Flat directions in the scalar potential of the supersymmetric standard model
arXiv:hep-ph/9510370 · doi:10.1016/0550-3213(96)00095-8
Abstract
The scalar potential of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) is nearly flat along many directions in field space. We provide a catalog of the flat directions of the renormalizable and supersymmetry-preserving part of the scalar potential of the MSSM, using the correspondence between flat directions and gauge-invariant polynomials of chiral superfields. We then study how these flat directions are lifted by non-renormalizable terms in the superpotential, with special attention given to the subtleties associated with the family index structure. Several flat directions are lifted only by supersymmetry-breaking effects and by supersymmetric terms in the scalar potential of surprisingly high dimensionality.
23 pages plain TeX + 1 uuencoded postscript file. References added, version to be published in Nuc. Phys. B