Abelian field-strength chiral projection Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
For an Abelian vector superfield, the chiral field-strength superfield is . Three barred supersymmetric covariant derivatives vanish, proving . This is a chiral spinor superfield with a gaugino as its lowest component. Phase and component signs depend on the stated Wess-Zumino gauge convention; the reality of alone does not fix those phase conventions.
Bino 2026-10-14
The bino is the spin-one-half gaugino of the hypercharge gauge group. Its adjoint representation is the singlet , so it has no hypercharge of its own. After electroweak symmetry breaking, it can mix with the neutral wino and higgsinos into neutralinos.
Chargino Created 2026-10-20 Updated 2026-11-05
A charged fermionic mass eigenstate formed by mixing charged electroweak gauginos and higgsinos in a supersymmetric model. Its production and decay can yield leptons and missing transverse momentum when a stable neutral lightest state is present.
Chiral spinor superfield 2026-10-06
A chiral spinor superfield carries a Spinor representation of the Lorentz group index and satisfies . The chiral field-strength superfield is a fermionic example: its lowest component is the Weyl spinor gaugino. Its spinor index distinguishes it from a scalar chiral superfield, even though both obey the same chirality constraint.
Gauge contributions to the F-term supertrace 2026-10-06
Canonical gauge interactions preserve the tree-level supertrace mass sum rule at a vacuum with vanishing D-terms. Put for the scalar expectation vector . The extra real-scalar squared-mass trace is , the extra Weyl spinor squared-mass trace from gaugino mixing is , and the gauge boson squared-mass trace is . Their spin-weighted supertrace is . The scalar contribution comes from differentiating ; the fermionic one counts both blocks of the symmetric mixing matrix with entries ; the vector one follows from the covariant scalar kinetic term. Any zero-mass Goldstone bosons in the unreduced scalar Hessian do not change its trace.
For canonical global four-dimensional N=1 supersymmetry, define , and at a stationary vacuum. Gauge invariance of the superpotential gives , while stationarity of gives . Therefore the canonically normalized fermion mass matrix, after a harmless gaugino phase choice, obeysIf supersymmetry is broken, this vector is nonzero and specifies a massless Goldstino. The matrix with off-diagonal blocks instead acts on ; it is related to the canonical matrix by a change of normalization, not by equality of canonical entries. Additional zero modes can coexist with the Goldstino.
Higgsino 2026-10-06
A higgsino is the Weyl spinor partner of a Higgs scalar field in a chiral superfield. After a supersymmetric Higgs mechanism, its combination along a broken gauge direction mixes with the gaugino in the resulting massive N=1 vector multiplet.
Majorana mass term Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-11-05
A Majorana mass term pairs a Weyl spinor field with itself, schematically with the spinor indices contracted. Under the continuous phase rotation , the bilinear gains , so a nonzero fixed mass breaks that continuous number symmetry.
Gauge invariance requires the contracted bilinear to be a gauge singlet, not every component of the field to be a singlet. A suitable real representation, including the Adjoint representation, can admit an invariant Majorana mass term; an adjoint gaugino is an example. A single field with nonzero conserved electric charge cannot have such a term, because its pair carries twice that electric charge.[ref]
Gauge Theory by David Tong. Section 3.4.2, printed p. 163: Majorana masses for fermions in real representations
For canonical kinetic terms, vanishing superpotential, and , the D-term scalar potential has its minimum at . Both real scalar modes have squared mass , while the chiral Weyl fermion, photon and gaugino are massless; the gaugino is the goldstino. The scalar-to-fermion squared-mass splitting is . On the other branch , cancels and preserves supersymmetry; the Higgsed vector, remaining real scalar and Dirac fermion have common squared mass . A single nonzero-charge chiral fermion has a gauge anomaly, so a quantum realization requires an anomaly-cancelling completion; these are the stated classical vacuum spectra.
Minimal supersymmetric Standard Model Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-11-05
The Minimal supersymmetric Standard Model extends the Standard Model by placing its matter fermions in chiral superfields and its gauge bosons in supersymmetric vector multiplets, with two Higgs chiral doublets. The resulting partners include squarks, gauginos and higgsinos.
The paired Higgs fields allow holomorphic up-type and down-type Yukawa couplings and cancel the new higgsino gauge anomalies. A phenomenological model also specifies the MSSM superpotential, soft supersymmetry breaking parameters and whether R-parity is conserved. These choices determine mass eigenstates, mixing and decay chains. For example, neutralinos mix neutral electroweak gauginos and higgsinos. The field content provides a calculable framework, but does not by itself predict one partner mass spectrum or one collider signature.
