Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 50 6 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Work on the physical domainand abbreviate , , and . There are no vector multiplets specified, hence no additional gauge D-term. In Planck units the supergravity F-term potential and upper-index supergravity auxiliary fields areThe overall auxiliary-field sign is a convention; its vanishing and norm are invariant statements.
The Kähler covariant derivatives of a superpotential here areThe Kähler metric, with rows and columns their barred partners, isIts block is positive definite because its leading diagonal and determinant are positive. In the inverse-tensor convention , the nonzero upper components areIn particular the conjugations in the off-diagonal components matter.
To verify the no-scale supergravity cancellation explicitly, temporarily write and . Their part of the metric contraction isThe terms involving and its conjugate cancel between the mixed and diagonal contributions. The remaining cancels the universal negative term. Since , the exact matter-logarithm no-scale potential is thereforeIt differs from a model where appears outside the logarithm in the Kähler potential.
Substitution into the auxiliary-field formula givesFor example , which reduces to the displayed expression for the cubic superpotential. To test unbroken supersymmetry at any finite point, first forces . Then forces , whereas forces . Subtracting gives . Because , and at a finite point, all auxiliaries can vanish only if . Thus every nontrivial choice of breaks supersymmetry at finite field values.
A finite zero-energy minimum requires both nonnegative terms of to vanish:There cannot be a finite positive-energy stationary point: keeping fixed and varying the real part of , equivalently , giveswhich is strictly negative unless . Hence these zero-energy solutions are all the possible finite minima.
Because were allowed to be arbitrary, existence must be checked. If both are nonzero, put and . The magnitude equation isThe function on the right starts at one at the excluded boundary , tends to zero as , and has derivative . Its maximum is at . Therefore a finite cubic-matter no-scale vacuum with an exponential dilaton exists exactly whenThere is one finite positive root for , two for , and one merged root at the maximum. The complex phase equation fixes modulo . If exactly one of vanishes, or the ratio exceeds the bound, no finite minimum exists; the potential instead has infimum zero along the runaway . A zero infimum at an infinite-field boundary is not an attained finite vacuum.
On a nontrivial finite branch, , soThis proves supersymmetry breaking at the intended no-scale vacuum. Its zero energy is consistent with the negative gravitational term: , which cancels in . It is not a counterexample to the global-supersymmetry positivity argument in question 3.
Both real components of are exactly flat on the vacuum family: never enters the potential, and at every allowed positive gives the same zero energy. Generically both components of are fixed. Although the matter field has no quadratic mass there, it is not an exact flat direction: for fixed at its root, and the leading positive potential is . At the special merged root , the real- quadratic curvature also vanishes, but higher orders lift it; this does not add a continuous flat vacuum direction. If , by contrast, is a supersymmetric zero-energy family with both complex and flat and all auxiliaries zero. This exception prevents an unconditional breaking assertion for arbitrary constants.
Finally the gravitino mass from a superpotential isAt a nontrivial finite minimum it becomesIts value varies along the flat volume modulus; the classical potential does not select a unique supersymmetry-breaking or gravitino-mass scale. On the trivial supersymmetric branch , it is zero.
For the cubic-matter no-scale vacuum with an exponential dilaton, put and . At , zero energy requires . On a fixed-imaginary-part slice, gives . At the double root , the first derivative vanishes but the second is , so . Therefore begins at fourth order. This real scalar has zero quadratic mass but is not an exact flat direction of a scalar potential. The imaginary part of is still lifted quadratically, and the matter field also has a quartic leading potential. Exact flat directions instead come from the complex volume modulus along the zero-energy locus.