# Can ϵ'/ϵ be supersymmetric?[1]

## Abstract

The possible supersymmetric contribution to $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ has been generally regarded small in the literature. We point out, however, that this is a result based on specific assumptions, such as universal scalar mass, and in general needs not to be true. Based on a general situation, (1) hierarchical quark Yukawa matrices protected by flavor symmetry, (2) generic dependence of Yukawa matrices on Polonyi/moduli fields as expected in many supergravity/superstring theories, (3) Cabibbo rotation originating from the down-sector, and (4) phases of order unity, we find the typical supersymmetric contribution to $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ to be order $`3\times 10^3`$ for $`m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}=500`$ GeV. It is even possible that the supersymmetric contribution dominates in the reported KTeV value $`ϵ^{}/ϵ=(28\pm 4.1)\times 10^4`$. If so, the neutron electric dipole moment is likely to be within the reach of the currently planned experiments.

preprint: LBNL-42967, UCB-PTH-99/07  

CP violation is the least understood aspect in the properties of the fundamental particles besides the mechanism of the electroweak symmetry breaking. The so-called “indirect CP violation” $`ϵ`$ in the neutral kaon system has been known for three decades as the only evidence that there is a fundamental distinction between particles and anti-particles. This year, however, produced two new manifestations of CP violation: $`\mathrm{sin}2\beta `$ from $`B\psi K_s`$ at CDF , even though the evidence is still somewhat week, and a beautiful measurement of “direct CP violation” $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ in neutral kaon system from KTeV . The latter confirmed the previous evidence reported by NA31  at a much higher accuracy and excludes the so-called superweak model of CP violation. The reported number, $`ϵ^{}/ϵ=(28\pm 4.1)\times 10^4`$  was, however, somewhat surprisingly large. The standard model prediction is currently controversial (see Table I) and is dominated by theoretical uncertainties in quantities such as the non-perturbative matrix elements and the strange quark mass $`m_s`$. Given this situation, one cannot interpret the KTeV data reliably; in particular, it is not clear if the data is consistent with the standard model (see also for a recent discussion in ).

On the other hand, the standard model is believed to be only an effective low-energy approximation of fundamental physics. This is largely because it lacks a dynamical explanation of the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking and suffers from a serious hierarchy problem that the electroweak scale is unstable against radiative corrections. The best available simultaneous solution to both of these problems is supersymmetry. Therefore, it is a natural question to ask if supersymmetry gives a sizable contribution to $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ given a precise measurement. The experimental sensitivity to a possible supersymmetric contribution is currently plagued by the theoretical uncertainties mentioned above, but we can expect them to be resolved or at least alleviated eventually by improvements in particular in lattice QCD calculations. It is therefore timely to reconsider the supersymmetric contribution to $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$.

In this letter, we revisit the estimate of $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ in supersymmetric models . The common lore in the literature is that the supersymmetric contribution to $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ is in general rather small. We point out, however, that this lore is largely based on the specific choice of supersymmetry breaking effects sometimes called minimal supergravity framework . A more general framework of flavor structure tends to give a relatively large contribution to $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ in a wide class of models. The assumptions are: (1) hierarchical quark Yukawa matrices protected by flavor symmetry, (2) generic dependence of Yukawa matrices on Polonyi/moduli fields as expected in many supergravity/superstring theories, (3) Cabibbo rotation originating from the down-sector, and (4) phases of order unity. In fact, there is even an intriguing possibility that the observed $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ is mostly or entirely due to the supersymmetric contribution.

