)′ mediated supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking, in which U(1)′ is identified with U(1)B1+B2−2L1. The U(1)B1+B2−2L1 gauge symmetry, which is anomaly-free with the field contents of the minimal supersymmetric standard model, assigns ±1/3 charges to the first and second generations of the quarks, and ∓2 to the first generation of the leptons. As a result, the first two generations of squarks acquire masses of about 7 TeV, and the first generation of the sleptons do those of 40 TeV, respectively, in the presence of one or three pairs of extra vector-like matter {5,5¯}. Non-observation on extra colored particles below 1 TeV at the large hadron collider, and also the flavor violations such as μ−→e−γ are explained. By virtue of such a gauge symmetry, proton stability can be protected. The other squarks and sleptons as well as the gauginos can obtain masses of order 102−3 GeV through the conventional gravity or gauge mediated SUSY breaking mechanism. The relative light smuon/sneutrino and the neutralino/chargino could be responsible for the (g−2)μ deviated from the standard model prediction. The stop mass of ∼500 GeV relieves the fine-tuning problem in the Higgs sector. Two-loop effects by the relatively heavy sfermions can protect the smallness of the stop mass from the radiative correction by the heavy gluino (≳1 TeV). Extra vector-like matter can enhance the radiative corrections to the Higgs mass up to 126 GeV, and induce the desired mixing among the chiral fermions after U(1)B1+B2−2L1 breaking.

Revisiting the gravitino dark matter and baryon asymmetry from Q-ball decay in gauge mediation

We reconsider the Q-ball decay and reinvestigate the scenario that the amount of the baryons and the gravitino dark matter is naturally explained by the decay of the Q balls in the gauge-mediated SUSY breaking. We refine the decay rates into baryons, NLSPs, and gravitinos, and estimate their branching ratios based on the consideration of Pauli blocking. We obtain a smaller branching into gravitinos than the previous estimate, and the NLSPs are more produced by the Q-ball decay. However, the efficient annihilations of NLSPs occur afterward so that their abundance does not spoil the successful BBN and they only produce negligible amount of the gravitinos to the dark matter density by their decay. In this way, we find that the scenario with the direct production of the gravitino dark matter from the Q-ball decay works naturally.

Dark matter gravitinos and baryons via Q-ball decay in the gauge-mediated MSSM

We show that late Q-ball decay in the MSSM with gauge-mediated SUSY breaking can provide a natural source of non-thermal NLSPs which subsequently decay to gravitino dark matter without violating nucleosynthesis constraints. To show this, we perform a global analysis of Q-ball formation and decay in Affleck-Dine baryogenesis for a d = 6 (ucdcdc)2 flat direction of the gauge-mediated MSSM. A general phenomenological potential for the flat-direction is studied and the Q-ball decay properties are obtained as a function of its parameters. The corresponding gravitino mass necessary to account for dark matter is then determined for the case of stau NLSPs. The decay temperature depends on the charge of the Q-balls, which is determined by the fragmentation of the AD condensate. Different fragmentation scenarios are considered, and the final non-thermal NLSP density from Q-ball decay and NLSP annihilation is determined. Particular care is taken to establish that NLSPs from Q-ball decay become homogeneous and non-relativistic prior to annihilation. The gravitino mass necessary for dark matter is naturally consistent with the theoretical gravitino mass in the gauge-mediation model.