Gravitino Decay Research Articles

Non-oscillatory no-scale inflation

We propose a non-oscillatory no-scale supergravity model of inflation (NO-NO inflation) in which the inflaton does not oscillate at the end of the inflationary era. Instead, the Universe is then dominated by the inflaton kinetic energy density (kination). During the transition from inflation to kination, the Universe preheats instantly through a coupling to Higgs-like fields. These rapidly annihilate and scatter into ultra-relativistic matter particles, which subsequently dominate the energy density, and reheating occurs at a temperature far above that of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. After the electroweak transition, the inflaton enters a tracking phase as in some models of quintessential inflation. The model predictions for cosmic microwave background observables are consistent with Planck 2018 data, and the density of gravitational waves is below the upper bound from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. We also find that the density of supersymmetric cold dark matter produced by gravitino decay is consistent with Planck 2018 data over the expected range of supersymmetric particle masses.

Dark matter in the KL moduli stabilization scenario with SUSY breaking sector from mathcal{N} = 1 SQCD

We investigate neutralino dark matter from a string/M-theory perspective. Using the Kallosh-Linde (KL) scenario to stabilize the string moduli requires supersymmetry breaking for uplifting to a de Sitter vacuum. We consider the free magnetic dual description of mathcal{N} = 1 SUSY QCD with massive flavours, the Intriligator-Seiberg-Shih model (ISS), as an F-term dynamical SUSY breaking sector. This framework allows for a gravitino mass in the TeV range. Moreover, due to the plethora of particles from the ISS sector, we investigate the consequences of coupling the MSSM with the KL-ISS setup to obtain constraints from both late entropy production and the dark matter relic density. In addition to thermal neutralino production, we consider neutralino production via the decays of gravitinos and ISS fields.

ΔNeff and entropy production from early-decaying gravitinos

Gravitinos are a fundamental prediction of supergravity, their mass ($m_{G}$) is informative of the value of the SUSY breaking scale, and, if produced during reheating, their number density is a function of the reheating temperature ($T_{\text{rh}}$). As a result, constraining their parameter space provides in turn significant constraints on particles physics and cosmology. We have previously shown that for gravitinos decaying into photons or charged particles during the ($\mu$ and $y$) distortion eras, upcoming CMB spectral distortions bounds are highly effective in constraining the $T_{\text{rh}}-m_{G}$ space. For heavier gravitinos (with lifetimes shorter than a few $\times10^6$ sec), distortions are quickly thermalized and energy injections cause a temperature rise for the CMB bath. If the decay occurs after neutrino decoupling, its overall effect is a suppression of the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom ($N_{\text{eff}}$). In this paper, we utilize the observational bounds on $N_{\text{eff}}$ to constrain gravitino decays, and hence provide new constaints on gravitinos and reheating. For gravitino masses less than $\approx 10^5$ GeV, current observations give an upper limit on the reheating scale in the range of $\approx 5 \times 10^{10}- 5 \times 10^{11}$GeV. For masses greater than $\approx 4 \times 10^3$ GeV they are more stringent than previous bounds from BBN constraints, coming from photodissociation of deuterium, by almost 2 orders of magnitude.

Supergravity models with 50–100 TeV scalars, supersymmetry discovery at the LHC, and gravitino decay constraints

We investigate the possibility of testing supergravity unified models with scalar masses in the range 50-100 TeV and much lighter gaugino masses at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis is carried out under the constraints that models produce the Higgs boson mass consistent with experiment and also produce dark matter consistent with WMAP and PLANCK experiments. A set of benchmarks in the supergravity parameter space are investigated using a combination of signal regions which are optimized for the model set. It is found that some of the models with scalar masses in the 50-100 TeV mass range are discoverable with as little as 100 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity and should be accessible at the LHC RUN II. The remaining benchmark models are found to be discoverable with less than 1000 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity and thus testable in the high luminosity era of the LHC, i.e., at HL-LHC. It is shown that scalar masses in the 50-100 TeV range but gaugino masses much lower in mass produce unification of gauge coupling constants, consistent with experimental data at low scale, with as good an accuracy (and sometimes even better) as models with low ($\mathcal{O}(1)$ TeV) weak scale supersymmetry. Decay of the gravitinos for the supergravity model benchmarks are investigated and it is shown that they decay before the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN). Further, we investigate the non-thermal production of neutralinos from gravitino decay and it is found that the non-thermal contribution to the dark matter relic density is negligible relative to that from the thermal production of neutralinos for reheat temperature after inflation up to $10^9$ GeV. An analysis of the direct detection of dark matter for SUGRA models with high scalar masses is also discussed.

