Light Higgsinos as Heralds of Higher-Dimensional Unification

Grand-unified models with extra dimensions at the GUT scale will typically contain exotic states with Standard Model charges and GUT-scale masses. They can act as messengers for gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking. If the number of messengers is sizeable, soft terms for the visible sector fields will be predominantly generated by gauge mediation, while gravity mediation can induce a small mu parameter. We illustrate this hybrid mediation pattern with two examples, in which the superpartner spectrum contains light and near-degenerate higgsinos with masses below 200 GeV. The typical masses of all other superpartners are much larger, from at least 500 GeV up to several TeV. The lightest superparticle is the gravitino, which may be the dominant component of dark matter.