The supergravity F-term potential on the inflationary branch has the displayed exact form. Its expansion is , so the inflaton quadratic mass cancels at tree level for this canonical model. For its derivative is ; the branch is therefore a transverse valley, not a stationary supersymmetry-breaking vacuum.
For canonical Kähler potential, set , , . The supplied supergravity F-term potential is . Adding with , and gives a supersymmetric vacuum at , . The branch has positive energy , D-term breaking and a flat direction of a scalar potential in . Its charged squared masses are , so it is a local minimum valley only when both are positive. For negative , exchange the charged fields. These are branches rather than two isolated minima; a conventional constant Fayet–Iliopoulos term additionally needs a consistent supergravity gauge completion.
For , summing diagonal components gives . The expectation of each anticommutator is , so is a positive semidefinite operator. A vacuum has zero energy exactly when every supercharge annihilates it. Spontaneously broken global supersymmetry with an existing vacuum therefore gives positive vacuum energy density. This statement fixes the energy zero through the algebra and does not apply to the general supergravity F-term potential.
No-scale supergravity Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
In a no-scale sector, the Kähler metric satisfies . If the superpotential is independent of that sector, its covariant derivatives contribute , cancelling the universal in the supergravity F-term potential. Spectator sectors can still contribute to the potential. This cancellation permits zero-energy minima with broken supersymmetry and exact flat scalar directions.
Sum the diagonal spinor entries of the Super-Poincaré algebra, obtaining
The expectation in any state is therefore
This proves energy positivity in global supersymmetry, with the energy origin fixed by the algebra.
If a ground state is invariant under supersymmetry, all its supercharge variations vanish and its energy is zero. Conversely, zero energy makes every nonnegative squared norm above zero, so every supercharge annihilates that vacuum. Thus strictly positive vacuum energy implies supersymmetry breaking: some supercharge fails to annihilate the vacuum. A finite-volume regulator can be used before passing to vacuum-energy density. This is a statement about the global supersymmetry algebra; it is not a positivity theorem for the general supergravity F-term potential.
Use Planck units and restrict to the physical Kähler metric domain
Put and , so that . There are no gauged interactions specified, hence no additional D-term scalar potential. The supergravity F-term potential is , with . Its Kähler covariant derivatives of a superpotential are
The nonzero metric entries are
The determinant of this block is , so it is positive definite. With the inverse-index convention , the raised components are
Keeping these complex-conjugate off-diagonal entries in their correct index positions is essential.
To exhibit the no-scale supergravity cancellation, write the norm as
Here . The term cancels the negative term in the supergravity F-term potential. The result is the nonnegative scalar potential
This is the matter-logarithm no-scale potential, specialized to the exponential superpotential.
Choose the supergravity auxiliary field convention . Substitution into the full inverse Kähler metric gives
An overall auxiliary-field phase is conventional. The dependence of cancels between the two metric terms. If all three auxiliary fields vanished at a finite physical point, would force , would force , and would then force . Thus is necessary. For any nontrivial choice of , supersymmetry is broken at every finite physical point. The allowed exception , is supersymmetric; the statement cannot hold for all arbitrary parameters without this qualification.
The no-scale volume runaway criterion also determines whether the minimum is attained. For fixed , differentiation with respect to gives
It is negative unless both numerators vanish. Therefore a finite stationary vacuum must satisfy
Every such point is a global minimum with . For , setting and reduces existence to
The derivative of the magnitude function is . It rises from at the excluded boundary to at , then falls to zero. Consequently a finite zero-energy minimum exists exactly when
or in the separate trivial family . There is one positive root for , two for , and one double root at equality. If only one of vanishes, or exceeds this maximum, there is no finite minimum: the infimum is zero as . Calling this runaway a finite zero-energy vacuum would be incorrect.
