TeV and Superheavy Mass-Scale Particles from Supersymmetric Topological Defects, the Extragalactic Gamma-ray Background, and the Highest Energy Cosmic Rays

Abstract

Cosmic topological defects in a wide class of supersymmetric theories can simultaneously be sources of higgs particles of mass comparable to the supersymmetry breaking scale $\sim$ TeV, as well as superheavy gauge bosons of mass $\sim \hat{I}\cdot$, where $\hat{I}\cdot$ (>> 1 TeV) denotes the associated gauge symmetry breaking scale. For cosmic strings with $\hat{I}\cdot \sim 10^{14}$ GeV, the higgs decay can account for the extragalactic diffuse gamma ray background above $\sim$ 10 GeV, while the gauge boson decay may explain the highest energy cosmic ray flux above $\sim 10^{11}$ GeV, provided that particle production is the dominant energy loss mechanism for cosmic strings, as recent simulations suggest. By the same token, cosmic strings with $\hat{I}\cdot$ much above $\sim 10^{14}$ GeV will be ruled out.

4 pages, Revtex, includes 1 figure, major changes in text, arguments made more general, main conclusions unchanged, version accepted for publication in PRL