SUSY Flavor Research Articles

The messenger sector of SUSY flavour models and radiative breaking of flavour universality

Abstract The flavour messenger sectors and their impact on the soft SUSY breaking terms are investigated in SUSY flavour models. In the case when the flavour scale M is below the SUSY breaking mediation scale M S , the universality of soft terms, even if assumed at M S , is radiatively broken. We estimate this effect in a broad class of models. In the CKM basis that effect gives flavour off-diagonal soft masses comparable to the tree-level estimate based on the flavour symmetry.

SUSY flavor structure of generic 5D supergravity models

We perform a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the SUSY flavor structure of generic 5D supergravity models on $S^1/Z_2$ with multiple $Z_2$-odd vector multiplets that generate multiple moduli. The SUSY flavor problem can be avoided due to contact terms in the 4D effective K\"ahler potential peculiar to the multi-moduli case. A detailed phenomenological analysis is provided based on an illustrative model.

Natural supersymmetry: LHC, dark matter and ILC searches

Particle physics models with Natural Supersymmetry are characterized by a superpotential parameter μ ∼ m h ∼ 125 GeV, while third generation squarks have mass $ _\sim^< $ 0.5–1.5 TeV. Gluinos should be lighter than several TeV so as not to destabilize the lighter squarks. First and second generation sfermions can be at the tens-of-TeV level which yields a decoupling solution to the SUSY flavor and CP problems. Adopting a top- down approach, we delineate the range of GUT scale SUSY model parameters which leads to a Natural SUSY mass spectrum. We find natural SUSY models to be tightly constrained by the b → sγ branching fraction measurement while it is also difficult but not impossible to accommodate a light Higgs scalar of mass ≃ 125 GeV. We present several benchmark points which are expandable to slopes and planes. Natural SUSY is difficult to see at LHC unless some third generation squarks are very light. The top- and bottom- squarks cascade decay mainly to higgsino-like charginos and neutralinos via numerous possibilities, leading to a rather complex set of signatures. Meanwhile, a linear e + e − collider operating at $ \sqrt {s} $ ∼ 0.25–0.5 TeV would be a higgsino factory and is essentially guaranteed a SUSY discovery of the low-lying charged and neutral higgsino states. Since thermal neutralino cold dark matter is underproduced, we conjecture that the incorporation of a Peccei-Quinn sector or light moduli into the theory will augment higgsino dark matter production, possibly together with an admixture of axions. We present rates for direct and indirect higgsino dark matter detection for the case where light higgsinos dominate the dark matter abundance.

B-decay CP-asymmetries in SUSY with a U(2)3 flavour symmetry

We study CP asymmetries in rare B decays within supersymmetry with a U(2)^3 flavour symmetry, motivated by the SUSY flavour and CP problems, the hierarchies in the Yukawa couplings and the absence so far of any direct evidence for SUSY. Even in the absence of flavour-blind phases, we find potentially sizable CP violating contributions to b -> s decay amplitudes. The effects in the mixing-induced CP asymmetries in B ->phi K(S) and B -> eta' K(S), angular CP asymmetries in B -> K* mu+ mu- and the direct CP asymmetry in B -> X(s) gamma can be in the region to be probed by LHCb and next generation B factories. At the same time, these effects in B decays are compatible with CP violating contributions to meson mixing, including a non-standard B(s) mixing phase hinted by current tensions in the CKM fit mostly between S(psi K(S)), epsilon(K) and Delta M(B(s))/Delta M(B(d)).

