Abelian Hidden Sectors at a GeV

TL;DR

This work investigates how GeV-scale hidden sectors can emerge naturally in supersymmetric theories when SUSY breaking is communicated via gauge interactions. By analyzing gauge mediation, gaugino mediation, kinetic mixing with hypercharge, and singlet/multi-mediator scenarios, the authors construct Abelian hidden sectors whose mass scales are set around the GeV region and explore their cosmological and collider implications. They find that the gravitino mass relative to hidden-sector masses crucially determines viability, relic densities, and decay channels, with viable models often relying on sequestering or specific mediation structures. The results suggest new, testable pathways for dark matter phenomenology and collider signatures, including lepton jets and low-mass resonances, that could be probed at both high-energy and low-energy facilities.

Abstract

We discuss mechanisms for naturally generating GeV-scale hidden sectors in the context of weak-scale supersymmetry. Such low mass scales can arise when hidden sectors are more weakly coupled to supersymmetry breaking than the visible sector, as happens when supersymmetry breaking is communicated to the visible sector by gauge interactions under which the hidden sector is uncharged, or if the hidden sector is sequestered from gravity-mediated supersymmetry breaking. We study these mechanisms in detail in the context of gauge and gaugino mediation, and present specific models of Abelian GeV-scale hidden sectors. In particular, we discuss kinetic mixing of a U(1)_x gauge force with hypercharge, singlets or bi-fundamentals which couple to both sectors, and additional loop effects. Finally, we investigate the possible relevance of such sectors for dark matter phenomenology, as well as for low- and high-energy collider searches.