Small extra dimensions from the interplay of gauge and supersymmetry breaking Original Research Article

Higher-dimensional theories provide a promising framework for unified extensions of the supersymmetric Standard Model. Compactifications to four dimensions often lead to image symmetries beyond the Standard Model gauge group, whose breaking scale is classically undetermined. Without supersymmetry breaking, this is also the case for the size of the compact dimensions. Fayet–Iliopoulos terms generically fix the scale M of gauge symmetry breaking. The interplay with supersymmetry breaking can then stabilize the compact dimensions at a size image, much smaller than the inverse supersymmetry breaking scale image. We illustrate this mechanism with an image model in six dimensions, compactified on an orbifold.