MSSM superfield representations 2026-10-06
In the MSSM, each fermion generation has chiral superfields , , , , and . This uses hypercharge normalized by and only left-handed Weyl spinors. Two Higgs chiral doublets have charges . The three vector superfields transform as , and , supplying the gauge bosons and gauginos.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 65 1 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Anticommuting-variable dependence alone is not the defining condition: a superfield must carry a specified Super-Poincaré group transformation law. Any appropriately graded function on superspace becomes an unconstrained scalar superfield under coordinate pullback, but an arbitrary collection of coefficients in a Grassmann variable polynomial is not automatically a prescribed supermultiplet. For example, a chiral superfield has , with and ; a vector superfield obeys and contains a gauge vector, gaugino and auxiliary field in Wess-Zumino gauge. A polynomial with constant component fields can be a special chiral superfield; lack of explicit spacetime dependence alone does not disqualify it. This is superfield covariance is not Grassmann dependence alone.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 65 2 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a massless supermultiplet, put the momentum along the third axis. The matrix in the supersymmetry algebra has rank one, so only one fermionic oscillator acts nontrivially. It relates states whose helicities differ by . Including the antiparticles required by CPT completion of a supermultiplet gives the following complete spectra.
A chiral multiplet contains a complex scalar and a Weyl spinor . Its scalar particle and antiparticle have helicity ; its fermion particle and antiparticle have helicities and . Therefore , with maximum absolute helicity .
A supersymmetric vector multiplet contains a massless gauge vector , with helicities , and a Majorana spinor gaugino , with helicities . Again , now with maximum absolute helicity . The chiral and vector auxiliary fields contribute no on-shell states.
The Higgs mechanism is compatible with unbroken supersymmetry. A supersymmetric vacuum may have nonzero scalar vacuum expectation values that break the internal gauge symmetry while obeying both F-flatness and D-flatness. For example, oppositely charged chiral superfields with , no Fayet–Iliopoulos term and equal nonzero scalar magnitudes have but break the Abelian gauge group. In the supersymmetric Higgs mechanism, a massless vector multiplet combines with the chiral multiplet along the broken gauge direction. One real scalar becomes the longitudinal vector polarization; the other remains a physical real scalar, and the gaugino combines with the Higgsino into a Dirac spinor. The resulting massive vector multiplet has bosonic and fermionic states with a common mass, as in part (i). Any other uneaten chiral multiplets remain separately in the spectrum.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 65 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take canonical kinetic terms, gauge coupling , and define the Fayet–Iliopoulos term by . If is the scalar component of the charge- chiral superfield, the relevant auxiliary field Lagrangian isThe algebraic equation eliminates and gives the D-term scalar potentialSince the superpotential vanishes, . In a homogeneous vacuum, the supersymmetry transformation of the gaugino includesThus gives an inhomogeneous shift: no nonzero constant supersymmetry parameter leaves this vacuum invariant. The gaugino is the goldstino, because it is the field shifting under the broken supercharge; there is no contribution here.
For , minimizing over separates three cases. If , the allowed value gives : supersymmetry is unbroken while the internal gauge symmetry is Higgsed. If , the unconstrained zero of would have negative , so the minimum is with and . If , the minimum is supersymmetric. Consequently, with this explicitly stated sign convention,Reversing the sign used to define the Fayet–Iliopoulos term reverses the printed sign criterion, not the physics. If , the scalar is decoupled and flat: any still breaks supersymmetry through , but the charged-field criterion does not apply.
On the broken branch, expand about :Writing gives both real scalar modes the squared mass . There is no superpotential fermion mass and no vacuum expectation value to induce gaugino–matter-fermion mixing. The Abelian gauge symmetry is unbroken, so its vector is also massless. The complete mass spectrum of single charged-field D-term breaking isThe original chiral multiplet therefore has the squared-mass splittingThe original vector multiplet has zero mass splitting, although the nonzero means it is not an unbroken-supersymmetry representation. As a check, the tree-level supertrace mass sum rule gives when the two real scalar degrees of freedom are counted. On the broken branch all the propagating fields are massless.
