Improved GUT and SUSY breaking by the same field

In a previous paper [hep-ph/9809421; Phys. Lett. B 444 (1998)61], we presented a model in which the same modulus field breaks SUSY and a simple GUT gauge group, and which has dynamical origins for both SUSY breaking and GUT scales. In this model, the supergravity (SUGRA) and gauge mediated contributions to MSSM scalar and gaugino masses are comparable - this enables a realistic spectrum to be attained since the gauge mediated contribution to the right-handed (RH) slepton (mass)(2) (at the weak scale) by itself (i.e., neglecting SUGRA contribution to sfermion and gaugino masses) is negative. But, in general, the SUGRA contribution to sfermion masses (from non-renormalizable contact Kahler terms) leads to flavor violation. In this paper, we use the recently proposed idea of gaugino mediated SUSY breaking ((g) over tilde MSB) to improve the above model. With MSSM matter and SUSY breaking fields localized on separate branes in an extra dimension of size R similar to 5M(Pl)(-1) (in which gauge fields propagate), the SUGRA contribution to sfermion masses (which violates flavor) is suppressed. As in 4 dimensions, MSSM gauginos acquire non-universal masses from both SUGRA and gauge mediation - gaugino masses (in particular the SUGRA contribution to gaugino masses), in turn, generate acceptable sfermion masses through renormalization group evolution, the phenomenology is discussed briefly. We also point out that (a) in models where SUSY is broken by a GUT non-singlet field, there is, in general, a contribution to MSSM gaugino (and scalar) masses from the coupling to heavy gauge multiplet which might be comparable to the SUGRA contribution and (b) models of gauge mediation proposed earlier which also have negative RH slepton (mass)(2) can be rendered viable using the (g) over tilde MSB idea. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.