Hidden SUSY at the LHC: the light higgsino-world scenario and the role of a lepton collider

While the SUSY flavor, CP and gravitino problems seem to favor a very heavy spectrum of matter scalars, fine-tuning in the electroweak sector prefers low values of superpotential mass \mu. In the limit of low \mu, the two lightest neutralinos and light chargino are higgsino-like. The light charginos and neutralinos may have large production cross sections at LHC, but since they are nearly mass degenerate, there is only small energy release in three-body sparticle decays. Possible dilepton and trilepton signatures are difficult to observe after mild cuts due to the very soft p_T spectrum of the final state isolated leptons. Thus, the higgsino-world scenario can easily elude standard SUSY searches at the LHC. It should motivate experimental searches to focus on dimuon and trimuon production at the very lowest p_T(\mu) values possible. If the neutralino relic abundance is enhanced via non-standard cosmological dark matter production, then there exist excellent prospects for direct or indirect detection of higgsino-like WIMPs. While the higgsino-world scenario may easily hide from LHC SUSY searches, a linear e^+e^- collider or a muon collider operating in the \sqrt{s}\sim 0.5-1 TeV range would be able to easily access the chargino and neutralino pair production reactions.

Electroweak baryogenesis and dark matter with an approximate R-symmetry

It is well known that R-symmetric models dramatically alleviate the SUSY flavor and CP problems. We study particular modifications of existing R-symmetric models which share the solution to the above problems, and have interesting consequences for electroweak baryogenesis and the Dark Matter (DM) content of the universe. In particular, we find that it is naturally possible to have a strongly first-order electroweak phase transition while simultaneously relaxing the tension with EDM experiments. The R-symmetry (and its small breaking) implies that the gauginos (and the neutralino LSP) are pseudo-Dirac fermions, which is relevant for both baryogenesis and DM. The singlet superpartner of the U(1)_Y pseudo-Dirac gaugino plays a prominent role in making the electroweak phase transition strongly first-order. The pseudo-Dirac nature of the LSP allows it to behave similarly to a Dirac particle during freeze-out, but like a Majorana particle for annihilation today and in scattering against nuclei, thus being consistent with current constraints. Assuming a standard cosmology, it is possible to simultaneously have a strongly first-order phase transition conducive to baryogenesis and have the LSP provide the full DM relic abundance, in part of the allowed parameter space. However, other possibilities for DM also exist, which are discussed. It is expected that upcoming direct DM searches as well as neutrino signals from DM annihilation in the Sun will be sensitive to this class of models. Interesting collider and Gravity-wave signals are also briefly discussed.

From flavour to SUSY flavour models

If supersymmetry (SUSY) will be discovered, successful models of flavour not only have to provide an explanation of the flavour structure of the Standard Model fermions, but also of the flavour structure of their scalar superpartners. We discuss aspects of such “SUSY flavour” models, towards predicting both flavour structures, in the context of supergravity (SUGRA). We point out the importance of carefully taking into account SUSY-specific effects, such as 1-loop SUSY threshold corrections and canonical normalisation, when fitting the model to the data for fermion masses and mixings. This entangles the flavour model with the SUSY parameters and leads to interesting predictions for the sparticle spectrum. We demonstrate these effects by analyzing an example class of flavour models in the framework of an SU ( 5 ) Grand Unified Theory with a family symmetry with real triplet representations. For flavour violation through the SUSY soft breaking terms, the class of models realises a scheme we refer to as “Trilinear Dominance”, where flavour violation effects are dominantly induced by the trilinear terms.

Variations on the supersymmetricQ6model of flavor

We observe that a recently proposed supersymmetric model with Q6 flavor symmetry admits a new CP violating ground state. A new sum rule for the quark mixing parameters emerges, which is found to be consistent with data. Simple extensions of the model to the neutrino sector suggest an inverted hierarchical mass spectrum with nearly maximal CP violation (|delta_{MNS}| simeq pi/2). Besides reducing the number of parameters in the fermion sector, these models also provide solutions to the SUSY flavor problem and the SUSY CP problem. We construct a renormalizable scalar potential that leads to the spontaneous breaking of CP symmetry and the family symmetry.

