A model of cosmology and particle physics at an intermediate scale

Abstract

We propose a model of cosmology and particle physics in which all relevant scales arise in a natural way from an intermediate string scale. We are led to assign the string scale to the intermediate scale M_* \sim 10^{13} GeV by four independent pieces of physics: electroweak symmetry breaking; the \mu parameter; the axion scale; and the neutrino mass scale. The model involves hybrid inflation with the waterfall field N being responsible for generating the \mu term, the right-handed neutrino mass scale, and the Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking scale. The large scale structure of the Universe is generated by the lightest right-handed sneutrino playing the role of a coupled curvaton. We show that the correct curvature perturbations may be successfully generated providing the lightest right-handed neutrino is weakly coupled in the see-saw mechanism, consistent with sequential dominance.