1.5-order formalism 2026-10-14
Solve the algebraic connection equation for , but perform the remaining variations as though the connection were independent. The chain-rule contribution vanishes on that solution. The resulting equations are those of the connection-eliminated second-order action. This is especially useful for local supersymmetry calculations, where the gravitino-induced contorsion is quadratic in fermions and the omitted induced connection variation would otherwise be lengthy.
BPS state 2026-10-05
A BPS state saturates a BPS bound in supersymmetry. The zero-norm combinations of supercharges and their adjoints annihilate its entire irreducible supermultiplet. Thus part of the supersymmetry is preserved. For a positive-mass representation, its massive supermultiplet is shortened; massless supermultiplets require the separate null-momentum construction. Charge conjugation can require a separate conjugate multiplet in the physical spectrum.
In a four-dimensional theory with unbroken supersymmetry, a full charged hypermultiplet contains chiral superfields in and . Their net complex chiral gauge spectrum vanishes. The vector multiplet is in the real adjoint gauge group representation. Half-hypermultiplets in pseudoreal representations do not supply genuinely complex gauge chirality. Thus the chiral matter of the Standard Model can have at most unbroken supersymmetry in four dimensions.
Chiral multiplet 2026-10-14
A four-dimensional N=1 chiral multiplet consists off shell of a complex scalar , a Weyl fermion , and a complex auxiliary scalar . A chiral superfield packages their supersymmetry transformations. Eliminating the auxiliary scalar leaves two bosonic and two fermionic physical polarizations; an allowed supersymmetric mass gives equal scalar and fermion masses.
In flat four-dimensional N=1 supersymmetry, let , contracting the two spinor indices with the antisymmetric epsilon invariant tensor. The supercovariant derivative algebra with left derivatives has . There are only two dotted components, so every product of three barred derivatives repeats one component and vanishes. Therefore for any superfield : is a chiral superfield. This map is called chiral projection, although is not an idempotent projector.
If is a chiral superfield, holomorphic closure of chiral superfields also makes chiral. Thus an equation is consistent with the chiral constraint: applying any gives zero on both sides. Both sides are scalar superfields, and the squared supersymmetric covariant derivative commutes with the supercharges, so the equation is Lorentz invariant and supersymmetry covariant.
Chiral protection of a fermion mass 2026-10-07
A fermion mass that violates an otherwise restored chiral symmetry is multiplicatively rather than additively renormalized in perturbation theory: corrections vanish with the symmetry-breaking mass or coupling. A chiral gauge representation can forbid a bare mass altogether until a Higgs mechanism and Yukawa coupling make a gauge-invariant term possible. A scalar-partner bilinear may respect all those ordinary symmetries and therefore needs separate supersymmetry protection.
Cosmological constant problem 2026-10-14
The cosmological constant problem is the unexplained smallness of the gravitationally observable vacuum energy compared with the contributions expected from quantum field theory. In units with , an ultraviolet cutoff generically gives contributions of order , whereas the observed dark-energy density is of order . The Einstein equation depends on the sum of a bare cosmological constant and these contributions; subtracting a constant from a nongravitational Hamiltonian does not remove its gravitational effect. Exact global supersymmetry gives zero energy to a supersymmetric vacuum, but supersymmetry breaking generally reintroduces a much larger positive scale.
Dynamical supersymmetry breaking 2026-10-14
Dynamical supersymmetry breaking occurs when quantum dynamics produces a vacuum that does not preserve supersymmetry. An asymptotically free hidden sector can generate the displayed exponentially small scale through dimensional transmutation. This supplies a possible origin of a hierarchy, but strong coupling by itself does not prove breaking: the vacuum equations and dynamics must exclude a supersymmetric vacuum.
// Target: supersymmetry.bigb
Energy positivity in global supersymmetry 2026-10-06
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.
Extended supersymmetry Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
In four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime, extended supersymmetry has more than one independent Weyl spinor supercharge, together with their adjoints. The index distinguishes these supercharges.
Finite zero-energy vacuum for a single exponential superpotential Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-14
For and with , the potential is . With nonzero , a finite zero-energy vacuum exists exactly when . To prove this, set ; the magnitude equation is , whose derivative changes sign at and whose maximum is . The phase fixes the imaginary part of . At a zero-energy solution the auxiliary field remains nonzero, so supersymmetry is broken and both real components of are flat. If , the family is instead supersymmetric.
First massive level of a chiral RNS sector Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
After the GSO projection, the first positive shifted level is one: and . In a closed-string mass convention it corresponds to . The transverse oscillator basis has 128 NS states and 128 R states. They form the bosonic and fermionic pieces of a massive supersymmetry multiplet.
Flat F-term breaking with a linear superpotential Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
With one canonical ungauged chiral superfield and , the auxiliary expectation is nonzero at every scalar value. The potential is flat and positive, so supersymmetry is broken without an isolated minimum. The fermion is a massless Goldstino and the scalar is massless at tree level. Equality of these zero masses does not imply an unbroken supersymmetric vacuum.
Flux compactification 2026-10-06
A compactification with quantized background form-field strengths on internal cycles. Fluxes can generate potentials for moduli of a string compactification and affect supersymmetry and vacuum geometry. They must satisfy field equations, Bianchi identities and global charge constraints; choosing flux integers alone is not a complete consistency proof.
F-term hybrid inflation 2026-10-14
The bilinear hybrid superpotential couples an inflaton to two waterfall fields . In global supersymmetry, . The branch breaks supersymmetry and is transversely stable for , while the zero-energy branch , is supersymmetric. A canonical Kähler potential in supergravity slightly lifts the inflationary valley. It must not be described as two isolated stationary minima of the full potential.
Goldstino Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-14
A goldstino is the massless spin-one-half mode associated with spontaneously broken global supersymmetry. For F-term breaking, the fermion in a multiplet with nonzero auxiliary field transforms by an inhomogeneous term, . In supergravity, the corresponding mode supplies the longitudinal degrees of freedom of a massive gravitino.
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.
Gravitino 2026-10-06
The gravitino is the spin- gauge field of local supersymmetry and the partner of the graviton. A massless four-dimensional gravitino has two physical helicities, ; a massive one has four, adding . The super-Higgs mechanism supplies these extra states from the goldstino.
Heterotic Calabi-Yau compactification 2026-10-06
Compactification of a heterotic string on a Calabi-Yau threefold with a consistent holomorphic vector bundle. Suitable bundle and geometry choices preserve four-dimensional N=1 supersymmetry and generate chiral matter from internal Dirac zero modes. The index controls net chirality. In the standard embedding, the net generation index is half the internal Euler characteristic, up to chirality orientation conventions.