Search

The minimal type-I seesaw framework with texture-zero Yukawa and mass matrices inspired by Occam's razor is incompatible with normally-ordered neutrino masses (currently preferred by data) when lepton mixing originates solely from the neutrino sector. Moreover, the lightest right-handed neutrino mass required to generate the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe via leptogenesis ($M_1 \sim 10^{14}$ GeV) is in conflict with vanilla scenarios for Peccei-Quinn) axion dark matter where the reheating temperature of the Universe is typically below $10^{12}$ GeV. In this work, we present a new Occam's razor setup which overcomes these problems by including charged-lepton mixing parametrized by a single angle, which is predicted to be very close to the quark Cabibbo angle. Furthermore, the atmospheric mixing angle lies in the second octant and the leptogenesis scale is lowered to $\sim 5.5\times 10^{10}$ GeV, lifting the tension with the axion dark-matter hypothesis., Comment: 7 pages; 4 figures. Results updated in view of the new T2K and Nova data. Matches version to appear in PRD

We present a dynamical (composite) axion model where the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry arises automatically as a consequence of chirality and gauge symmetry. The Standard Model is simply extended by a confining and chiral $SU(5)$ gauge symmetry. The PQ symmetry coincides with a $B-L$ symmetry of the exotic sector. The theory is protected by construction from quantum gravitational corrections stemming from operators with mass dimension lower than nine., Comment: 28 pages, 2 figures

This white paper addresses the hypothesis of light sterile neutrinos based on recent anomalies observed in neutrino experiments and the latest astrophysical data.

We consider supersymmetry breaking models with a purely constant superpotential in supergravity. The supersymmetry breaking is induced for the vanishing cosmological constant. As a hidden mediation sector of supersymmetry breaking, it naturally leads to a split spectrum in supersymmetric standard model. We also point out possible utility of our setup to construct nonlinear sigma model and/or Fayet-Iliopoulos-like term in broken supergravity., Comment: 6 pages

Direct gauge mediation models using the Intriligator-Seiberg-Shih (ISS) metastable vacua suffer from the Landau pole problem of the standard model gauge couplings and the existence of R symmetry forbidding gaugino masses. These problems may be solved by using the recently proposed SUSY breaking models in a conformal window of the vector-like $SU(N_C)$ gauge theory with gauge singlets. In this paper we propose a model of gauge mediation based on the SUSY-breaking model in the conformal window, and study the dynamics for the SUSY breaking. In the model, there are massive vector-like bifundamental fields charged under both $SU(N_C)$ and the standard model gauge group, and our model can be regarded as a semi-direct gauge mediation model. The color number $N_C$ can be small to avoid the Landau pole problem, and the R symmetry is also broken under a reasonable assumption on the strong dynamics of the model. The model possesses only one free parameter, and the gaugino and sfermion masses are naturally of the same order., Comment: 21 pages, 1 figure

We propose a mechanism for relaxing a constraint on the number of messengers in low-scale gauge mediation models. The Landau pole problem for the standard-model gauge coupling constants in the low-scale gauge mediation can be circumvented by using our mechanism. An essential ingredient is a large positive anomalous dimension of messenger fields given by a large Yukawa coupling in a conformal field theory at high energies. The positive anomalous dimension reduces the contribution of the messengers to the beta function of the standard-model gauge couplings., Comment: 22pages; v2:explanations expanded in sec.3.2, reference added

Supersymmetric (SUSY) standard models in which the lightest SUSY particle (LSP) is an ultralight gravitino (m_{3/2}=O(1) eV) are very attractive, since they are free from the cosmological gravitino problems. If the neutralino is the next lightest SUSY particle (NLSP), it decays into a photon and the gravitino in collider experiments. We propose a simple test for the lightness of gravitino at the LHC., Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures

We study a scenario that a hidden gaugino dark matter decays into the standard-model particles (and their supersymmetric partners) through a kinetic mixing with the gaugino of a U(1)B-L broken at a scale close to the grand unification scale. We show that decay of the hidden gaugino can explain excesses in the cosmic-ray electrons and positrons observed by PAMELA and Fermi., Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures

A new class of models of dynamical supersymmetry breaking is proposed. The models are based on SU(N_C) gauge theories with N_F(

We show that R-parity violating decay of Wino dark matter of mass \sim 3 TeV can naturally account for the flux and spectral shape of the cosmic-ray electrons and positrons observed by the PAMELA and Fermi satellites. To provide a theoretical basis for the scenario, we also present a model that trilinear R-parity breaking appears with a coefficient suppressed by powers of the gravitino mass, which naturally leads to the Wino lifetime of O(10^26) sec., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures

We study a scenario that a U(1) hidden gaugino constitutes the dark matter in the Universe and decays into a lepton and slepton pair through a mixing with a U(1)B-L gaugino. We find that the dark-matter decay can account for the recent PAMELA and ATIC anomalies in the cosmic-ray positrons and electrons without an overproduction of antiprotons., Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure.v2:a reference added

Supersymmetric SU(N_C) gauge theories possess runaway-type superpotentials for N_F < N_C, where N_F is the flavor number of massless quarks. We show that the runaway behavior can be stabilized for N_F nearly equal to N_C by introducing singlets with the aid of perturbative corrections to the Kahler potential, generating (local) minima of supersymmetry breaking., Comment: 6 pages

We show that, if decaying gravitino dark matter is responsible for the PAMELA and ATIC/PPB-BETS anomalies in the cosmic-ray electron and positron fluxes, both a reheating temperature and a gluino mass are constrained from above. In particular, the gluino mass is likely within the reach of LHC, if the observed baryon asymmetry is explained by thermal leptogenesis scenario., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. v2: references added

The anomalies observed in recent cosmic ray experiments seem to strongly constrain the nature of the dark matter. In this letter, we investigate a possibility of the fermionic dark matter with a minimal extension of the standard model. We found that the dark matter decays caused by the dimension six operators can naturally explain the anomalies., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted by PLB

We point out that annihilation of dark matter in the galactic halo can be enhanced relative to that in the early universe due to a Breit-Wigner tail, if the dark matter annihilates through a pole just below the threshold. This provides a new explanation to the "boost factor" which is suggested by the recent data of the PAMELA, ATIC and PPB-BETS cosmic-ray experiments., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

We show that the PAMELA anomaly in the positron fraction as well as the ATIC/PPB-BETS excesses in the e^- + e^+ flux are simultaneously explained in our scenario that a hidden U(1)H gauge boson constitutes dark matter of the Universe and decays into the standard-model particles through a kinetic mixing with an U(1)B-L gauge boson. Interestingly, the B-L charge assignment suppresses an antiproton flux in consistent with the PAMELA and BESS experiments, while the hierarchy between the B-L symmetry breaking scale and the weak scale naturally leads to the right lifetime of O(10^26) seconds., Comment: the version accepted by Progress of Theoretical Physics (PTP)

A baryonic bound state with a mass of O(100) TeV, which is composed of strongly interacting messenger quarks in the low scale gauge mediation, can naturally be the cold dark matter. Interestingly, we find that such a baryonic dark matter is generically metastable, and the decay of this dark matter can naturally explain the anomalous positron flux recently observed by the PAMELA collaboration., Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures. v2: minor changes, note added

We provide a scenario in which a hidden U(1) gauge boson constitutes dark matter of the Universe and decays into the standard-model particles through a kinetic mixing with an $U(1)_{B-L}$ gauge boson. Interestingly, our model can naturally account for the steep rise in the positron fraction recently reported by PAMELA. Moreover, we find that due to the charge assignment of $U(1)_{B-L}$, only a small amount of antiprotons are produced in the decay, which is also consistent with the PAMELA and other observational data., Comment: the version appeared in PLB

We argue that the Polonyi problem can be avoided when our supersymmetry-breaking vacuum is surrounded by many supersymmetric vacua. We construct a dynamical class of supersymmetry-breaking models to demonstrate our point. These models naturally predict a small deviation from the standard big-bang nucleosynthesis., Comment: 9 pages