Minimal gaugomaly mediation

Mixed anomaly and gauge mediation (“gaugomaly” mediation) gives a natural solution to the SUSY flavor problem with a conventional LSP dark matter candidate. We present a minimal version of gaugomaly mediation where the messenger masses arise directly from anomaly mediation, automatically generating a messenger scale of order 50 TeV. We also describe a simple relaxation mechanism that gives rise to realistic μ and Bμ terms. B is naturally dominated by the anomaly-mediated contribution from top loops, so the μ-Bμ sector only depends on a single new parameter. In the minimal version of this scenario the full SUSY spectrum is determined by two continuous parameters (the anomaly-and gauge-mediated SUSY breaking masses) and one discrete parameter (the number of messengers). We show that these simple models can give realistic spectra with viable dark matter.

Semidirect product groups, vacuum alignment, and tribimaximal neutrino mixing

The neutrino oscillation data are in very good agreement with the tribimaximal mixing pattern: \sin^2\theta_{23}=1/2, \sin^2\theta_{12}=1/3, and \sin^2\theta_{13}=0. Attempts to generate this pattern based on finite family symmetry groups typically assume that the family symmetry is broken to different subgroups in the charged lepton and the neutrino mass matrices. This leads to a technical problem, where the cross-couplings between the Higgs fields responsible for the two symmetry breaking chains force their vacuum expectation values to align, upsetting the desired breaking pattern. Here, we present a class of models based on the semidirect product group (S_3)^4 \rtimes A_4, where the lepton families belong to representations which are not faithful. In effect, the Higgs sector knows about the full symmetry while the lepton sector knows only about the A_4 factor group. This can solve the alignment problem without altering the desired properties of the family symmetry. Inclusion of quarks into the framework is straightforward, and leads to small and arbitrary CKM mixing angles. Supersymmetry is not essential for our proposal, but the model presented is easily supersymmetrized, in which case the same family symmetry solves the SUSY flavor problem.

Effective supersymmetry at the LHC

We investigate the phenomenology of Effective Supersymmetry (ESUSY) models wherein electroweak gauginos and third generation scalars have masses up to about 1~TeV while first and second generation scalars lie in the multi-TeV range. Such models ameliorate the SUSY flavor and CP problems via a decoupling solution, while at the same time maintaining naturalness. In our analysis, we assume independent GUT scale mass parameters for third and first/second generation scalars and for the Higgs scalars, in addition to m_{1/2}, \tan\beta and A_0, and require radiative electroweak symmetry breaking as usual. We analyse the parameter space which is consistent with current constraints, by means of a Markov Chain Monte Carlo scan. The lightest MSSM particle (LMP) is mostly, but not always the lightest neutralino, and moreover, the thermal relic density of the neutralino LMP is frequently very large. These models may phenomenologically be perfectly viable if the LMP before nucleosynthesis decays into the axino plus SM particles. Dark matter is then an axion/axino mixture. At the LHC, the most important production mechanisms are gluino production (for m_{1/2} ~<700~GeV) and third generation squark production, while SUSY events rich in b-jets are the hallmark of the ESUSY scenario. We present a set of ESUSY benchmark points with characteristic features and discuss their LHC phenomenology.

A lower bound on hadronic EDMs from CP violation in [formula omitted] mixing in SUSY alignment models

The SM predictions for CP violating effects in D meson systems are highly suppressed at the per mill level. Therefore, any experimental evidence for a sizable CP violation in D0–D¯0 mixing would unambiguously point towards a New Physics (NP) signal. Within supersymmetric scenarios, the popular alignment models can naturally account for large, non-standard effects in D0–D¯0 mixing. We demonstrate that, within alignment models, detectable CP violating effects in D0–D¯0 mixing would unambiguously imply a lower bound for the electric dipole moment (EDM) of hadronic systems, like the neutron EDM and the mercury EDM, in the reach of future experimental sensitivities. The simultaneous evidence of CP violation in D meson systems together with non-vanishing hadronic EDMs would strongly support the idea of SUSY alignment models and disfavour gauge-mediated SUSY breaking models, SUSY models with MFV and non-Abelian SUSY flavour models. As a byproduct of our analysis, we study the correlation between the time dependent CP asymmetry in decays to CP eigenstates Sf and the semileptonic asymmetry aSL both model independently and in SUSY alignment models.