Dynamical supersymmetry breaking and late-timeRsymmetry breaking as the origin of cosmic inflation

Spontaneously broken supersymmetry (SUSY) and a vanishingly small cosmological constant imply that R symmetry must be spontaneously broken at low energies. Based on this observation, we suppose that, in the sector responsible for low-energy R symmetry breaking, a discrete R symmetry remains preserved at high energies and only becomes dynamically broken at relatively late times in the cosmological evolution, i.e., after the dynamical breaking of SUSY. Prior to R symmetry breaking, the Universe is then bound to be in a quasi-de Sitter phase---which offers a dynamical explanation for the occurrence of cosmic inflation. This scenario yields a new perspective on the interplay between SUSY breaking and inflation, which neatly fits into the paradigm of high-scale SUSY: inflation is driven by the SUSY-breaking vacuum energy density, while the chiral field responsible for SUSY breaking, the Polonyi field, serves as the inflaton. Because R symmetry is broken only after inflation, slow-roll inflation is not spoiled by otherwise dangerous gravitational corrections in supergravity. We illustrate our idea by means of a concrete example, in which both SUSY and R symmetry are broken by strong gauge dynamics and in which late-time R symmetry breaking is triggered by a small inflaton field value. In this model, the scales of inflation and SUSY breaking are unified; the inflationary predictions are similar to those of F-term hybrid inflation in supergravity; reheating proceeds via gravitino decay at temperatures consistent with thermal leptogenesis; and the sparticle mass spectrum follows from pure gravity mediation. Dark matter consists of thermally produced winos with a mass in the TeV range.

Constraints on gravitino decay and the scale of inflation using CMB spectral distortions

If local supersymmetry is the correct extension of the standard model of particle physics, then following Inflation the early universe would have been populated by gravitinos produced from scatterings in the hot plasma during reheating. Their abundance is directly related to the magnitude of the reheating temperature. The gravitino lifetime is fixed as a function of its mass, and for gravitinos with lifetimes longer than the age of the universe at redshift $z\simeq 2\times 10^{6}$ (or roughly $6\times 10^6{\rm s}$), decay products can produce spectral distortion of the cosmic microwave background. Currently available COBE/FIRAS limits on spectral distortion can, in certain cases, already be competitive with respect to cosmological constraints from primordial nucleosynthesis for some gravitino decay scenarios. We show how the sensitivity limits on $\mu$ and $y$ distortions that can be reached with current technology would improve constraints and possibly rule out a significant portion of the parameter space for gravitino masses and Inflation reheating temperatures.

Confronting recent AMS-02 positron fraction and Fermi-LAT extragalactic γ-ray background measurements with gravitino dark matter

Recent positron flux fraction measurements in cosmic-rays (CR) made by the AMS-02 satellite confirm and extends the evidence on the existence of a new (yet unknown) source of high energy positrons. To explain this excess, we use the gravitino of bilinear R-parity violating SUSY models as a decaying Dark Matter candidate, as the source of those high energy particles. Being a long lived weak-interacting and spin 3/2 particle, it offers several particularities which makes it an attractive candidate. We compute the electron, positron and $\gamma$-ray\ fluxes produced by each gravitino decay channel at the Earth. Combining the flux from the different decay modes we can fit AMS-02 measurements of the positron fraction, as well as the electron and positron fluxes, with a gravitino mass in the range $1-2$ TeV and lifetimes of $\sim 1.0-0.8\times 10^{26}$ s. . Then, we study the viability of these scenarios through their implications in $\gamma$-ray observations. We set limits on the gravitino lifetime using the Extragalactic $\gamma$-ray Background recently reported by the {\it Fermi}-LAT Collaboration and a state-of-the-art model of its known contributors. These limits exclude the gravitino parameter space which provides an acceptable explanation of the AMS-02 data. Therefore, we conclude that the gravitino of bilinear R-parity violating models is ruled out as the unique primary source of electrons and positrons needed to explain the rise in the positron fraction.

