Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 307 2 b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Only the Weyl fermions in the charged chiral multiplets contribute to the Abelian triangle gauge anomaly. Their cubic coefficient isand the mixed gauge-gravitational coefficient is . Diagrammatically, the oppositely charged and fermion triangles have equal magnitudes and opposite signs. The neutral gaugino also contributes nothing, so the theory is anomaly free.
Gauge invariance and renormalizability permit the most general superpotentialAfter setting the linear and quadratic parameters to zero, the supersymmetric non-renormalization theorem ensures that perturbative quantum corrections do not regenerate them in the Wilsonian superpotential.
Write the scalar components as . For generic nonzero , the F-term scalar potential and D-term scalar potential, including a Fayet–Iliopoulos term, areEvery term is nonnegative. The F-flat equations force and . If , the vacuumalso makes ; if , interchange and and use . Thus for nonzero the charged vacuum expectation value spontaneously breaks the gauged through the Higgs mechanism, but means supersymmetry remains unbroken. For , the origin preserves both the gauge symmetry and supersymmetry.