On the Thermal History of Gauge Mediation

Note: Special Time 2 :00 PM
Speaker: Andrey Katz, University of Maryland

When: April 13, 2010 (Tue), 12:30PM to 01:30PM (add to my calendar)

This event is part of the HET Seminar Series.

Abstract:
Many messenger models of gauge mediation are based on meta-stable vacua.
In this talk I will discuss the thermal history of generic messenger
models, also known as ‘‘Extra-Ordinary gauge mediation``. I will show
that while some of the models clearly prefer a supersymmetric vacuum,
there is a vast class of models where the answer strongly depends on
the initial conditions. Along with the vacuum at the origin, the high
temperature thermal potential also possesses a local minimum far away
from the origin. This vacuum has no analog at zero temperature. The
first order phase transition from this vacuum into the supersymmetric
vacuum is parametrically suppressed, and the theory, starting from that
vacuum, is likely to evolve to the desired gauge-mediation vacuum.