Related papers: Why is the Supersymmetry Breaking Scale Unnaturall…
Inspired by the possibility of high-scale supersymmetry breaking in the string landscape where the cosmological constant problem and the gauge hierarchy problem can be solved while the strong CP problem is still a challenge for naturalness,…
The possible existence of an exponentially large number of vacua in string theory behooves one to consider possibilities beyond our traditional notions of naturalness. Such an approach to electroweak physics was recently used in "Split…
We argue that supersymmetry breaking by gaugino condensation in the strongly coupled heterotic string can be described by an analogue of Scherk-Schwarz compactification on the eleventh dimension in M-theory. The M-theory scale is identified…
The lack of evidence for new physics beyond the standard model at the LHC points to a paucity of new particles near the weak scale. This suggests that the weak scale is tuned and that supersymmetry, if present at all, is realized at higher…
We explore gauge coupling unification and dark matter in high scale supersymmetry where the scale of supersymmetry breaking is much above the weak scale. The gauge couplings unify as precisely as in low energy supersymmetry if the…
The proximity of the Peccei-Quinn scale to the scale of supersymmetry breaking in models of pure gravity mediation hints at a common dynamical origin of these two scales. To demonstrate how to make such a connection manifest, we embed the…
The mass of the axion and its decay rate are known to depend only on the scale of Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking, which is constrained by astrophysics and cosmology to be between $10^9$ and $10^{12}$ GeV. We propose a new mechanism such…
Invoking the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) solution to the strong CP problem substitutes the puzzle of why $\theta_{qcd}$ is so small with the puzzle of why the PQ symmetry is of such high quality. Cosmological and astrophysical considerations raise…
The axion solution to the strong CP problem requires an anomalous global U(1) symmetry. We show that the existence of such a symmetry is a natural consequence of an extra dimension in which a gauged U(1) is spontaneously broken on one of…
While axions seem ubiquitous in critical string theories, whether they might survive in any string theoretic description of nature is a difficult question. With some mild assumptions, one can frame the issues in the case that there is an…
We investigate the possibility that supersymmetry is not a fundamental symmetry of nature, but emerges as an accidental approximate global symmetry at low energies. This can occur if the visible sector is non-supersymmetric at high scales,…
We consider supersymmetric theories where the standard-model quark and lepton fields are localized on a "3-brane" in extra dimensions, while the gauge and Higgs fields propagate in the bulk. If supersymmetry is broken on another 3-brane,…
The lack of evidence for low energy supersymmetry at the LHC implies a supersymmetry scale in excess a TeV. While this is consistent (and even helpful) with a Higgs boson mass at $\approx$ 125 GeV, simple supersymmetric models with scalar…
We consider supersymmetry breaking communicated entirely by the superconformal anomaly in supergravity. This scenario is naturally realized if supersymmetry is broken in a hidden sector whose couplings to the observable sector are…
The current measurement of the Higgs mass, the ubiquitous nature of loop-suppressed gaugino masses in gravity-mediated supersymmetry breaking, relic dark matter density from $\sim$ TeV mass gauginos, together with the success of…
We provide an anthropic reason that the supersymmetry breaking scale is much higher than the electroweak scale as indicated by the null result of collider experiments and observed 125 GeV Higgs boson. We focus on a new inflation model as a…
For decades, the unnaturalness of the weak scale has been the dominant problem motivating new particle physics, and weak-scale supersymmetry has been the dominant proposed solution. This paradigm is now being challenged by a wealth of…
Models of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking generically have an R-symmetry, which is problematic for obtaining gaugino masses and avoiding light R-axions. The situation is improved in models of metastable supersymmetry breaking, which…
Unified models incorporating the right handed neutrino in a symmetric way generically possess parity symmetry. If this is broken spontaneously it results in the formation of domain walls in the early Universe, whose persistence is unwanted.…
Weak scale supersymmetric theories often suffer from several naturalness problems: the problems of reproducing the correct scale for electroweak symmetry breaking, the correct abundance for dark matter, and small rates for flavor violating…