Gravitino dark matter in split supersymmetry with bilinear R-parity violation

In Split-SUSY with BRpV we show that the Gravitino DM solution is consistent with experimental evidence as regards its relic density and life time. We arrive at this conclusion by performing a complete numerical and algebraic study of the parameter space, including constraints from the recently determined Higgs mass, updated neutrino physics, and BBN constraints on NLSP decays. The Higgs mass requires a relatively low Split-SUSY mass scale, which is naturally smaller than usual values for reheating temperature, allowing the use of the standard expression for the relic density. We include restrictions from neutrino physics with three generations, and we notice that the gravitino decay width depends on the atmospheric neutrino mass scale. We calculate the neutralino decay rate and find it consistent with BBN. We mention some implications on indirect DM searches.

High-scale SUSY breaking models in light of the BICEP2 result

The large value of the tensor-to-scalar ratio in the cosmic microwave background radiation reported by the BICEP2 collaboration gives strong impact on models of supersymmetry (SUSY). The large ratio indicates inflation with a high-energy scale and thus a high reheating temperature in general, and various SUSY models suffer from the serious gravitino and Polonyi problems. In this article, we discuss a class of the high-scale SUSY breaking models which are completely free from those problems. With especially focusing on the dark matter relic abundance, we examine how the BICEP2 result narrows down the parameter space of the models, assuming the simplest chaotic inflation model. We find that the mass of the dark matter is predicted to be less than about 1 TeV thanks to the non-thermal production in the early universe through the decay of abundant gravitinos produced after the reheating process. We also discuss implications in some details to dark matter searches at collider and indirect dark matter detection experiments.

Gravitino leptogenesis

We explore here a new mechanism by which the out of equilibrium decay of heavy gravitinos, followed by possible R-parity violating decays in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM), can generate the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. In this mechanism, gravitino decay produces a $CP$ asymmetry that is carried by squarks or sleptons. These particles then decay through R-parity violating operators generating a lepton asymmetry. The lepton asymmetry is converted into a baryon asymmetry by weak sphalerons, as in the familiar case of leptogenesis by Majorana neutrino decays. To ensure that the gravitino decays while the sphaleron is still in equilibrium, we obtain a lower bound on the gravitino mass, ${m}_{3/2}\ensuremath{\gtrsim}{10}^{8}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$, and therefore our mechanism requires a high scale of Supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking, as well as a minimum reheating temperature after inflation of $T\ensuremath{\gtrsim}{10}^{12}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$ in order for the gravitino density to be sufficiently large to generate the baryon asymmetry today. We consider each of the MSSM's relevant R-parity violating operators in turn, and we derive constraints on parameters in order to give rise to a baryon asymmetry comparable to that observed today, consistent with low energy phenomenological bounds on SUSY models. Interestingly, R-party violating terms that can produce a viable baryon asymmetry via the mechanism we explore can also radiatively produce neutrino masses corresponding to the observed magnitude, providing a new possible connection between neutrino mass generation and the origin of the baryon asymmetry today.

Three-body gravitino decays in the MSSM

We present results from a new calculation of two- and three-body decays of the gravitino including all possible Feynman graphs. The work is done in the R-parity conserving Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, assuming that the gravitino is unstable. We calculate the full width for the three-body decay process $ \widetilde{G}\to \widetilde{\chi}_1^0 $ X Y , where $ \widetilde{\chi}_1^0 $ is the lightest neutralino that plays the role of the lightest supersymmetric particle, and X, Y are standard model particles. For calculating the squared amplitudes we use the packages FeynArts and FormCalc, with appropriate extensions to accommodate the gravitino with spin 3/2. Our code treats automatically the intermediate exchanged particles that are on their mass shell, using the narrow width approximation. This method considerably simplifies the complexity of the evaluation of the total gravitino width and stabilizes it numerically. At various points of the supersymmetric parameter space, we compare the full two-body and the three-body results with approximations used in the past. In addition, we discuss the relative sizes of the full two-body and the three-body gravitino decay widths. Our results are obtained using the package GravitinoPack, that will be publicly available soon, including various handy features.