We study a scenario that a hidden gauge boson constitutes the dominant component of dark matter and decays into the standard model particles through a gauge kinetic mixing. Interestingly, gamma rays and positrons produced from the decay of hidden gauge boson can explain both the EGRET excess of diffuse gamma rays and the HEAT anomaly in the positron fraction. The spectra of the gamma rays and the positrons have distinctive features; the absence of line emission of the gamma ray and a sharp peak in the positron fraction. Such features may be observed by the GLAST and PAMELA satellites., Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, adding PAMELA data, the version accepted by PLB

Gauge mediation models have two drawbacks, that is, the so-called \mu-problem and a lack of predictability of the gravitino dark matter abundance. We show that conformal sequestering in the supersymmetry breaking sector offers attractive solutions to both problems. The correct mass scale of the \mu and B_\mu terms is generated by taking the gravitino mass of O(100) GeV without causing the flavor-changing neutral-current problem. Moreover, a large anomalous dimension of the supersymmetry breaking field naturally realizes the small stau and neutralino mass difference required for the coannihilation to work yielding the right dark matter abundance., Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables

In some class of supersymmetric (SUSY) models, the neutral Wino becomes the lightest superparticle and the Bino decays into the Wino and standard-model particles. In such models, we show that the measurement of the Bino mass is possible if the short charged tracks (with the length of O(10 cm)) can be identified as a signal of the charged-Wino production. We pay particular attention to the anomaly-mediated SUSY-breaking (AMSB) model with a generic form of K\"ahler potential, in which only the gauginos are kinematically accessible superparticles to the LHC, and discuss the implication of the Bino mass measurement for the test of the AMSB model., Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

Strongly interacting gauge mediation (SIGM) of supersymmetry breaking is very attractive, since it naturally predicts a light gravitino of mass $\lsim{\cal O}(10)$ eV, which causes no cosmological problem. We discuss various signatures of the SIGM in the early stage (a low integrated luminosity period) of the LHC experiments. We show, in particular, a possible way to discriminate it from the conventional gauge mediation by counting the number of high $P_{\rm T}$ leptons., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures

We examine stabilities of our supersymmetry-breaking false vacuum in a low-energy direct gauge mediation model of SUSY breaking. The stability required in the high-temperature early universe leads to upperbounds on masses of squarks and gluino as m_\tilde{q} \lesssim 1 TeV and m_\tilde{g} \lesssim 1 TeV for the light gravitino of mass m_{3/2} \lesssim 16 eV., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures

We discuss a class of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking models with conformal invariance above the messenger mass scale (conformal gauge mediation). The spectrum of the supersymmetric particles including the gravitino is uniquely determined by the messenger mass. When the conformal fixed point is strongly interacting, it predicts a light gravitino of mass m_{3/2}

If gaugino condensations occur in the early universe, domain walls are produced as a result of the spontaneous breaking of a discrete R symmetry. Those domain walls eventually annihilate with one another, producing the gravitational waves. We show that the gravitational waves can be a probe for measuring the gravitino mass, if the constant term in the superpotential is the relevant source of the discrete R symmetry breaking., Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure

In the anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking model with the assumption of the generic form of Kahler potential, gauginos are the only kinematically accessible superparticles to the LHC. We consider the LHC phenomenology of such a model assuming that the gluino is lighter than 1 TeV. We show that a significant number of charged Winos, which may travel O(10 cm) before the decay, are produced from the gluino production processes. Thus, in this class of model, it will be very important to search for short charged tracks using inner detectors. We also show that, if a large number of the charged Wino tracks are identified, the lifetime of the charged Wino can be measured, which provides us a test of anomaly mediation., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures

We propose "conformal supersymmetry breaking" models, which tightly relate the conformal breaking scale (i.e. R-symmetry breaking scale) and the supersymmetry breaking scale. The both scales are originated from the constant term in the superpotential through the common source of the R-symmetry breaking. We show that dynamical tuning between those mass scales significantly reduces the degree of fine-tuning necessary for generating the almost vanishing cosmological constant., Comment: To be published (Phys.Lett.B)