At a nontrivial zero-energy minimum, , and the auxiliary expectation values reduce to
This explicitly verifies supersymmetry breaking with zero vacuum energy in no-scale supergravity. Both real components of are exact flat directions of a scalar potential on the minimum locus. Away from that locus, is still absent from the potential, but is not flat. At a minimum, is lifted at quartic order: at fixed , . A zero quadratic mass does not make an exact flat direction. The quartic stabilization at a double no-scale root likewise gives a vanishing quadratic mass, but no exact flat direction, for at . For , the whole family has both and flat and supersymmetry unbroken.
Finally, the gravitino mass from a superpotential is
At a nontrivial zero-energy minimum this becomes
It depends on the unfixed volume modulus, so the model does not predict one numerical mass. For , , the gravitino is massless.
Work on the physical domain
and abbreviate , , and . There are no vector multiplets specified, hence no additional gauge D-term. In Planck units the supergravity F-term potential and upper-index supergravity auxiliary fields are
The overall auxiliary-field sign is a convention; its vanishing and norm are invariant statements.
The Kähler covariant derivatives of a superpotential here are
The Kähler metric, with rows and columns their barred partners, is
Its block is positive definite because its leading diagonal and determinant are positive. In the inverse-tensor convention , the nonzero upper components are
In particular the conjugations in the off-diagonal components matter.
To verify the no-scale supergravity cancellation explicitly, temporarily write and . Their part of the metric contraction is
The terms involving and its conjugate cancel between the mixed and diagonal contributions. The remaining cancels the universal negative term. Since , the exact matter-logarithm no-scale potential is therefore
It differs from a model where appears outside the logarithm in the Kähler potential.
Substitution into the auxiliary-field formula gives
For example , which reduces to the displayed expression for the cubic superpotential. To test unbroken supersymmetry at any finite point, first forces . Then forces , whereas forces . Subtracting gives . Because , and at a finite point, all auxiliaries can vanish only if . Thus every nontrivial choice of breaks supersymmetry at finite field values.
A finite zero-energy minimum requires both nonnegative terms of to vanish:
There cannot be a finite positive-energy stationary point: keeping fixed and varying the real part of , equivalently , gives
which is strictly negative unless . Hence these zero-energy solutions are all the possible finite minima.
Because were allowed to be arbitrary, existence must be checked. If both are nonzero, put and . The magnitude equation is
The function on the right starts at one at the excluded boundary , tends to zero as , and has derivative . Its maximum is at . Therefore a finite cubic-matter no-scale vacuum with an exponential dilaton exists exactly when
There is one finite positive root for , two for , and one merged root at the maximum. The complex phase equation fixes modulo . If exactly one of vanishes, or the ratio exceeds the bound, no finite minimum exists; the potential instead has infimum zero along the runaway . A zero infimum at an infinite-field boundary is not an attained finite vacuum.
On a nontrivial finite branch, , so
This proves supersymmetry breaking at the intended no-scale vacuum. Its zero energy is consistent with the negative gravitational term: , which cancels in . It is not a counterexample to the global-supersymmetry positivity argument in question 3.
Both real components of are exactly flat on the vacuum family: never enters the potential, and at every allowed positive gives the same zero energy. Generically both components of are fixed. Although the matter field has no quadratic mass there, it is not an exact flat direction: for fixed at its root, and the leading positive potential is . At the special merged root , the real- quadratic curvature also vanishes, but higher orders lift it; this does not add a continuous flat vacuum direction. If , by contrast, is a supersymmetric zero-energy family with both complex and flat and all auxiliaries zero. This exception prevents an unconditional breaking assertion for arbitrary constants.
Finally the gravitino mass from a superpotential is
At a nontrivial finite minimum it becomes
Its value varies along the flat volume modulus; the classical potential does not select a unique supersymmetry-breaking or gravitino-mass scale. On the trivial supersymmetric branch , it is zero.
Set , the domain in which the Kähler potential is defined, and use Planck units. The nonzero entries of the Kähler metric and its inverse are
The Kähler covariant derivatives of a superpotential are
Denote and . The supergravity F-term potential is
Here the contribution is exactly , cancelling the negative term. This is the no-scale supergravity identity, giving
The cancellation is important: replacing the covariant derivatives by ordinary derivatives would miss both the matter dependence and the possibility of zero vacuum energy with supersymmetry breaking.