Gamma-ray line from radiative decay of gravitino dark matter

We study radiative decay of gravitino dark matter with trilinear R-parity violations. We show that the branching ratio of the decay of gravitino into monochromatic photon can be large enough to explain the observed gamma-ray line from the Galactic centre in the Fermi-LAT data without producing too much continuum gamma-ray and anti-proton flux. This scenario is realized when the mass of sfermions and the trilinear R-parity violating coupling are O(1–10) TeV and O(10−7–10−6) respectively.

Strictly anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking

We consider an MSSM extension with anomaly mediation as the source of supersymmetry-breaking, and a U(1) symmetry which solves the tachyonic slepton problem, and introduces both the see-saw mechanism for neutrino masses, and the Higgs mu-term. We compare its spectra with those from so-called minimal anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking. We find a Standard Model-like Higgs of mass 125 GeV with a gravitino mass of 140 TeV and tan(beta)=16. However, the muon anomalous magnetic moment is 3 sigma away from the experimental value. The model naturally produces a period of hybrid inflation, which can exit to a false vacuum characterised by large Higgs vevs, reaching the true ground state after a period of thermal inflation. The scalar spectral index is reduced to approximately 0.975, and the correct abundance of neutralino dark matter can be produced by decays of thermally-produced gravitinos, provided the gravitino mass (and hence the Higgs mass) is high. Naturally light cosmic strings are produced, satisfying bounds from the Cosmic Microwave Background. The complementary pulsar timing and cosmic ray bounds require that strings decay primarily via loops into gravitational waves. Unless the loops are extremely small, the next generation pulsar timing array will rule out or detect the string-derived gravitational radiation background in this model.

A gravitino-rich universe

The gravitino may well play an important role in cosmology, not only because its interactions are Planck-suppressed and therefore long-lived, but also because it is copiously produced via various processes such as particle scatterings in thermal plasma, and (pseudo) modulus and inflaton decays. We study a possibility that the early Universe was gravitino-rich from various aspects. In particular, a viable cosmology is possible, if high-scale supersymmetry is realized in nature as suggested by the recent discovery of the standard-model like Higgs boson of mass about 125-126 GeV. We find that the Universe can be even gravitino-dominated, in which case there will be an entropy dilution by the gravitino decay. If the gravitino abundance is proportional to the reheating temperature, both the maximal baryon asymmetry in leptogenesis and the dark matter from the gravitino decay become independent of the reheating temperature. The dark matter candidate is the Wino-like neutralino, whose mass is suppressed compared to the anomaly-mediation relation.

Non-thermal Higgsino dark matter, heavy gravitino and 125 GeV Higgs boson in modulus/anomaly-mediated supersymmetric models

If the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) is Higgsino-like, the thermal relic density is lower than the observed dark matter content for a LSP mass in the sub-TeV region. We outline constraints arising from the Fermi Gamma-ray Telescope data and LSP production from gravitino decay that must be satisfied by a successful nonthermal Higgsino scenario. We show that in a generic class of models where anomaly- and modulus-mediated contributions to supersymmetry breaking are of comparable size, Higgsino arises as the only viable sub-TeV dark matter candidate if gravitinos are heavy enough to decay before the onset of big bang nucleosynthesis. The correct relic density can be obtained via modulus decay in these models. As an explicit example, we consider a modulus sector in effective field theory ($D=4$, $N=1$ supergravitiy arising from type IIB Kachru-Kallosh-Linde-Trivedi compactification). Within this class of mirage mediation models, heaviness of the gravitino forces a sub-TeV Higgsino LSP and gives a Higgs mass around 125 GeV. In this example, the constraints from direct detection experiments are also satisfied.

