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8
votes
1answer
256 views

AGT conjecture and WZW model

In 2009 Alday, Gaiotto and Tachikawa conjectured an expression for the Liouville theory conformal blocks and correlation functions on a Riemann surface of genus g and n punctures as the Nekrasov ...
5
votes
3answers
290 views

Using supersymmetry outside high energy/particle physics

Are there applications of supersymmetry in other branches of physics other than high energy/particle physics?
8
votes
1answer
86 views

What evidence do we have for S-duality in N=4 Super-Yang-Mills?

Do we have anything resembling a proof*? Or is it just a collection of "coincidences"? Also, do we have evidence from lattice gauge theory computations? *Of course I'm not talking about a proof in ...
6
votes
2answers
172 views

How to prove quantum N=4 Super-Yang-Mills is superconformal?

I'm especially interested in elegant illuminating proofs which don't involve a lot of straightforward technical computations Also, does a non-perturbative proof exist?
16
votes
2answers
299 views

Kähler potential vs full effective potential

In evaluating the vacuum structure of quantum field theories you need to find the minima of the effective potential including perturbative and nonperturbative corrections where possible. In ...
12
votes
2answers
160 views

Generalized Complex Geometry and Theoretical Physics

I have been wondering about some of the different uses of Generalized Complex Geometry (GCG) in Physics. Without going into mathematical detail (see Gualtieri's thesis for reference), a Generalized ...
10
votes
1answer
57 views

N=2 SSM without a Higgs

In arXiv:1012.5099, section III, the authors describe a supersymmetric extension to the standard model in which there is no Higgs sector at all, in the conventional sense. The up-type Higgs is a ...
5
votes
1answer
25 views

Scaling solutions in context of Denef - Moore

My question is based on the paper Split states, entropy enigma, holes, halos. What are the scaling solutions discussed on page 49 of the paper ? It is stated that the equations ${\sum_{j, i\neq ...
3
votes
1answer
242 views

Basic Grassmann/Berezin Integral Question

Is there a reason why $\int\! d\theta~\theta = 1$ for a Grassmann integral? Books give arguments for $\int\! d\theta = 0$ which I can follow, but not for the former one.
12
votes
1answer
50 views

Local Fermionic Symmetry

That is perhaps a bit of an advertisement, but a couple of collaborators and myself just sent out a paper, and one of the results there is a little bit surprising. We found (in section 6E) a fermionic ...
12
votes
2answers
142 views

Topological twists of SUSY gauge theory

Consider $N=4$ super-symmetric gauge theory in 4 dimensions with gauge group $G$. As is explained in the beginning of the paper of Kapustin and Witten on geometric Langlands, this theory has 3 ...
16
votes
3answers
93 views

Paper listing known Seiberg-dual pairs of N=1 gauge theories

Is there a nice list of known Seiberg-dual pairs somewhere? There are so many papers from the middle 1990s but I do not find comprehensive review. Could you suggest a reference? Seiberg's original ...
6
votes
2answers
339 views

Stablising the Higgs without SUSY

Should the Higgs be found at the LHC, but no supersymmetry (assuming for the sake of argument that the LHC be capable of eliminating all versions of SUSY that are motivated by solving the hierarchy ...
14
votes
2answers
268 views

BPS states : Mathematical definition

First of all, let me congratulate the theoretical physics community for this site. I am a mathematics student with very little background in phyiscs. The question I want to ask is: What is the proper ...
13
votes
2answers
64 views

Uniqueness of supersymmetric heterotic string theory

Usually we say there are two types of heterotic strings, namely $E_8\times E_8$ and $Spin(32)/\mathbb{Z}_2$. (Let's forget about non-supersymmetric heterotic strings for now.) The standard argument ...
8
votes
1answer
44 views

Which is the coupling between the photon and the SU(2)xU(1) gauginos, before symmetry breaking?

The photon field is the non chiral piece of SU(2)xU(1), independently of symmetry breaking or not, isn't it? But before symmetry breaking, each gauge boson has only a chiral gaugino as ...
3
votes
1answer
154 views

Question about the parity of the ghost number operator in BRST quantization

Given a Lie algebra $[K_i,K_j]=f_{ij}^k K_k$, and ghost fields satisfying the anticommutation relations $\{c^i,b_j\}=\delta_j^i$, the ghost number operator is then $U=c^ib_i$ (duplicate indices are ...
6
votes
1answer
324 views

Fundamental particles with spin > 1

I am in undergraduate quantum mechanics, and the TA made an off-hand comment that currently no one knows how to describe fundamental particles with spin > 1 without supersymmetry. I was curious and ...
9
votes
1answer
30 views

Dual Pairs in Four Dimensions

Following the conversation here, I am wondering if anyone knows of an example of dual pair with 4-dimensional N=1 SUSY which relates a non-Abelian gauge theory on one side to a theory with a ...
9
votes
1answer
259 views

Does the ruling out of TeV scale SUSY breaking disfavor grand unification?