To discuss the CP violating effects induced by loops of supersymmetric particles, it is convenient to introduce the mass insertion formalism . The Yukawa matrices are couplings in the superpotential $`W=Y_{ij}^uQ_iU_jH_u+Y_{ij}^dQ_iD_jH_d`$, where $`H_d`$, $`H_u`$ are Higgs doublets and $`i,j`$ flavor indices. The expectation values $`H_u=v\mathrm{sin}\beta /\sqrt{2}`$ and $`H_d=v\mathrm{cos}\beta /\sqrt{2}`$ generate quark mass matrices $`M^u=Y^uv\mathrm{sin}\beta /\sqrt{2}`$ and $`M^d=Y^dv\mathrm{cos}\beta /\sqrt{2}`$. They are diagonalized by bi-unitary transformations $`M^u=V_L^u\mathrm{diag}(m_u,m_c,m_t)V_R^u`$ and $`M^d=V_L^d\mathrm{diag}(m_d,m_s,m_b)V_R^d`$, and the Cabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa matrix is given by $`V_L^uV_L^d`$. The squarks have chirality-preserving mass-squared matrices $`\stackrel{~}{Q}_i^{}(M_Q^2)_{ij}\stackrel{~}{Q}_j\stackrel{~}{U}_i^{}(M_U^2)_{ij}\stackrel{~}{U}_j\stackrel{~}{D}_i^{}(M_D^2)_{ij}\stackrel{~}{D}_j`$ and chirality-violating trilinear couplings $`\stackrel{~}{Q}_i(A^d)_{ij}\stackrel{~}{D}_jH_d\stackrel{~}{Q}_i(A^u)_{ij}\stackrel{~}{U}_jH_u`$ where $`H_d`$, $`H_u`$ are Higgs doublets. The Higgs expectation values generate the left-right (LR) mass-squared matrix $`M_{LR}^{2,d}=A^dv\mathrm{sin}\beta /\sqrt{2}`$ and $`M_{LR}^{2,u}=A^uv\mathrm{cos}\beta /\sqrt{2}`$. The convenient basis to discuss flavor-changing effects in the gluino loop diagrams is the so-called superCKM basis . In this basis the relevant quark mass matrix is diagonalized (say, $`M^d`$) and the squarks are also rotated in the same way, $`M_Q^2V_L^dM_Q^2V_L^d`$, $`M_D^2V_R^dM_D^2V_R^d`$, and $`M_{LR}^{2,d}{}_{}{}^{t}V_{L}^{d}M_{LR}^{2,d}V_R^d`$. Flavor-changing effects can be estimated by insertion of flavor-off-diagonal components of the mass-squared matrices in this basis. By normalizing the off-diagonal components by average squark mass-squared $`m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^2`$, we define $`(\delta _{LL}^d)_{ij}=(V_L^dM_Q^2V_L^d)_{ij}/m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^2`$, $`(\delta _{RR}^d)_{ij}=(V_R^dM_D^2V_R^d)_{ij}/m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^2`$, and $`(\delta _{LR}^d)_{ij}=({}_{}{}^{t}V_{L}^{d}M_{LR}^{2,d}V_R^d)_{ij}/m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^2`$.

The supersymmetric contributions due to gluino loops to neutral Kaon parameters $`(\mathrm{\Delta }m_K)_{SUSY}`$, $`ϵ_{SUSY}`$ and $`(ϵ^{}/ϵ)_{SUSY}`$ have been calculated, and have been used to place bounds on mass insertion parameters . The values of the mass insertion parameters which saturate the observed numbers of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_K`$, $`ϵ`$ and $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ are tabulated in Table II, after updating the numbers in Ref. . These numbers are subject to theoretical uncertainties in QCD corrections and matrix elements at least of order a few tens of percents (this is at least what is obtained for the $`\mathrm{\Delta }S=2`$ transitions ). Barring possible cancellations with the standard-model amplitudes as well as with the other SUSY contributions (i.e., chargino and charged Higgs exchages), the mass insertion parameters have to be smaller than or at most comparable to the entries in the Table. Stringent bounds on $`(\delta _{12}^d)_{LL}`$ from $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_K`$ and $`ϵ`$ have been regarded as a problem in supersymmetric models. A random mass-squared matrix of squarks would lead to a large $`(\delta _{12}^d)_{LL}`$ which overproduce $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_K`$ or $`ϵ`$. Usually an assumption is invoked that the squark mass-squared matrix is proportional to the identity matrix (universality), at least for the first- and second-generations (alternatively one can invoke an alignment of the quark and squark mass matrices ). Even when such an assumption is made at the Planck scale, radiative effects can induce $`(\delta _{12}^d)_{LL}`$ and hence over produce $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_K`$ or $`ϵ`$. Once the bounds are satisfied, however, the supersymmetric contribution to $`ϵ^{}`$ tends to be rather small: $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_K`$ and $`ϵ`$ require $`|(\delta _{12}^d)_{LL}|=((\mathrm{Re}(\delta _{12}^d)_{LL}^2)^2+(\mathrm{Im}(\delta _{12}^d)_{LL}^2)^2)^{1/4}\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}0.019`$–0.092, which is much smaller than the corresponding bounds from $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$, $`|\mathrm{Im}(\delta _{12}^d)_{LL}|\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}0.10`$–0.27 . This fact led to a common wisdom that the supersymmetric contribution to $`ϵ^{}`$ is in general small. For the rest of the letter, we simply assume that $`(\delta _{ij}^d)_{LL}`$ parameters are under control by some mechanisms such as a flavor symmetry and do not go into any further discussions.

