Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 53 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use and keep each constant odd supersymmetry parameter on the left. The transformation of a fermion may be written or , since the bosonic derivative commutes with the parameter. The variation itself is even, so it obeys the ordinary product rule; the signs below arise when moving an odd parameter past an odd field.
First consider the transformation. Suppress target indices and put . Its bosonic part varies asFor the first fermion, moving to the left givesThe second fermion does not vary under . Since , these terms combine to . The other parameter gives the same cancellation with and . ThereforeThis proves worldsheet supersymmetry invariance up to the rigid worldsheet supersymmetry boundary term, without using field equations.
For an open string, the boundary term is part of the invariance statement. For example, a Neumann endpoint has and compatible fermion gluing , . The spatial boundary flux vanishes when . Both endpoints must admit the same preserved parameter. Opposite gluing signs, giving the Neveu–Schwarz sector, do not preserve a nonzero constant parameter at both ends. Thus the local bulk identity and the existence of a global rigid charge on a particular open-string sector are distinct. The local superconformal symmetry remains the basis of the string constraints; this is consistent with the spin-structure obstruction to constant worldsheet supersymmetry.
Now write and , . The other two components vanish. The action implies , and , so these supercurrents are chiral and conserved locally. At equal time, the given canonical commutation relations implyWith , contraction with this commutator givesThe parameter-weighted charge is even. Since the parameters anticommute with the fermions,Using the PDF's normalization yieldsThus the charge generates all the specified supersymmetry transformations. Dropping the factor in the fermion anticommutator, as happens in the converted TeX, would fail this check. The original PDF has the correct factor.
To calculate the supercurrent bracket, put and . The equal-time bosonic relations giveBosonic and fermionic fields commute. Expanding the two current products, commuting the bosonic factors once and using the fermion anticommutator gives the noncentral partFor an ordinary smooth bilocal coefficient, the distributional derivative identity isFor the fermion bilinear, its coincident classical value, or its coincident normal-ordered value, is zero by antisymmetry against the symmetric target metric. The second term is . Since , we have . It follows that the noncentral current bracket isThis is the canonical supercurrent bracket of free RNS matter. The other chirality similarly gives and on shell.
The printed current identity is the classical, or noncentral, part of the algebra. Fully quantized coincident products require normal ordering; the matter algebra then also has a central contact term proportional to in the current anticommutator. The 10 bosons and 10 real fermions contribute matter central charge . The central term cannot be discarded in a literal quantum operator identity, although it is irrelevant to identifying the local noncentral stress tensor above.
The other brackets close on these same currents. The stress-tensor commutator contains and and, quantum mechanically, a central term. The stress-tensor–supercurrent commutator contains and , expressing the conformal weight of . The supercurrent anticommutator contains and its central term. In a conventional normalization of Fourier modes these form the N=1 super-Virasoro algebra:Here and are central terms supported at zero total mode number; their detailed coefficients are not needed for this request. The indices are half-integers in the Neveu–Schwarz sector and integers in the Ramond sector. Opposite chiralities commute or anticommute as appropriate.
For the closed RNS string, impose a copy of the constraints in each chirality. In the Neveu–Schwarz sector, the physical conditions areIn the Ramond sector, use vacuum-normal-ordered generators with zero Ramond intercept. ThenThe Ramond zero-mode equation is essential: its square gives the mass-shell condition in this convention, , and on the oscillator ground sector it is the spacetime Dirac constraint. In a convention whose unshifted plane generator has , the zero-mode equation instead sets that shifted combination to zero; these are the same condition, not competing intercepts.
For either choice, the corresponding tilded constraints hold on the other side. Both chiral mass-shell conditions and closed-string level matching are required:The state sectors are NS–NS, NS–R, R–NS and R–R. Quotienting physical null states removes unphysical longitudinal polarizations; equivalently, use the appropriate BRST cohomology including the superconformal ghosts. A consistent superstring also specifies the GSO projection. It is an additional sector selection, not a replacement for these local super-Virasoro constraints. Physical states satisfy both chiral positive-mode and zero-mode constraints, level matching, and the null-state quotient; Ramond states additionally obey the fermionic zero-mode constraint.