(N)LSP decays and gravitino dark matter relic abundance in big divisor (nearly) SLagy [formula omitted]μ-split SUSY

Using the (nearly) Ricci-flat Swiss-Cheese metric of Misra (2012) [1], in the context of a mobile space–time filling D3-brane restricted to a nearly special Lagrangian sub-manifold (in the large volume limit, the pull-back of the Kähler form close to zero and the real part of the pull-back of e−iθ, θ=π2 times the nowhere-vanishing holomorphic three-form providing the volume form on the three-cycle) of the “big” divisor with (fluxed stacks of) space–time filling D7-branes also wrapping the “big” divisor (corresponding to a local minimum), we provide an explicit identification of the electron and the u-quark, as well as their SU(2)L-singlet cousins, with fermionic superpartners of four Wilson line moduli; their superpartners turn out to be very heavy, the Higgsino-mass parameter turns out to be large, one obtains one light (with a mass of 125 GeV) and one heavy Higgs and the gluino is long lived (from a collider point of view) providing a possible realization of “μ-Split Supersymmetry”. By explicitly calculating the lifetimes of decays of the co-NLSPs – the first generation squark/slepton and a neutralino – to the LSP – the gravitino – as well as gravitino decays, we verify that BBN constraints relevant to the former as well as the requirement of the latter to be (more than) the age of the universe, are satisfied. For the purpose of calculation of the gravitino relic density in terms of the neutralino/slepton relic density, we evaluate the latter by evaluating the neutralino/slepton (co-)annihilation cross sections and hence show that the former satisfies the requirement for a dark matter candidate.

Light higgsino in heavy gravitino scenario with successful electroweak symmetry breaking

We consider, in the context of the minimal supersymmetric standard model, the case where the gravitino weighs 10^6 GeV or more, which is preferred by various cosmological difficulties associated with unstable gravitinos. Despite the large Higgs mixing parameter B together with the little hierarchy to other soft supersymmetry breaking masses, a light higgsino with an electroweak scale mass leads to successful electroweak symmetry breaking, at the price of fine-tuning the higgsino mixing mu parameter. Furthermore the light higgsinos produced at the decays of gravitinos can constitute the dark matter of the universe. The heavy squark mass spectrum of O(10^4) GeV can increase the Higgs boson mass to about 125 GeV or higher.

Making the sneutrino a Higgs particle with aU(1)Rlepton number

We present a supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model that posseses a continuous $ U(1)_R$ symmetry, which is identified with one of three lepton numbers, and where a sneutrino vev gives mass to the down type quark and leptons. This idea allows for a smaller particle content than the minimal $R$-symmetric supersymmetry extension of the standard model (MRSSM). We explore bounds on this model coming from electroweak precision measurements, neutrino masses and gravitino decay. Bounds from electroweak precision measurements lead to a two-sided bound on $\tan \beta$ while gravitino decay forces a low reheating temperature. Finally, the generation of neutrino masses from $R$-symmetry violation put an upper bound on the SUSY breaking scale. Despite all of this, we find that the allowed parameter space is still large and would lead to a distinctive phenomenology at the LHC.

Indirect detection of gravitino dark matter including its three-body decays

It was recently pointed out that in supersymmetric scenarios with gravitino dark matter and bilinear R-parity violation, gravitinos with masses below MW typically decay with a sizable branching ratio into the 3-body final states W*ℓ and Z*ν. In this paper we study the indirect detection signatures of gravitino dark matter including such final states. First, we obtain the gamma ray spectrum from gravitino decays, which features a monochromatic contribution from the decay into γν and a continuum contribution from the three-body decays. After studying its dependence on supersymmetric parameters, we compute the expected gamma ray fluxes and derive new constraints, from recent FERMI data, on the R-parity breaking parameter and on the gravitino lifetime. Indirect detection via antimatter searches, a new possibility brought about by the three-body final states, is also analyzed. For models compatible with the gamma ray observations, the positron signal is found to be negligible whereas the antiproton one can be significant.

New decay modes of gravitino dark matter

We consider the three-body decays of gravitino dark matter in supersymmetric scenarios with bilinear $R$-parity violation. In particular, gravitino decays into $\ensuremath{\ell}{W}^{*}$ ($\ensuremath{\ell}f{\overline{f}}^{\ensuremath{'}}$) and $\ensuremath{\nu}{Z}^{*}$ ($\ensuremath{\nu}f\overline{f}$) are examined for gravitino masses below ${M}_{W}$. After computing the gravitino decay rates into these three-body final states and studying their dependence on supersymmetric parameters, we find that these new decay modes are often more important than the two-body decay, into a photon and a neutrino, considered in previous works. Consequently, the gravitino lifetime and its branching ratios are substantially modified, with important implications for the indirect detection of gravitino dark matter.