There is a necessary scope qualification: one nonzero-charge Weyl fermion has an Abelian cubic gauge anomaly proportional to and a mixed gravitational gauge anomaly proportional to . These are the classical vacuum and spectrum calculations requested by the model; a consistent quantum gauge theory needs an anomaly-cancelling completion, whose additional matter must also be included in its vacuum analysis.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 68 1 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
In the supersymmetric Higgs mechanism, an internal gauge symmetry is broken by a charged scalar field expectation value while supersymmetry can remain unbroken. A massless vector multiplet absorbs a chiral multiplet to form a massive N=1 vector multiplet: the vector absorbs a scalar Goldstone boson, and the gaugino and matter fermion acquire the matching masses. In the super-Higgs mechanism, local supersymmetry itself is spontaneously broken: the gravitino absorbs the spin- Goldstino and becomes a massive spin- particle. In a flat vacuum this increases its physical states from two to four.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 53 9 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Ordinary electromagnetism uses a one-form gauge potential, its gauge transformation and its curvature. On superspace the corresponding object is a superspace gauge connection, with both vector and spinor components. Write . Its graded commutator contains the flat-frame torsion plus supercurvature. The conventional constraints set the two undotted-spinor curvatures, the two dotted-spinor curvatures and the conventional mixed spinor curvature to zero; the mixed derivative algebra then determines the vector connection. The remaining independent gauge curvature is packaged into a chiral field-strength superfield. A real vector superfield is a prepotential solving these constraints, rather than four unrelated ordinary gauge potentials.
Use the left-derivative conventions of Question 5, with and . An Abelian supergauge transformation has a chiral parameter , and one consistent normalization isThe parameter is chiral so that the transformed matter is still a chiral superfield; its complex components remove more of the prepotential than an ordinary real gauge parameter. In Wess-Zumino gauge, one convenient expansion isIts components are the gauge potential , the gaugino and the real auxiliary field . Wess-Zumino gauge removes the extra scalar and spinor components of a general real superfield. Supersymmetry transformations usually leave that gauge slice and require a compensating supergauge transformation. For a residual chiral parameter with real lowest component , the expansion gives and ; thus is the ordinary Maxwell gauge parameter.
The Abelian field strength is the Abelian field-strength chiral projectionThree barred derivatives vanish because there are only two anticommuting dotted components, so . Gauge invariance follows directly: by antichirality, while the mixed derivative algebra gives for chiral . In chiral coordinates its component structure iswhere fixes the tensor normalization. Overall gaugino phase choices do not change the gauge-invariant field strength or its Bianchi constraint.
Reality of and the derivative algebra imply the superspace Yang-Mills Bianchi identityIndeed, the two sides are the same differential operator on , because . This is the superspace counterpart of , and its components contain . It is a defining curvature constraint, not the Maxwell equations. Varying the pure gauge action additionally sets the common real superfield to zero; matter supplies a current instead.
The Supersymmetric Yang-Mills action and minimal matter coupling areThe chiral phase factors cancel in . The component matter derivative is , which transforms covariantly under the residual gauge transformation just derived. The same superspace term generates the associated matter–gaugino Yukawa coupling and auxiliary coupling, so minimal coupling is not only replacing an ordinary derivative in the scalar action. The gauge action contains , the gaugino kinetic term and . Rescaling the vector multiplet to canonical kinetic normalization gives the physical coupling . The holomorphic superpotential must be gauge invariant; a single field of nonzero continuous Abelian charge admits no nonconstant polynomial superpotential without additional fields. For several fields, invariance requires . A Fayet–Iliopoulos term is additionally possible for an Abelian factor, shifting the algebraic equation.
For a non-Abelian gauge group, and are Lie-algebra-valued, and multiplication cannot be reordered. For matter in a specified representation, setThe same matter quadratic form remains invariant. Its curvature isAt first order in an Abelian , this reduces to , fixing the factor . In the chiral gauge frame, and as an operator. The gauge-covariant Bianchi identity is , where is the conjugate curvature expressed in that same frame. It follows from the graded Jacobi identity of the covariant derivatives. Taking a trace of makes the chiral gauge action invariant. Its bosonic curvature becomes the ordinary Yang-Mills curvature, and the gaugino transforms in the Adjoint representation. A constant Fayet–Iliopoulos coefficient cannot be inserted for a simple non-Abelian group, since it would need an invariant linear functional annihilating every Lie bracket. These constructions connect the constrained superspace connection, its prepotential and its component gauge multiplet.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 55 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
R-parity is the multiplicative quantum numberwhere are baryon number, lepton number and spin. Ordinary Standard Model particles have and their superpartners have . Gauge invariance alone allows MSSM superpotential terms , , and . Simultaneous baryon- and lepton-number violation can induce rapid proton decay. Exact R-parity forbids these renormalizable terms, since the associated matter parity is odd; it does not forbid every higher-dimensional proton-decay operator, for example .
