Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 45 2 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
A supersymmetric vacuum satisfies , equivalently , and has . For , the nonconstant quadratic has at least one complex root, including a double root when . Since the scalar is complex, these roots are admissible physical vacua whether or not they lie on the real slice. Thus supersymmetry is unbroken at either zero of . The same is true for , where is linear and has the root .
The exceptional pure-linear model has everywhere and . It exhibits flat F-term breaking with a linear superpotential: all scalar values are flat vacua but no state annihilates every supercharge. If also , the potential is identically zero and supersymmetry is unbroken on a flat moduli space.
Consequently the generic cubic or massive model does not spontaneously break supersymmetry; only the nonzero purely linear branch does in this single-field canonical model. The answer is independent of .