A stable proton without R-parity: Implications for the LSP

The proton decays too rapidly in supersymmetric theories if a dimension-4 operator 5¯⋅10⋅5¯ exists in the superpotential. The conventional idea is to impose the R-parity to kill this operator with a stable lightest supersymmetry particle (LSP) as a direct consequence. However, the SUSY-zero mechanism is also able to kill the operator without an unbroken R-parity. In this article, we provide a firm theoretical justification for the absence of the dimension-4 proton decay operator under the SUSY-zero mechanism, by using some input from string theory. The LSP may be unstable without the R-parity and, indeed, some dimension-5 R-parity violating operators may be generated in effective theories. This suggests that the dark matter is an axion in this string theory inspired model. An insight on the SUSY-zero mechanism is also obtained.