In supersymmetric (SUSY) models with the gravitino being the lightest SUSY particle (LSP), the SUSY breaking scale (i.e., the gravitino mass) could be determined by measuring the lifetime of the next-to-lightest SUSY particle (NLSP). However, for an ultralight gravitino of mass of O(1) eV, which is favored cosmologically, the determination of the SUSY breaking scale, or the gravitino mass, is difficult because the NLSP decay length is too short to be measured directly. Recently we proposed a new determination of the gravitino mass by measuring a branching fraction of two decay modes of sleptons. In this paper, we investigate the prospects for determining the gravitino mass at LHC. For demonstration we take some explicit gauge-mediation models and show that the gravitino mass can be determined with an accuracy of a few 10% for an integrated luminosity 10-100 fb^{-1}., Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures

This paper has been withdrawn by the authors due to a crucial error in equation 12., Comment: This paper has been withdrawn

We present a stringy realization of the ISS metastable SUSY breaking model with moduli stabilization. The mass moduli of the ISS model is stabilized by gauging of a U(1) symmetry and its D-term potential. The SUSY is broken both by F-terms and D-terms. It is possible to obtain de-Sitter vacua with a vanishingly small cosmological constant by an appropriate fine-tuning of flux parameters., Comment: 14 pages, v2: minor corrections, refereces added, v3: better parameters and more figures, published version

Among various supersymmetric (SUSY) models, gauge-mediated SUSY breaking models with an ultra-light gravitino of mass m_{3/2} \lesssim O(10) eV are very attractive, since they are completely free from notorious gravitino problems. A drawback of such a scenario is the absence of the supersymmetric cold dark matter. In this letter, we propose that a baryonic bound state of strongly interacting messenger particles, with a mass of O(100) TeV, can naturally be the cold dark matter. We also exemplify a model which realizes such a scenario., Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure

We discuss inflaton decay in supergravity, taking account of the gravitational effects. It is shown that, if the inflaton has a nonzero vacuum expectation value, it generically couples to any matter fields that appear in the superpotential at the tree level, and to any gauge sectors through anomalies in the supergravity. Through these processes, the inflaton generically decays into the supersymmetry breaking sector, producing many gravitinos. The inflaton also directly decays into a pair of the gravitinos. We derive constraints on both inflation models and supersymmetry breaking scenarios for avoiding overproduction of the gravitinos. Furthermore, the inflaton naturally decays into the visible sector via the top Yukawa coupling and SU(3)_C gauge interactions., Comment: 41 pages, 5 figures. v2: references and supplementary sections added, a version to appear in Phys. Rev. D

We consider a supersymmetric model in which gaugino masses are generated by the anomaly-mediation mechanism while scalar masses are from tree-level supergravity interaction. In such a model, scalar fermions as well as Higgsinos become as heavy as O(10-100TeV) and hence only the gauginos are superparticles kinematically accessible to the LHC. We study how and how well the properties of gauginos can be studied. We also discuss the strategy to test the anomaly-mediation model at the LHC., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures

We construct a gauge-mediation model with a D-term supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking. R-symmetry breaking necessary for generating the SUSY standard-model gaugino masses is given by gaugino condensation of a strongly coupled gauge theory in the hidden sector. The energy scale of the strong dynamics of the hidden sector gauge theory should be around the messenger mass scale M, or otherwise perturbative calculations would be reliable and would lead to negative soft mass squared for squarks and sleptons. Thus, all the mass scales are controlled by a virtually single parameter, \sqrt{D}/M. This model covers a very wide range of gravitino mass, m_{3/2} \simeq 1 eV--100 TeV. Possible embeddings of the model in string theory are also discussed., Comment: 15 pages; v2: comments and references added

Gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking scenarios with an ultra-light gravitino of mass m_{3/2}=1-10 eV are very interesting, since there is no cosmological gravitino problem. We propose a new experimental determination of the gravitino mass for such an ultra-light gravitino, by measuring a branching ratio of two decay modes of sleptons., Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures

We propose a one-parameter theory for gauge mediation of supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking. The spectrum of SUSY particles such as squarks and sleptons in the SUSY standard-model and the dynamics of SUSY-breaking sector are, in principle, determined only by one parameter in the theory, that is, the mass of messengers. Above the messenger threshold all gauge coupling and Yukawa coupling constants in the SUSY-breaking sector are on the infrared fixed point. We find that the present theory may predict a split spectrum of the standard-model SUSY particles, m_{gaugino} < m_{sfermion}, where m_{gaugino} and m_{sfermion} are SUSY-breaking masses for gauginos and squarks/sleptons, respectively., Comment: 17 pages

If the gravitino mass is in the region from a few GeV to a few 10's GeV, the scalar lepton X such as stau is most likely the next lightest supersymmetry particle. The negatively charged and long-lived X^- may form a Coulomb bound state (A X) with a nucleus A and may affect the big-bang nucleosynthesis through catalyzed fusion process. We calculate a production cross section of Li6 from the catalyzed fusion (He4 X^-) + d \to Li6 + X^- by solving the Schr\"{o}dinger equation exactly for three-body system of He4, d, and X. We utilize the state-of-the-art coupled-channel method, which is known to be very accurate to describe other three-body systems in nuclear and atomic reactions. The importance of the use of appropriate nuclear potential and the exact treatment of the quantum tunneling in the fusion process are emphasized. We find that the astrophysical S-factor at the Gamow peak corresponding to T=10 keV is 0.038 MeV barn. This leads to the Li6 abundance from the catalyzed process as Li6|_{CBBN}\simeq 4.3\times 10^{-11} (D/2.8\times 10^{-5}) ([n_{X^-}/s]/10^{-16}) in the limit of long lifetime of X. Particle physics implication of this result is also discussed., Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures

We propose a retrofitted gravity mediation model which alleviates the gravitino overproduction from decays of an inflaton and a supersymmetry breaking field. In the model, we introduce an approximate U(1) symmetry under which the supersymmetry breaking field is charged, although it is broken by a mass term of messenger fields to generate gaugino masses of order the weak scale. In a low-scale inflation model, we find regions in which the gravitino overproduction problem is avoided., Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures

We point out that the inflaton spontaneously decays into any gauge bosons and gauginos via the super-Weyl, Kahler and sigma-model anomalies in supergravity, once the inflaton acquires a non-vanishing vacuum expectation value. In particular, in the dynamical supersymmetry breaking scenarios, the inflaton necessarily decays into the supersymmetry breaking sector, if the inflaton mass is larger than the dynamical scale. This generically causes the overproduction of the gravitinos, which severely constrains the inflation models., Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure; v3: arguments clarified

We study the decay of the inflaton in no-scale supergravity and show that decay due to the gravitational interactions through supergravity effects is highly suppressed relative to the case in minimal supergravity or models with a generic Kahler potential. We also show that decay to gravitinos is suppressed. We demonstrate that decay and sufficient reheating are possible with the introduction of a non-trivial gauge kinetic term. This channel may be dominant in no-scale supergravity, yet yields a re-heating temperature which is low enough to avoid the gravitino problem while high enough for Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and baryogenesis., Comment: Added the footnote in the conclusion section which discusses the constrains on the explicit inflaton couplings to the matter fields via non-renormalizable operators. To appear in JCAP

We show that the gravitino-overproduction problem is prevalent among inflation models in supergravity. An inflaton field generically acquires (effective) non-vanishing auxiliary field, if the Kahler potential is non-minimal. The inflaton field then decays into a pair of the gravitinos, thereby severely constraining many of the inflation models especially in the case of the gravity-mediated SUSY breaking., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figre; to appear in Proceedings of SUSY06, the 14th International Conference on Supersymmetry and the Unification of Fundamental Interactions, UC Irvine, California, 12-17 June 2006