Two consequences are superpartner production in pairs from ordinary-particle initial states and stability of the lightest supersymmetric particle: a single parity-odd particle cannot decay only into parity-even particles. Cascades therefore end in the lightest supersymmetric particle; if it is neutral and weakly interacting, it produces missing-energy signatures.
A continuous R-symmetry rotates and the supercharges. With , the superpotential has R-charge two and the fermion in a chiral superfield has one less charge than its scalar. R-parity is only a discrete restriction, represented by combining matter parity with , and need not preserve a full continuous R-symmetry. For example, a gaugino Majorana mass term violates an unbroken continuous R-symmetry but preserves R-parity. Thus proton protection by parity and continuous R-charge selection rules are distinct requirements.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 55 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take canonical kinetic terms, gauge coupling , and a nonzero charge . Define and choose the convention in which the Fayet–Iliopoulos term contributes to the Lagrangian. With one charged chiral superfield, gauge invariance permits no nonconstant polynomial superpotential; an irrelevant global constant gives . The real auxiliary field part isIts equation of motion is . Eliminating it gives the D-term scalar potentialThe gaugino transformation has the form a field-strength term, with a convention-dependent overall phase. In a translationally invariant vacuum with zero field strength, a nonzero therefore gives an inhomogeneous shift of : no nonzero supersymmetry parameter leaves the vacuum invariant. The massless Goldstino is consequently the gaugino, not the matter fermion, since .
Minimize the potential over . If , the allowed value sets , so supersymmetry is unbroken while the internal gauge symmetry is Higgsed. If , the origin also has . For the broken branch, and the formal zero of would require negative . The actual minimum isThis is single charged-field D-term breaking. Nonzero FI parameter alone does not force breaking if a scalar can cancel it. The degenerate case is different: any breaks supersymmetry in the vector sector while the neutral scalar remains flat; the sign test above assumes an actually charged field.
Expand around the broken vacuum:For , both canonically normalized real scalars have squared mass . The matter Weyl spinor has no superpotential mass. The gauge boson remains massless because . The gauge Yukawa coupling, proportional to , gives no fermion mixing or mass at this vacuum, so the gaugino is also massless. The tree-level spectrum is thereforeand the chiral-multiplet splitting isThe vector and its gaugino happen to remain degenerate at zero mass even though supersymmetry is broken. If the sign convention for the FI contribution is reversed, the sign criterion changes accordingly; the invariant condition is that the scalar condensate cannot cancel the auxiliary source. This is the classical toy-model spectrum; a quantum completion of the single charged-fermion theory also has to cancel its gauge anomalies.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 54 1 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Four-dimensional N=1 supersymmetry is compatible with a chiral gauge spectrum. Each matter Weyl spinor belongs to a chiral superfield with a complex scalar in the same gauge representation, and each gauge boson belongs to a vector multiplet with an adjoint gaugino. Thus a supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model predicts squarks, sleptons and gauge-fermion partners, together with Higgs-sector partners. Exact unbroken supersymmetry would make partners mass-degenerate, so a phenomenologically useful model needs supersymmetry breaking.
The Minimal supersymmetric Standard Model uses two Higgs chiral doublets. Holomorphy of the superpotential prevents use of the conjugate of one doublet as an independent chiral field, so up-type and down-type Yukawa couplings require opposite-hypercharge doublets. Their higgsinos also cancel each other's gauge anomalies. The superpotential has the schematic formwith gauge contractions understood. Supersymmetry relates the scalar quartic interactions and Yukawa interactions to the same gauge and superpotential couplings, rather than allowing arbitrary independent choices.
A central motivation is the hierarchy problem. A nonsupersymmetric scalar mass can receive corrections proportional to a high ultraviolet cutoff squared. The paired bosonic and fermionic loops in exact supersymmetry cancel that quadratic sensitivity. Soft supersymmetry breaking introduces scalar squared masses, gaugino masses and appropriate scalar bilinear and trilinear terms without restoring the original quadratic divergence. With a typical soft scale , residual corrections have the schematic sizeplus finite thresholds. This favors not excessively heavy partners if one wishes to avoid a new tuning, but does not derive their masses or guarantee that they are experimentally accessible. A hidden breaking sector can communicate soft terms through gauge or gravitational interactions.
