Naturalness and the Status of Supersymmetry

TL;DR

This review critically examines the concept of naturalness in supersymmetry, analyzing theoretical motivations, experimental constraints, and various models, highlighting the challenges and future prospects for supersymmetric theories.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive survey of natural supersymmetry models, discusses subjective aspects of naturalness, and evaluates experimental constraints impacting supersymmetry viability.

Findings

Supersymmetry faces significant experimental challenges from collider data.

Naturalness measures in supersymmetry are highly subjective and model-dependent.

Several natural supersymmetric models remain viable and are actively being explored.

Abstract

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 experimental data. In this review, we begin by recalling the theoretical motivations for weak-scale supersymmetry, including the gauge hierarchy problem, grand unification, and WIMP dark matter, and their implications for superpartner masses. These are set against the leading constraints on supersymmetry from collider searches, the Higgs boson mass, and low-energy constraints on flavor and CP violation. We then critically examine attempts to quantify naturalness in supersymmetry, stressing the many subjective choices that impact the results both quantitatively and qualitatively. Finally, we survey various proposals for natural supersymmetric models, including effective supersymmetry, focus point supersymmetry, compressed supersymmetry, and R-parity-violating supersymmetry, and summarize their key features, current status, and implications for future experiments.