Intermediate Scales in Supersymmetric GUTs: the Survival of the Fittest

TL;DR

The paper demonstrates that intermediate scales in supersymmetric GUTs can naturally occur due to the violation of the survival principle, resulting in light supermultiplets with potential experimental signatures.

Contribution

It reveals a mechanism for the natural emergence of intermediate scales in supersymmetric GUTs linked to forbidden cubic couplings in the superpotential.

Findings

Existence of light supermultiplets with exotic quantum numbers

Masses of these states are suppressed by higher dimensional operators

Some states may be accessible to near-future experiments

Abstract

We show that intermediate scales in supersymmetric grand unified theories may exist naturally. Their origin is traced to the violation of the survival principle: in supersymmetry internal symmetries often forbid cubic couplings in the superpotential. This leads to a plethora of light supermultiplets whose masses are generated only by higher dimensional operators and thus suppressed by the cut-off scale. These new states often carry exotic quantum numbers and may be, in some cases, accessible to experiments in the near future.