Anatomy and phenomenology of FCNC and CPV effects in SUSY theories

We perform an extensive study of FCNC and CP Violation within Supersymmetric (SUSY) theories with particular emphasis put on processes governed by b → s transitions and of their correlations with processes governed by b → d transitions, s → d transitions, D 0 – D ¯ 0 oscillations, lepton flavour violating decays, electric dipole moments and ( g − 2 ) μ . We first perform a comprehensive model-independent analysis of Δ F = 2 observables and we emphasize the usefulness of the R b – γ plane in exhibiting transparently various tensions in the present UT analyses. Secondly, we consider a number of SUSY models: the general MSSM, a flavour-blind MSSM, the MSSM with Minimal Flavour Violation as well as SUSY flavour models based on Abelian and non-Abelian flavour symmetries that show representative flavour structures in the soft SUSY breaking terms. We show how the characteristic patterns of correlations among the considered flavour observables allow to distinguish between these different SUSY scenarios. Of particular importance are the correlations between the CP asymmetry S ψ ϕ and B s → μ + μ − , between the anomalies in S ϕ K S and S ψ ϕ , between S ϕ K S and d e , between S ψ ϕ and ( g − 2 ) μ and also those involving lepton flavour violating decays. In our analysis, the presence of right-handed currents and of the double Higgs penguin contributions to B s mixing plays a very important role. We propose a “DNA-Flavour Test” of NP models including Supersymmetry, the Littlest Higgs model with T-parity and the Randall–Sundrum model with custodial protection, with the aim of showing a tool to distinguish between these NP scenarios, once additional data on flavour-changing processes become available. As a byproduct, we present the SM prediction for BR ( B + → τ + ν ) = ( 0.80 ± 0.12 ) × 10 − 4 that follows solely from an analytical formula for this branching ratio in terms of Δ M s , d and S ψ K S asymmetry and which does not involve V u b and F B uncertainties.

The SUSY CP problem and the MFV principle

We address the SUSY CP problem in the framework of Minimal Flavor Violation (MFV), where the SUSY flavor problem finds a natural solution. By contrast, the MFV principle does not solve the SUSY CP problem as it allows for the presence of new flavor blind CP-violating phases. Then, we generalize the MFV ansatz accounting for a natural solution of it. The phenomenological implications of the generalized MFV ansatz are explored for MFV scenarios defined both at the electroweak (EW) and at the GUT scales.

FCNC and CP violation observables in an [formula omitted]-flavoured MSSM

A non-Abelian flavour symmetry in a minimal supersymmetric standard model can explain the flavour structures in the Yukawa couplings and simultaneously solve the SUSY flavour problem. Similarly the SUSY CP problem can be solved if CP is spontaneously broken in the flavour sector. In this work, we present an explicit example of these statements with an SU ( 3 ) flavour symmetry and spontaneous CP violation. In addition, we show that it is still possible to find some significant deviation from the SM expectations as far as FCNC and CP violation are concerned. We find that large contributions can be expected in lepton flavour violating decays, as μ → e γ and τ → μ γ , electric dipole moments, d e and d n and kaon CP violating processes as ϵ K . We also show that without further modifications, it is unlikely for these models to solve the Φ B s anomaly at low-moderate tan β . Thus, these flavoured MSSM realizations are phenomenologically sensitive to the experimental searches in the realm of flavor and CP violation physics.

On the phenomenology of strongly coupled hidden sectors

In models of supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking and mediation, strongly coupled SUSY-breaking sectors can play a significant role in determining the low-energy spectrum of the model. For example, strong dynamics may provide a natural solution to both the SUSY flavor problem and the mu / B mu problem. Recently, it has been suggested that a large class of these models lead to identical boundary conditions at the SUSY breaking scale. These boundary conditions would severely constrain the models' viability. We demonstrate that the boundary conditions are instead sensitive to the details of the hidden sector, so that only specific hidden sectors may be ruled out by phenomenological considerations. We determine the high scale boundary conditions using the operator product expansion of the hidden sector. The techniques used to determine the beta functions are generally applicable to the RG flow of any approximately conformal hidden sector. The discrepancy with previously proposed boundary conditions can be traced to the fact that the renormalization group (RG) flow involves multiple fixed points.