However, the contribution from $`(\delta _{12}^d)_{LR}`$ can be important; even $`|\mathrm{Im}(\delta _{12}^d)_{LR}^2|10^5`$ gives a significant contribution to $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ while the bounds on $`(\delta _{12}^d)_{LR}`$ from $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_K`$ and $`ϵ`$ are only about $`3\times 10^3`$ and $`3\times 10^4`$, respectively. Actually, one can even imagine to saturate both $`ϵ`$ and $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ at the borderline of the current limits . Therefore, whether the supersymmetric contribution to $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ can be important is an issue of how large $`(\delta _{12}^d)_{LR}`$ is expected in supersymmetric models rather than that of phenomenological viability.

What is the general expectation on the size of $`(\delta _{12}^d)_{LR}`$? The common answer in the literature to this question is that it is very small in general, and hence the supersymmetric contribution to $`ϵ^{}`$ has been regarded small as well. This is indeed the case if one assumes that all soft supersymmetry breaking parameters are universal at Planck- or GUT-scale where $`(\delta _{12}^d)_{LR}`$ is induced only radiatively at higher orders in small Yukawa coupling constants of first and second generation particles . However, the universal breaking is a strong assumption and is known not to be true in many supergravity and string-inspired models . On the other hand, the LR mass matrix has the same flavor structure as the fermion Yukawa matrix and both in fact originate from the superpotential couplings. Our theoretical prejudice is that there is an underlying symmetry (flavor symmetry) which restricts the form of the Yukawa matrices to explain their hierarchical forms. Then the LR mass matrix is expected to have a very similar form as the Yukawa matrix. More precisely, we expect the components of the LR mass matrix to be roughly the supersymmetry breaking scale (e.g., $`m_{3/2}`$) times the corresponding component of the quark mass matrix. However, there is no reason for them to be simultaneously diagonalizable based on this general argument. In general, we expect the size of $`(\delta _{12}^d)_{LR}`$ to be

$$(\delta _{12}^d)_{LR}\frac{m_{3/2}M_{12}^d}{m_{\stackrel{~}{q}^2}}.$$
(1)   
To be more concrete, one can imagine a string-inspired theory where the Yukawa couplings in the superpotential $`W=Y_{ij}^d(T)Q^iD^jH_d`$ are in general complicated functions of the moduli fields $`T`$. The moduli fields have expectation values of order string scale $`T`$ which describe the geometry of compactified extra six dimensions. The low-energy Yukawa couplings are then given by their expectation values $`Y_{ij}^d(T)`$. On the other hand, the moduli fields in general also have couplings to fields in the hidden sector and acquire supersymmetry-breaking $`F`$-component expectation values $`F_Tm_{3/2}`$ in the Planck unit $`M_{Pl}=\sqrt{8\pi }`$. This generates trilinear couplings given by 

$$\frac{Y_{ij}^d}{T}F_T\stackrel{~}{Q}^i\stackrel{~}{D}^jH_d,$$
(2)   
which depend on a different matrix $`Y_{ij}^d/T`$. Due to holomorphy, flavor symmetry is likely to constrain $`Y_{ij}^d`$ and its derivative to be similar while they in general do not have to exactly proportional to each other and hence are not simultaneously diagonalizable.

In order to proceed to numerical estimates of $`(\delta _{12}^d)_{LR}`$, we need to specify if the quark mixings come from up- or down-sector. In general, attributing mixing to up-sector gives smaller flavor-changing effects and receive less constraints . On the other hand, historically the Cabibbo angle has been often attributed to the down sector because of a numerical coincidence $`V_{us}=\mathrm{sin}\theta _C=0.22\sqrt{m_d/m_s}`$. For our purpose, we pick the latter choice, which fixes the form of the mass matrix for the first and second generations to be

$$M^d\left(\begin{array}{cc}m_d& m_sV_{us}\\ & m_s\end{array}\right),$$
(3)   
where the (2,1) element is unknown due to our lack of knowledge on the mixings among right-handed quarks. Based on the general considerations on the LR mass matrix above, we expect

$$m_{LR}^{2,d}m_{3/2}\left(\begin{array}{cc}am_d& bm_sV_{us}\\ & cm_s\end{array}\right),$$
(4)   
where $`a`$, $`b`$, $`c`$ are constants of order unity. Unless $`a=b=c`$ exactly, $`M_d`$ and $`m_{LR}^{2,d}`$ are not simultaneously diagonalizable and we find

$`(\delta _{12}^d)_{LR}{\displaystyle \frac{m_{3/2}m_sV_{us}}{m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^2}}`$ (6)   
$`=2\times 10^5\left({\displaystyle \frac{m_s(M_{Pl})}{50\mathrm{MeV}}}\right)\left({\displaystyle \frac{m_{3/2}}{m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}}}\right)\left({\displaystyle \frac{500\mathrm{GeV}}{m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}}}\right).`$   
It is interesting to see that $`(\delta _{12}^d)_{LR}`$ of this naive dimensional estimate gives the saturation of the bound from $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ (see Table II) if it has a phase of order unity.

