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 is
The algebraic equation eliminates and gives the D-term scalar potential
Since the superpotential vanishes, . In a homogeneous vacuum, the supersymmetry transformation of the gaugino includes
Thus 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 is
The original chiral multiplet therefore has the squared-mass splitting
The 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.