In the convention , the chiral supergravity auxiliary fields are
An overall auxiliary phase or sign convention does not change their vanishing conditions. These are upper-index fields, including the inverse Kähler metric, rather than just the covariant derivatives.
Since is nonnegative and vanishes at , its minimum energy is
There are additional minima that should not be discarded by examining only real . For , the condition becomes
If , the magnitude equation
has exactly one positive root: its left side is strictly increasing from zero to infinity. There are three phases, differing by , determined by . Thus for nonzero the finite zero-energy matter vacua consist of and these three nonzero phase-related values, each with arbitrary in the allowed half-plane. At a nonzero matter vacuum,
At , .
For , every such minimum has but , so supersymmetry is spontaneously broken despite zero vacuum energy. Indeed no finite point anywhere is fully supersymmetric: would force , after which forces and then . This proves breaking for the specified nonzero-constant case without relying just on the positivity of the potential.
For the allowed exceptional value (B=0), the requested breaking statement is false. Then vanishes only at , where . Every finite allowed gives an unbroken supersymmetric vacuum with zero energy. This is an explicit counterexample to unqualified breaking for an arbitrary complex .
Both real components of are flat directions of a scalar potential along every minimum: the imaginary component never appears in , and when the entire dependence is multiplied by zero. The matter vacua are isolated in the plane; there is no continuous matter vacuum direction. At the potential begins quartically in , so zero quadratic mass is not a flat vacuum manifold. Away from , the real direction instead has and a decompactification-type runaway towards zero as , not a further finite positive-energy minimum.
The gravitino mass from a superpotential is
At the branch it is ; at each nonzero branch it is . Its value is not fixed because the modulus is flat. For it vanishes at the supersymmetric minimum. For nonzero , the super-Higgs mechanism absorbs the Goldstino associated with into the massive gravitino. The zero-energy relation is explicitly satisfied:
which balances the auxiliary contribution against the gravitational negative term.
Write , , , , , and . Assume and, initially, . The supergravity F-term potential is
The canonical Kähler potential gives the identity Kähler metric. The three Kähler covariant derivatives of a superpotential are
Substituting, including the negative term rather than treating the potential as just a sum of squares, gives the exact answer
Here explains the first coefficient. It is strictly positive for real , since . Thus this model's scalar potential is nonnegative everywhere.
In the stated limit , the exponential can be replaced by . The other displayed terms retain the effects of the Kähler covariant derivatives of a superpotential. Small waterfall fields alone do not justify discarding in those derivatives, or expanding in . If also and , the leading result reduces to the global F-term scalar potential
No gauge sector or gauge coupling is supplied, so there is no specified D-term contribution to add.
The supersymmetric vacuum manifold of a bilinear hybrid superpotential is
Indeed and all three Kähler covariant derivatives of a superpotential vanish there, so all supergravity auxiliary fields vanish and supersymmetry is unbroken. The nonnegative scalar potential makes this a global minimum. Conversely zero potential requires , and then ; for this forces . With just the supplied fields this is a complex vacuum manifold before imposing any gauge quotient: the product is fixed but the ratio of and is not. More precisely, it is an F-flat vacuum manifold whether or not a gauge symmetry is specified. If one additionally gauges opposite charges, D-flatness typically imposes , giving up to phases and gauge equivalence; that is an extra assumption, not a consequence of and alone.
The other familiar branch of F-term hybrid inflation has . Its nonzero derivative establishes supersymmetry breaking, and its exact scalar potential is
The canonical-Kähler correction to an F-term hybrid valley begins as
In particular the inflaton quadratic mass cancels at this order; the first lift of the global flat valley is quartic in .
To identify when this branch is a transverse minimum, rephase the waterfall fields so that is real positive. To quadratic order in , the global scalar potential is
The normalized combinations diagonalize this quadratic form, with
Thus gives a valley of transverse minima, while below the threshold the negative eigenvalue produces the waterfall instability in F-term hybrid inflation.