One of the arguments in favor of TeV scale SUSY breaking is that it leads to the appropriate running of the gauge coupling strengths leading to grand unification, i.e. $k_Y = \frac{5}{3}$ instead of ...
18
votes
2answers
129 views

Does 4D N = 3 supersymmetry exist?

Steven Weinberg's book "The Quantum Theory of Fields", volume 3, page 46 gives the following argument against N = 3 supersymmetry: "For global N = 4 supersymmetry there is just one supermultiplet ... ...
13
votes
1answer
31 views

SuperHiggs Mechanism on different Backgrounds & Compactifications

I've been studying Bagger & Giannakis paper on the SuperHiggs Mechanism found here. The paper shows how SUSY is broken by a $B_{\mu\nu}$ gauge field background restricted to $T^3$ in $M^7\times ...
21
votes
1answer
188 views

Vassiliev Higher Spin Theory and Supersymmetry

Recently there is renewed interest in the ideas of Vassiliev, Fradkin and others on generalizing gravity theories on deSitter or Anti-deSitter spaces to include higher spin fields (utilizing known ...
1
vote
1answer
269 views

in SUSY, does WW scattering unitarisation needs the higgs boson?

One of the arguments of LHC "win-win situation" is that the scattering of W particles needs to include new terms to preserve unitatity begond 500 GeV or so. In the SM, this is realized by the higgs ...
2
votes
0answers
112 views

Treatment of sbottoms in prospino

Could someone please explain the details of the following "propaganda plot" from the prospino website? There is one curve for stop pair production $\tilde t \bar {\tilde t}$, and one for general ...
9
votes
1answer
190 views

Can Fermionic symmetries be fully integrated into geometric deformation complexes or symplectic reduction?

How should a geometer think about quotienting out by a Fermionic symmetry? Is this a formal concept? A strictly linear concept? A sheaf theoretic concept? How does symplectic reduction work with odd ...
3
votes
1answer
190 views

Is there a SQCD gluino string, similar to the gluon string?

A gluon string is a particular kind of open string terminated in two particles which are the sources for the field. Is it possible to have a similar arrangement with gluinos? At first glance, it seems ...
10
votes
1answer
288 views

Why must gluinos be spin 1/2 instead of 3/2?

Is there some condition in the N=1 SUSY algebra telling that the spin of the superpartners of gauge bosons (either for colour or for electroweak) must be less than the spin of the gauge boson? I am ...
11
votes
3answers
1k views

What are the mathematical problems in introducing Spin 3/2 fermions?

Can the physics complications of introducing spin 3/2 Rarita-Schwinger matter be put in geometric (or other) terms readily accessible to a mathematician?
6
votes
1answer
156 views

About unitarity and R-charge in 2+1 superconformal field theory

How does unitarity require that every scalar operator in a $2+1$ SCFT will have to have a scaling dimension $\geq \frac{1}{2}$ ? Why is an operator with scaling dimension exactly equal to ...
2
votes
0answers
122 views

Argument for quantum theoretic conformality of $\cal{N}=2$ super-Chern-Simon's theory in $2+1$ dimensions -Part 2

This is in continuation to what I was asking here earlier - Argument for quantum theoretic conformality of $\cal{N}=2$ super-Chern-Simon's theory in $2+1$ dimensions Or one can look at this ...
4
votes
1answer
163 views

Argument for quantum theoretic conformality of $\cal{N}=2$ super-Chern-Simon's theory in $2+1$ dimensions

I am using the standard symbols of $V_\mu$ for the gauge field, $\lambda$ for its fermionic superpartner and $F$ and $D$ be scalar fields which make the whole thing a $\cal{N}=2$ vector/gauge ...
9
votes
2answers
327 views

Alejandro Rivero's correspondence: diquarks and mesons as superpartners of quarks and leptons

The idea of “hadronic supersymmetry” originated in the mid-1960s and derives from the observation that baryons and mesons have similar Regge slopes, as if antiquarks and diquarks are superpartners. ...
3
votes
1answer
197 views