The key-point of the above example is that the large value of $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ of the KTeV and NA31 experiments can be accounted for in the supersymmetric context without particularly contrived assumptions on the size of the $`(\delta _{12}^d)_{LR}`$ mass insertion with the exception of taking it to have a large CP violating phase .

One may wonder if typical off-diagonal elements in $`(\delta _{ij}^d)_{LR}`$ may be already excluded from other flavor-changing processes. For instance, $`(\delta _{23}^d)_{LR}`$ is constrained by $`bs\gamma `$ to be less than 1–3$`\times 10^2`$ . This is to be compared to the estimate $`(\delta _{23}^d)_{LR}m_{3/2}m_bV_{cb}/m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^22\times 10^5`$. The constraint from $`bsl^+l^{}`$ is similarly insignificant . Constraints from the up sector are much weaker.

It is tempting to speculate that the observed $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ may be dominated by $`(\delta _{12}^d)_{LR}`$ contribution. The estimate in Eq. (6) requires $`m_{3/2}m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}`$ and an $`O(1)`$ phase. Because $`m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^2`$ acquires a positive contribution from gluino mass in the renormalization-group evolution while off-diagonal components in LR mass matrix don’t, such a scenario would prefer models where the gaugino mass is somewhat smaller than scalar masses (assumed also to be $`O(m_{3/2})`$). An important implication of supersymmetry-dominated $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ is that neutron electric dipole moment (EDM) is likely to be large. The current limit on neutron EDM $`d_n<11\times 10^{26}e\mathrm{cm}`$ constrains $`|\mathrm{Im}(\delta _{11}^d)_{LR}|<(2.4,3.0,5.6)\times 10^6`$ for $`m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}^2/m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^2=0.3,1.0,4.0`$, respectively, with a theoretical uncertainty of at least a factor of two, while our estimate gives $`(\delta _{11}^d)_{LR}m_{3/2}m_d/m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^23\times 10^6`$. It would be interesting to see results from near-future experiments which are expected to improve the limit on $`d_n`$ by two orders of magnitude.

One may extend the discussion to the lepton sector. Let us consider $`m_{\stackrel{~}{l}}m_{3/2}500`$ GeV for our discussions. The constraints from $`\mu e\gamma `$ and the electron EDM are: $`|(\delta _{12}^l)_{LR}|<0.7`$$`1.9\times 10^5`$ and $`|\mathrm{Im}(\delta _{11}^l)_{LR}|<1.5`$$`3.5\times 10^6`$ for $`0.4<m_{\stackrel{~}{\gamma }}^2/m_{\stackrel{~}{l}}^2<5.0`$ . Our estimates on these mass insertion parameters are $`(\delta _{12}^l)_{LR}m_{3/2}m_\mu V_{\nu _e\mu }/m_{\stackrel{~}{l}}^22.1\times 10^4V_{\nu _e\mu }`$ and $`(\delta _{11}^l)_{LR}m_{3/2}m_e/m_{\stackrel{~}{l}}^21.0\times 10^6`$. In the lack of our knowledge on the lepton mixing angles, we cannot draw a definite conclusion on the $`\mu e\gamma `$ process. One possible choice is what is suggested by the small angle MSW solution to the solar neutrino problem, $`V_{\nu _e\mu }\sqrt{m_e/m_\mu }0.05`$. It is interesting that these estimates of $`|(\delta _{12}^l)_{LR}|`$ and $`|\mathrm{Im}(\delta _{11}^l)_{LR}|`$ nearly saturate the bounds.

In summary, we have reconsidered the possible supersymmetric contribution to $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$. Contrary to the lore in the literature, we find that generic supersymmetric models give an interesting contribution to $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$, and it is even possible that it dominates in the observed value. We expect the neutron EDM to be within the reach of near-future experiments in that case.

###### Acknowledgements.

A.M. thanks Luca Silvestrini for interesting discussions and suggestions. H.M. thanks Kaustubh Agashe and Lawrence Hall for pointing out numerical errors in an earlier version of the paper. We thank the organizers of the IFT workshop, “Higgs and SuperSymmetry: Search & Discovery,” University of Florida, March 8-11, 1999 for providing the stimulating atmosphere for this work to be started.