The exact supergravity correction to this stability test is also available without taking small. Put . Expansion of the exact supergravity F-term potential about gives equal diagonal coefficients and off-diagonal magnitude . Hence
For the usual sub-Planckian symmetry-breaking scale , the lower eigenvalue is . It is positive for the familiar sub-Planckian valley , and changes sign near .
The printed assertion of two full minima requires qualification. The broken branch is a transverse inflationary valley, not generally a second stationary minimum of the complete supergravity potential. In fact
Its only stationary point in is the origin. For that point has a negative waterfall eigenvalue . A direct counterexample is the path , with real small , after rephasing :
The negative quadratic coefficient proves it is not a minimum. No loop corrections or additional stabilizing interactions were specified that could create the requested second stationary vacuum. The mathematically supported interpretation is a SUSY-breaking transverse valley and a zero-energy supersymmetric vacuum minimum manifold. The limit on alone does not fix the parameter range ; the familiar waterfall conclusion uses the sub-Planckian range just stated.
In the corresponding global theory the exponential prefactor, Kähler corrections to and universal term are absent. Its valley has exactly constant tree-level energy for all , whereas canonical supergravity lifts it by the quartic correction above. The supersymmetric vacuum , and its zero energy persist in both descriptions. If , the origin and the axis instead have vanishing F-terms; the broken-valley interpretation does not apply.
Work in the supplied Planck units and write . The nonzero components of the Kähler metric and its inverse are
The Kähler covariant derivatives of a superpotential are
In the supergravity F-term potential, cancels its negative universal term. This is the no-scale supergravity identity. The exact answer is therefore
In particular is a global minimum for every in the domain, with zero vacuum energy.
Use the standard convention for a supergravity auxiliary field, . In this convention
At the minimum these become
Thus supersymmetry breaking occurs if , despite the vanishing vacuum energy. Indeed is precisely canceled by the negative gravitino contribution. For the asserted breaking does not occur: both supergravity auxiliary fields vanish at , so this vacuum is supersymmetric.
For completeness, the full set of finite zero-energy minima includes additional branches. For , the condition reduces, after factoring , to
For every there is a unique positive solution of , since the left side increases strictly from zero to infinity. There are three associated phases,
These also give , and on each branch . Consequently but , so these are also supersymmetry breaking no-scale vacua with a cubic matter superpotential. A supersymmetric finite vacuum would require , hence , and then ; this is possible only at with .
The scalar potential is independent of everywhere. On every zero-energy vacuum branch it is also independent of , so both real components of are flat directions of a scalar potential at the vacuum. Away from , the real direction is not flat: , giving a runaway towards rather than a finite positive-energy stationary point. The zero-energy branches have no continuous flat direction of a scalar potential in ; their allowed values are isolated. This is why the vacuum does not select a unique numerical gravitino mass: the modulus is unfixed.
The gravitino mass from a superpotential is . On the conventional branch,
On a nonzero- branch it is instead
When , the only finite zero-energy matter solution is and , with unbroken supersymmetry. These results exhibit the distinction between vanishing vacuum energy and vanishing supersymmetry breaking auxiliary fields in a no-scale supergravity model.
Let be fermion parity. It acts as on bosons and on fermions, and anticommutes with every odd supercharge. In a finite physical supermultiplet at fixed positive energy , trace cyclicity gives
Indeed, cycling in the second term and using cancels the first term. Summing diagonal spinor components of the Super-Poincaré algebra gives , since the Pauli matrices are traceless. Hence supertrace pairing at positive energy yields
This is boson-fermion degeneracy in a supermultiplet. Equivalently, a nonzero charge combination with positive anticommutator gives an invertible parity-changing map between the two sectors. The positive-energy qualification is important: a zero-energy supersymmetric vacuum may be a one-state bosonic representation and need not have a fermionic vacuum partner.