The altered particle spectrum also changes the renormalization group evolution of the gauge couplings. The MSSM one-loop coefficients, with the usual grand-unified hypercharge normalization, are in . They allow approximate supersymmetric gauge coupling unification near GeV, subject to threshold corrections. Top-Yukawa effects can drive the up-type Higgs squared mass negative and help produce radiative electroweak symmetry breaking. Neither phenomenon alone specifies a full breaking mechanism.
Without an additional symmetry, gauge invariance allows renormalizable baryon- or lepton-number violating superpotential terms. Conserved R-parity, , forbids the usual such renormalizable terms, distinguishes ordinary particles from their superpartners, and makes the lightest supersymmetric particle stable. A neutral stable lightest partner can be a dark matter candidate; its abundance and interactions require a separate calculation. Pair production followed by cascades to such a particle can give missing-momentum signals. R-parity is an extra model assumption, and does not by itself exclude all higher-dimensional proton-decay operators.
Possible low-energy consequences are a partner spectrum, controlled scalar-mass sensitivity, a constrained Higgs sector, modified coupling evolution and, with conserved R-parity, a stable lightest partner. Soft parameters also affect flavor-changing and CP-violating processes. Supersymmetry provides relations and mechanisms, not a unique numerical spectrum or an automatic solution to every flavor or cosmological problem.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 54 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Choose canonical vector normalization, , and the convention that the Fayet–Iliopoulos term contributes . In a constant Lorentz-invariant vacuum with vanishing gauge field strength, the gaugino transformation containsA nonzero therefore shifts a fermion by a constant under supersymmetry: no invariant vacuum can have this expectation. With only D-term breaking, the Goldstino is the gaugino . If F-term expectation values were present too, the Goldstino would instead be the corresponding linear combination of matter fermions and gauginos.
For a genuinely charged single chiral superfield, , gauge invariance forbids every nonconstant polynomial superpotential in that field. The renormalizable superspace action is consequentlywhere . A constant superpotential is dynamically irrelevant in global supersymmetry. Take the standard vector expansion with highest component . In the matter exponential, the term then contributes . The gauge kinetic chiral integral contributes , and the FI term contributes . ThusThe auxiliary equations are and . Completing the square givesThis is the single charged-field D-term breaking model. Its vacuum is found by minimizing over , not by assuming that a nonzero FI constant must break supersymmetry.
For , the square cannot be canceled by any . It is minimized at the origin, whereSupersymmetry breaking occurs while the internal gauge symmetry remains unbroken. Expanding the scalar potential about the origin givesThere is no superpotential fermion mass and no gaugino-matter mixing at . Therefore the chiral multiplet mass splitting isBoth real components of the complex scalar have the same positive squared mass; the gaugino is the massless Goldstino. With this sign convention and , the breaking condition is . Reversing the FI sign convention reverses this quoted charge inequality, while the condition that the scalar cannot cancel the auxiliary-field shift is unchanged.
For , the minimum instead satisfiesThe nonzero charged scalar expectation breaks the continuous internal gauge symmetry and preserves supersymmetry. To see the resulting supersymmetric Higgs mechanism, choose a real representative and expand . The scalar kinetic term supplies a vector mass, the D-term potential supplies the radial scalar mass, and the Yukawa interaction pairs the two Weyl fermions. They have the common squared massThe phase field is the absorbed Goldstone mode. There is no Goldstino in this supersymmetric Higgs vacuum; the fields assemble into a massive N=1 vector multiplet. This branch makes explicit that internal gauge breaking and supersymmetry breaking are different phenomena.
If and , the minimum of is . Both supersymmetry and the continuous gauge symmetry are then unbroken, and the fields have zero tree-level masses at that vacuum. For the degenerate uncharged case with no superpotential interactions, a nonzero still breaks supersymmetry in the vector sector, but the free chiral multiplet stays unsplit and cannot Higgs the gauge field. An uncharged field would allow additional superpotential terms, outside the genuinely charged model above.
The calculation is classical. A single charged Weyl fermion has nonzero Abelian gauge and mixed gravitational anomaly coefficients proportional to and ; a complete quantum gauge theory needs an anomaly-canceling completion. The tree-level branches above refer to the specified field content; extra fields in such a completion can change the vacuum structure.