Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 53 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Here a supersymmetry-preserving combination means a real combination of Hermitian Majorana spinor supercharges, in a positive-norm unitary representation of the ordinary Super-Poincaré algebra. This reality qualification is essential. Let be normalized and in the charge domains, and define the real symmetric matrixFor real , the Hermitian operator satisfiesTherefore is a positive semidefinite matrix, andThe reverse implication uses positivity: diagonalize , so a zero quadratic form has zero component in every positive-eigenvalue direction. This converts the problem into nullity of real N=1 supercharges, not just a condition on the determinant of an operator-valued expression.
In the equivalent Weyl spinor form, . After a fixed invertible change of real charge basis, is the realification of the Hermitian two-by-two matrixup to the harmless spatial-sign convention. A complex Hermitian matrix has the same eigenvalues in its realification, each repeated twice. The Pauli matrix multiplication law gives , so these eigenvalues are and , each twice. Positivity forces . If one nonzero real annihilates the state, has a kernel: either , with exactly two zero eigenvalues, or , with four. ThusFor a momentum eigenstate these are the null-momentum and zero-momentum cases; the expectation-matrix proof also covers states not assumed to have definite momentum. There are no massive states preserving a real charge in this unextended algebra.
If “linear combination” instead allows arbitrary complex coefficients, the unrestricted claim is false. In a massive fermionic Fock space with two lowering operators and a spin-half Clifford vacuum spectator, takeThen . The three vectors , and are linearly independent, by their occupation numbers and spectator spin labels. The complex annihilator is therefore only one-dimensional. Such a lowering operator is not a Hermitian generator of preserved real supersymmetry. The boxed conclusion applies to the physical real-charge interpretation; it also assumes no domain-wall charge in N=1 supersymmetry.