Implications of the measurements ofBs–B¯smixing on supersymmetric models

We derive constraints on the mass insertion parameters from the recent measurements of ${B}_{s}--{\overline{B}}_{s}$ mixing, and discuss their implications on SUSY breaking mediation mechanisms and SUSY flavor models. Some SUSY flavor models are already excluded or disfavored by ${B}_{s}--{\overline{B}}_{s}$ mixing. We also discuss how to test the SM and SUSY models in the future experiments, by studying other $CP$ violating observables related to $b\ensuremath{\rightarrow}s$ transition, such as the time-dependent $CP$ asymmetry in ${B}_{d}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\phi}{K}_{S}$ and the direct $CP$ asymmetry in $B\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{X}_{s}\ensuremath{\gamma}$.

Discriminating electroweak-ino parameter ordering at the LHC and its impact on LFV studies

Current limit on the dark matter relic abundance may suggest that $|\mu|$ should be smaller than prediction in the minimal supergravity scenario (mSUGRA) for moderate $m_0$ and $m_{1/2}$. The electroweak-ino parameter $M_1, M_2$ and $|\mu|$ are then much closer to each other. This can be realized naturally in the non-universal Higgs mass model (NUHM). Since the heaviest neutralino ($\tilde\chi^0_4$) and chargino ($\tilde\chi^\pm_2$) have significant gaugino components, they may appear frequently in the left-handed squark decay and then be detectable at the LHC. In such a case, we showed that the hierarchy of $M_1, M_2$ and $|\mu|$ can be determined. In the light slepton mass scenario with non-vanishing lepton-flavor violation (LFV) in the right-handed sector, NUHM with small $|\mu|$ corresponds to region of parameter space where strong cancellation among leading contributions to $Br(\mu\to e\gamma)$ can occur. We showed that determination of electroweak-ino hierarchy plays a crucial role in resolving cancellation point of $Br(\mu\to e\gamma)$ and determination of LFV parameters. We also discussed test of the universality of the slepton masses at the LHC and the implications to SUSY flavor models.

Electric dipole moments from spontaneous CP violation in SU(3)-flavoured SUSY

The SUSY flavour problem is deeply related to the origin of flavour and hence to the origin of the SM Yukawa couplings themselves. Since all CP-violation in the SM is restricted to the flavour sector, it is possible that the SUSY CP problem is related to the origin of flavour as well. In this work, we present three variations of an SU(3) flavour model with spontaneous CP violation. Such models explain the hierarchy in the fermion masses and mixings, and predict the structure of the flavoured soft SUSY breaking terms. In such a situation, both SUSY flavour and CP problems do not exist. We use electric dipole moments and lepton flavour violation processes to distinguish between these models, and place constraints on the SUSY parameter space.

Solving the SUSY flavour and CP problems with non-Abelian family symmetry and supergravity

Can a theory of flavour capable of describing the spectrum of fermion (including neutrino) masses and mixings also contain within it the seeds for a solution of the SUSY flavour and CP problems? We argue that supergravity together with a non-Abelian family symmetry can completely resolve the SUSY flavour and CP problems in a broad class of theories in which family symmetry and CP is spontaneously broken in the flavon sector. We show that a simple superpotential structure can suppress the F-terms of the flavons and GUT scale Higgs fields and that, if this mechanism is implemented, the resulting flavour and CP violation is suppressed and comfortably within the experimental limits. For illustration, we study a specific model based on SU(3) family symmetry, but similar models based on non-Abelian (continuous or discrete) family symmetry will lead to similar results.