For any normalizable state , the same algebra gives energy positivity in global supersymmetry:
It vanishes exactly when every supercharge and its adjoint annihilates the state. In particular, for an existing translation-invariant vacuum, this proves
In infinite volume, interpret the statement as one about vacuum energy density, using finite-volume normalization first. The energy zero is fixed by the supersymmetry algebra; adding an arbitrary constant to the Hamiltonian while leaving that algebra unchanged is not allowed. For a canonical matter and gauge action, the same positivity is seen from , so a nonzero auxiliary-field expectation breaks the symmetry. This global Minkowski statement does not apply unchanged to the supergravity F-term potential, which can have negative-energy supersymmetric vacua.
For a single chiral superfield, the supergravity F-term potential, with restored, is
The canonical Kähler potential has , so the Kähler covariant derivative of a superpotential is
Consequently the Polonyi model has the scalar potential
The negative term is essential; retaining only the square of the supergravity auxiliary field would give the global F-term scalar potential rather than the supergravity F-term potential.
Set and . In this notation , where
At , , one has and , so . To prove that this is a local minimum in both real directions, rather than checking only the real axis, put . Direct expansion gives the stable zero-energy Polonyi vacuum identity
Every coefficient outside the square is strictly positive, and the exponential factor is positive. Thus everywhere and equality requires , provided . This proves the stronger conclusion
a unique global minimum of this Polonyi model. If , the scalar potential vanishes identically and this uniqueness and supersymmetry breaking conclusion do not hold.
For an independent local stability check, the Hessian matrix of at this global minimum is diagonal:
Since and its first derivatives vanish there, differentiating the exponential introduces no additional Hessian matrix terms at the global minimum. For canonically normalized real fluctuations , the squared scalar masses are therefore
which are both positive.
Although the vacuum energy is zero, the supergravity auxiliary field is not. In the convention , its vacuum expectation value obeys
The matter fermion transformation contains a term proportional to , so no nonzero constant supersymmetry parameter leaves this vacuum invariant. Hence supersymmetry is spontaneously broken even though the vacuum energy vanishes: the positive auxiliary field contribution cancels the negative gravitational term. The matter fermion supplies the goldstino, which is absorbed by the gravitino in the super-Higgs mechanism.
Using the gravitino mass from a superpotential, and , gives
An auxiliary field has mass dimension two. Defining the supersymmetry breaking scale by , one obtains
Thus the gravitino mass is small compared with the supersymmetry breaking scale when that scale is sub-Planckian, as in the usual hierarchy . This smallness is gravitational suppression; it is not a conclusion valid for arbitrary choices of the mass parameter.
Use the scalar components of the three chiral superfields, and set , , and . We assume the physical sign and a nonzero coupling . The coefficient below is exactly the coefficient in the supplied D-term scalar potential; it should not be silently replaced by a differently normalized squared gauge coupling. The canonical Kähler potential has identity Kähler metric, and the three Kähler covariant derivatives of a superpotential are
Substitution in the supergravity F-term potential gives
In particular, the subtraction cancels only half of the six terms contributed by the three squares. The full scalar potential is
Its nonnegativity follows term by term from and . This is a special property of this cubic superpotential, not of a general supergravity F-term potential.
The D-term vacuum branches of a cubic superpotential must be described as branches: there are not two isolated field-space minima. First suppose . Vanishing of requires , and vanishing of the D-term scalar potential requires . Together these conditions give the vacuum expectation values
The phase of lies on a gauge orbit, and one may choose it positive and real. At this global minimum, all and the real auxiliary field of the vector multiplet vanish. It is a supersymmetric vacuum, even though the internal gauge symmetry is spontaneously broken. For , interchange and : the nonzero vacuum expectation value has magnitude . For , the supersymmetric vacuum is the entire family , with arbitrary.
