https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-015-3842-6
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Beyond the CMSSM without an accelerator: proton decay and direct dark matter detection
1
Theoretical Physics and Cosmology Group, Department of Physics, King’s College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, UK
2
TH Division, Physics Department, CERN, 1211, Geneva 23, Switzerland
3
William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA
4
Kavli IPMU (WPI), UTIAS, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8583, Japan
5
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA
* e-mail: sandick@physics.utah.edu
Received:
13
October
2015
Accepted:
11
December
2015
Published online:
5
January
2016
We consider two potential non-accelerator signatures of generalizations of the well-studied constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model (CMSSM). In one generalization, the universality constraints on soft supersymmetry-breaking parameters are applied at some input scale
below the grand unification (GUT) scale
, a scenario referred to as ‘sub-GUT’. The other generalization we consider is to retain GUT-scale universality for the squark and slepton masses, but to relax universality for the soft supersymmetry-breaking contributions to the masses of the Higgs doublets. As with other CMSSM-like models, the measured Higgs mass requires supersymmetric particle masses near or beyond the TeV scale. Because of these rather heavy sparticle masses, the embedding of these CMSSM-like models in a minimal SU(5) model of grand unification can yield a proton lifetime consistent with current experimental limits, and may be accessible in existing and future proton decay experiments. Another possible signature of these CMSSM-like models is direct detection of supersymmetric dark matter. The direct dark matter scattering rate is typically below the reach of the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment if
is close to
, but it may lie within its reach if
GeV. Likewise, generalizing the CMSSM to allow non-universal supersymmetry-breaking contributions to the Higgs offers extensive possibilities for models within reach of the LZ experiment that have long proton lifetimes.
© The Author(s), 2016