Superpartner for the stress-energy tensor

I would like to understand what is meant when one introduces a generator $G(z)$ as the superpartner of the energy-momentum tensor $T(z)$. How does one decide that this $G(z)$ should have a ...
5
votes
1answer
205 views

Parametrisation of general MSSM/SUSY based on collider experiment observables

The full MSSM contains 120 parameters. In SUSY searches, one usually picks a model like MSUGRA which makes a few assumptions and only has 5 free parameters like $m_0$, $m_{1/2}$, .... Now, I'm ...
39
votes
0answers
1k views

Superfields and the Inconsistency of regularization by dimensional reduction

Question: How can you show the inconsistency of regularization by dimensional reduction in the $\mathcal{N}=1$ superfield approach (without reducing to components)? Background and some references: ...
4
votes
2answers
238 views

Sterile Neutrinos as Dark Matter

There has been recent activity by astrophysicists to determine whether a fourth flavor of neutrino, a sterile neutrino, exists. It would likely be more massive than electron, muon or tau neutrinos. ...
2
votes
1answer
327 views

Seiberg Witten theory

I'm currently reading the Seiberg-Witten paper on $N=2$ supersymmetric Yang Mills pure gauge theory (i.e. no hypermultiplets). I have the following question: How does one understand that the metric ...
1
vote
1answer
160 views

Why are the third generation superpartners lighter than the other sfermions in MSUGRA

In the MSUGRA breaking scenario, the stop particle typically appears at energies reachable at the LHC. Other sfermions, notably the partners of up, down, strange and charm are assumed to be degenerate ...
6
votes
1answer
426 views

Definition and difference between the R-symmetry and the $U(1)_R$ internal symmetry

For a general ${\cal N}$ the R-symmetry group is $U({\cal N})$ but for the ${\cal N}=2$ case why is it $SU(2)$ ? I guess it is again different for ${\cal N}=4$. How does one understand this? One ...
2
votes
2answers
314 views

Neutralino Dark Matter Detection

Assuming supersymmetry exists and a neutralino is stable, it's often seen as a leading dark matter candidate. What would be expected from the interaction of a neutralino and its anti-particle? Has ...
6
votes
1answer
354 views

BPS sectors in $\cal{N}=4$ SYM

I am familiar with the idea of a BPS bound as in a lower limit on the mass of supermultiplets given by a certain function of the central charge and when I think of $\cal{N}=4$ SYM I see a complicated ...
6
votes
1answer
190 views

Are non-supersymmetric GUTs ruled out due to lack of precise gauge coupling unification?

Does there exist any good proposal on how the gauge coupling unification can be fixed in non-supersymmetric GUTs? If not, can we assert that non-supersymmetric GUTs have been experimentally ruled out? ...
3
votes
1answer
262 views

The superconformal algebra

How does one derive the superconformal algebra? Especialy how to argue the existence of the operator $S$ which doesn't exist either in either the supersymmetric algebra or the conformal algebra? ...
5
votes
2answers
427 views

Is there a maximum number of types of elementary particles?

Doing a Google search i found a paper called The maximum number of elementary particles in a super symmetric extension of the standard model. It claims in the abstract that the upper bound is 84 (i ...
1
vote
1answer
123 views

Why is there more analysis of short multiplets compared to long multiplets?

In theories with extended supersymmetry, both short and long multiplets exist. For some reason or other, short multiplets are studied more often. Why? What's wrong with long multiplets?
10
votes
0answers
342 views

An unfamiliar way of writing supersymmetry transformations

This question is in relation to this recent paper. I would like to know how the so called supersymmetry transformations at the start of page 27 or at the end of page35 (equation 8.4) or at the end ...
5
votes
2answers
644 views

What does “soft” in “soft symmetry breaking” mean?

For example it is stated that if supersymmetry breaking is soft then stability of gauge hierarchy can be still maintained.
7
votes
1answer
314 views

Decay of SUSY particles

In discussion of LHC searches for SUSY particles, physicists seem to assume they will decay quickly to the lightest SUSY particle which then remains stable (at least within the time it takes to leave ...
3
votes
1answer
323 views

Katz and Vafa's work on F-theory

I would like to know about the larger picture, current state and future prospects of the sequence of papers that were written by Sheldon Katz and Cumrun Vafa on F-theory. (Freddy Cachazo was also a ...