The other branch has and arbitrary . Here but the real auxiliary field is nonzero for , and
Thus this branch has pure D-term supersymmetry breaking and a flat direction of a scalar potential in the neutral scalar. It is not stable at every neutral-field value. At a fixed , expansion in the charged scalars yields
Hence the two charged squared masses and the stability condition are
Above this threshold, both charged directions have positive mass squared. Continuity makes them uniformly positive in a sufficiently small neighborhood of the chosen neutral-field value, so the stationary branch is a genuine, non-strict local minimum valley. Its neutral direction stays flat. Below the threshold, a charged mass squared is negative and the branch is a saddle point. At equality it is a boundary of the stable valley, not a local minimum in the full field space: changing slightly downward and switching on the unstable charged field lowers . For example, for , put , , . Since has , one finds .
There are no further local-minimum branches under these generic assumptions. If , the expression for is strictly increasing in , so a stationary configuration with a charged condensate must have . At , an interior critical point with is impossible, because
On the boundary , the relevant scalar potential is ; on it is . Their nonnegative-domain minima give exactly the supersymmetric vacuum described above, or the origin of the charged-field branch. Thus, for nonzero , the two types are the zero-energy supersymmetric gauge orbit and the positive-energy D-breaking minimum valley above the threshold. If , the two types coalesce into the flat supersymmetric vacuum; the literal two-minimum assertion needs this parameter qualification.
In the global supersymmetry limit , the F-term scalar potential becomes and the D-term scalar potential retains its form. The same two types of branches occur, with the threshold . Supergravity instead introduces the exponential and additional positive terms. The goldstino of global supersymmetry breaking is a physical fermion; in local supersymmetry it participates in the super-Higgs mechanism. A positive vacuum energy also gravitates in supergravity. In particular, the positive-energy branch here has and hence vanishing gravitino mass from a superpotential; it is not the tuned zero-energy broken vacuum of Question 3.
There is a further gauge-consistency qualification. In conventional two-derivative matter-coupled supergravity, a constant Fayet–Iliopoulos term gauges an R-symmetry and requires a corresponding nontrivial transformation of the superpotential. The apparent charges make the supplied cubic superpotential neutral, so a nonzero independent constant does not by itself specify a consistent conventional supergravity action. The computed branches are those of the supplied scalar potential; a full embedding needs compatible charges or additional fields. This restriction is explained in Van Proeyen's derivation of the superpotential gauge-covariance condition.
More generally, the supergravity moment-map constraint on D-term breaking follows directly from gauge covariance. If and the moment map is , then at a point with ,
Consequently all chiral auxiliary fields vanishing implies the D-term also vanishes there. This relation has no analogue forcing that implication in an arbitrary global supersymmetry model. Its hypothesis matters: the formal D-breaking branch above has , so it does not contradict the identity. These conventional gauge-completion restrictions are additional to the elementary minimization calculation.
In the Polonyi model, the Kähler metric is . The relevant Kähler covariant derivative of a superpotential is
The supergravity auxiliary field is , up to an irrelevant common phase convention. Thus a constant vacuum preserves supersymmetry exactly when this auxiliary field vanishes. For , the superpotential and scalar potential vanish identically, and every constant scalar value is a supersymmetric vacuum.
For , put . Its supersymmetry condition becomes
Since , it requires and . Hence the Polonyi supersymmetry branches are
At these points , so the supergravity F-term potential is negative, : these are supersymmetric Anti-de Sitter spacetime vacua, not zero-energy ones. The condition also makes them stationary, as follows by differentiating the supergravity F-term potential.
For and , the auxiliary field cannot vanish anywhere, so any vacuum has supersymmetry breaking. For , a stationary vacuum at any other scalar value still breaks supersymmetry; the parameter condition alone does not determine which vacuum is selected. In particular, a nontrivial zero-energy vacuum cannot preserve supersymmetry: and would also imply , whereas gives and .
The canonical Kähler potential gives and inverse Kähler metric one. Substituting the superpotential and its Kähler covariant derivative of a superpotential into the supergravity F-term potential yields
For real , the prefactor is simply ; the modulus form also covers a complex phase. To keep both scalar directions explicit, write and . Then
The negative term is essential: unlike the global F-term scalar potential, the supergravity F-term potential need not be nonnegative. This is why cancelling the cosmological constant does not force the auxiliary field to vanish.