Eur. Phys. J. C (2016) 76: 8
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

Abstract

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.