The in-orbit performance and calibration of the Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) on board the X-ray astronomy satellite Suzaku are described. Its basic performances, including a wide energy bandpass of 10-600 keV, energy resolutions of ~4 keV (FWHM) at 40 keV and ~11% at 511 keV, and a high background rejection efficiency, have been confirmed by extensive in-orbit calibrations. The long-term gains of PIN-Si diodes have been stable within 1% for half a year, and those of scintillators have decreased by 5-20%. The residual non-X-ray background of the HXD is the lowest among past non-imaging hard X-ray instruments in energy ranges of 15-70 and 150-500 keV. We provide accurate calibrations of energy responses, angular responses, timing accuracy of the HXD, and relative normalizations to the X-ray CCD cameras using multiple observations of the Crab Nebula., Comment: 45 pages, 40 figures and 9 tables; accepted for Pulications of the Astronomical Society of Japan

The Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) on board Suzaku covers a wide energy range from 10 keV to 600 keV by combination of silicon PIN diodes and GSO scintillators. The HXD is designed to achieve an extremely low in-orbit back ground based on a combination of new techniques, including the concept of well-type active shield counter. With an effective area of 142 cm^2 at 20 keV and 273 cm2 at 150 keV, the background level at the sea level reached ~1x10^{-5} cts s^{-1} cm^{-2} keV^{-1} at 30 keV for the PI N diodes, and ~2x10^{-5} cts s^{-1} cm^{-2} keV^{-1} at 100 keV, and ~7x10^{-6} cts s^{-1} cm^{-2} keV^{-1} at 200 keV for the phoswich counter. Tight active shielding of the HXD results in a large array of guard counters surrounding the main detector parts. These anti-coincidence counters, made of ~4 cm thick BGO crystals, have a large effective area for sub-MeV to MeV gamma-rays. They work as an excellent gamma-ray burst monitor with limited angular resolution (~5 degree). The on-board signal-processing system and the data transmitted to the ground are also described., Comment: 35 pages, 25 figures and 4 tables; acceted for Publication of the Astronomical Society of Japan

We argue that a non-thermal leptogenesis occurs spontaneously, without direct couplings of the inflaton with right-handed neutrinos, in a wide class of high-scale inflation models such as the chaotic and hybrid inflation. It is only a finite vacuum expectation value of the inflaton, or more precisely, a linear term in the Kahler potential, that is a prerequisite for the spontaneous non-thermal leptogenesis. To exemplify how it works, we show that a chaotic inflation model in supergravity naturally produces a right amount of baryon asymmetry via the spontaneous non-thermal leptogenesis. We also discuss the gravitino production from the inflaton., Comment: 18 pages, 1 figure. v2: references added, accepted for publication in PRD

We consider a class of anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking models where gauginos acquire masses mostly from anomaly mediation while masses of other superparticles are from Kahler interactions, which are as large as gravitino mass, O(10-100) TeV. In this class of models, the neutral Wino becomes the lightest superparticle in a wide parameter region. The mass splitting between charged and neutral Winos are very small and experimental discovery of such Winos is highly non-trivial. We discuss how we should look for Wino-induced signals at Large Hadron Collider., Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures

If there are a large number of vacua, multi-inflation may be a more mediocre phenomenon rather than a single inflation. In the multi-inflation scenario, new inflation is most likely the last inflation, since its energy scale is naturally low. Furthermore, it may explain the observed spectral index of the cosmic microwave background radiations. We show, in this letter, that a new inflation model proposed in supergravity accounts for all the present observations assuming anomaly mediation of supersymmetry breaking. As a result, we find that the relic density of the winos is consistent with the observed dark matter density in a wide range of the wino mass, 100 GeV lsim m_{tilde{w}} lsim 2 TeV, albeit for a low reheating temperature T_{R} simeq 10^{6-7},GeV., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, the title is corrected

We point out that the stau may play a role of a catalyst for nuclear fusions if the stau is a long-lived particle as in the scenario of gravitino dark matter. In this letter, we consider d d fusion under the influence of stau where the fusion is enhanced because of a short distance between the two deuterons. We find that one chain of the d d fusion may release an energy of O(10) GeV per stau. We discuss problems of making the stau-catalyzed nuclear fusion of practical use with the present technology of producing stau., Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure