We construct an action of N=2 affine $A_n$ quiver gauge model having non-canonical kinetic terms and equipped with electric and magnetic FI terms. N=2 supersymmetry is shown to be broken to N=1 spontaneously and N=1 multiplets realized on the vacua are given. We also mention the models with different gauge groups. It is argued that the affine $A_1$ quiver gauge model provides a dynamical realization to approach the Klebanov-Witten N=1 fixed point.
We consider non-supersymmetric quiver theories obtained by orbifolding the N=4 supersymmetric U(K) gauge theory by a discrete Z_Γgroup embedded in the SU(4) R-symmetry group. We explicitly find that in such theories there are no one-loop quadratic divergences in the effective potential. Moreover, when the gauge group U(n)^Γof the quiver theory is spontaneously broken down to the diagonal U(n), we identify a custodial supersymmetry which is responsible for the fermion-boson degeneracy of the mass spectrum.
We construct a simple local model of dynamical supersymmetry breaking. The model is a one generation SU(5) that arises from a IIB Z_N orientifold. It does not admit a runaway direction and is argued to stabilize the blowup mode related to the corresponding U(1) factor. The theory demonstrates the existence of a new class of "blowup" fractional branes. We further discuss a compact realization of the quiver on a Calabi-Yau 3-fold which enables one to add fluxes and stabilize the complex structure moduli.
In this paper we consider quiver gauge theories with fractional branes whose infrared dynamics removes the classical supersymmetric vacua (DSB branes). We show that addition of flavors to these theories (via additional non-compact branes) leads to local meta-stable supersymmetry breaking minima, closely related to those of SQCD with massive flavors. We simplify the study of the one-loop lifting of the accidental classical flat directions by direct computation of the pseudomoduli masses via Feynman diagrams. This new approach allows to obtain analytic results for all these theories. This work e…
We claim that 3d monopole quivers, theories with product gauge groups interacting through Affleck-Harvey-Witten superpotentials, are a natural setup for the study of spontaneous breaking 3d $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetry. We give evidence of this statement by studying various examples of increasing complexity, considering quivers that are mirror dual to Wess-Zumino models. These Wess-Zumino models, in opportune regimes of parameters, break supersymmetry in perturbatively controllable (meta)stable vacua.
We analyse the vector bundle moduli arising from generic heterotic compactifications from the point of view of quiver representations. Phenomena such as stability walls, crossing between chambers of supersymmetry, splitting of non-Abelian bundles and dynamic generation of D-terms are succinctly encoded into finite quivers. By studying the Poincaré polynomial of the quiver moduli space using the Reineke formula, we can learn about such useful concepts as Donaldson-Thomas invariants, instanton transitions and supersymmetry breaking.
We point out that some recently proposed string theory realizations of dynamical supersymmetry breaking actually do not break supersymmetry in the usual desired sense. Instead, there is a runaway potential, which slides down to a supersymmetric vacuum at infinite expectation values for some fields. The runaway direction is not on a separated branch; rather, it shows up as a"tadpole" everywhere on the moduli space of field expectation values.
We present a class of supersymmetric models which address the flavor puzzle and have an inverted hierarchy of sfermions. Their construction involves quiver-like models with link fields in generic representations. The magnitude of Standard-Model parameters is obtained naturally and a relatively heavy Higgs boson is allowed without fine tuning. Collider signatures of such models are possibly within the reach of LHC in the near future.
The relation between Geisteswissenschaft and Naturwissenschaft has been discussed by Munster in hep-th/9305104. The plan of this paper is to begin with the empty set; use it to form sets and quivers (sets of points plus sets of arrows between pairs of points); and then use them to make complex vector spaces and to get the A-D-E Coxeter-Dynkin diagrams. The Dn Spin(2n) Lie algebras have spinor representations to describe fermions. D4 Spin(8) triality gives automorphisms among its vector and two half-spinor representations. D5 Spin(10) contains both Spin(8) and the complexification of the vector…
We study metastable dynamical breaking of supersymmetry in A_n quiver gauge theories. We present a general analysis and criteria for the perturbative existence of metastable vacua in quivers of any length. Different mechanisms of gauge mediation can be realized.
We study stabilizations of the supersymmetry breaking runaway quiver in string embeddings. Calculations are performed in four dimensional effective supergravity. Constraints on closed string fields in a type IIA construction are given. The particular case of stabilization by stringy instanton effects in a type IIB model is considered.
We construct a first order deformation of the complex structure of the cone over Sasaki-Einstein spaces Y^{p,q} and check supersymmetry explicitly. This space is a central element in the holographic dual of chiral symmetry breaking for a large class of cascading quiver theories. We discuss a solution describing a stack of N D3 branes and M fractional D3 branes at the tip of the deformed spaces.
We propose a scenario for dynamical supersymmetry breaking in string compactifications based on geometric engineering of quiver gauge theories. In particular we show that the runaway behavior of fractional branes at del Pezzo singularities can be stabilized by a flux superpotential in compact models. Our construction relies on homological mirror symmetry for orientifolds.
Models of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking generically have an R-symmetry, which is problematic for obtaining gaugino masses and avoiding light R-axions. The situation is improved in models of metastable supersymmetry breaking, which generically have only an approximate R-symmetry. Based on this we argue, with mild assumptions, that metastable supersymmetry breaking is inevitable. We also illustrate various general issues regarding spontaneous and explicit R-symmetry breaking, using simple toy models of supersymmetry breaking.
The partial breaking of supersymmetry in flat space can be accomplished using any one of three dual representations for the massive N=1 spin-3/2 multiplet. Each of the representations can be ``unHiggsed'', which gives rise to a set of dual N=2 supergravities and supersymmetry algebras.
In this talk we will study the partial breaking of supersymmetry in flat and anti de Sitter space. We will see that partial breaking in flat space can be accomplished using either of two representations for the massive N=1 spin-3/2 multiplet. We will "unHiggs" each representation and find a new N=2 supergravity and a new N=2 supersymmetry algebra. We will also see that partial supersymmetry breaking in AdS space can give rise to a new N=2 supersymmetry algebra, one that is necessarily nonlinearly realized.
We study D-branes on Calabi-Yau threefolds, which are realized through the blowing up the singularity of orbifold. This D-branes are represented as sheaves, which can be stable or unstable, what is connected with the transition in the Teichm$\ddot{u}$ller space. Using the derived category of McKay quiver representations, which describe D-branes as quivers and open superstrings between them by Ext groups, we can represent Higgs multiplets by the moduli space of an open superstring, connecting two McKay quivers. Through the equivalence between the derived category of coherent sheaves and triangu…
These lectures give an introduction to the problem of finding a realistic and natural extension of the standard model based on spontaneously broken supersymmetry. Topics discussed at some length include the effective field theory paradigm, coupling constants as superfield spurions, gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking, and anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking, including an extensive introduction to supergravity relevant for phenomenology.
A family of superpotentials is constructed which may be relevant to supersymmetry breaking in 4 dimensional (0,1) heterotic string models. The scale of supersymmetry breaking, as well as the coupling constant, would be stable.
We consider the phase structure of the linear quiver gauge theory, using the 't Hooft anomaly matching condition. This theory is characterized by the length $K$ of the quiver diagram. When $K$ is even, the symmetry and its anomaly are the same as those of massless QCD. Therefore, one can expect that the spontaneous symmetry breaking similar to the chiral symmetry breaking occurs. On the other hand, when $K$ is odd, the anomaly matching condition is satisfied by the massless composite fermions. We also consider the thermal partition function under the twisted boundary conditions. When $K$ is ev…
We study vacuum structure of N=1 supersymmetric quiver gauge theories which can be realized geometrically by D brane probes wrapping cycles of local Calabi-Yau three-folds. In particular, we show that the A_2 quiver theory with gauge group U(N_1) \times U(N_2) with N_1 / 2 < N_2 < 2N_1 / 3 has a regime with an infrared free description that is partially magnetic and partially electric. Using this dual description, we show that the model has a landscape of inequivalent meta-stable vacua where supersymmetry is dynamically broken and all the moduli are stabilized. Each vacuum has distinct unbroke…
We investigate mechanisms that can trigger supersymmetry breaking in open string vacua. The focus is on backgrounds with D-branes and orientifold planes that have an exact string description, and allow to study some of the quantum effects induced by supersymmetry breaking.
We study partial supersymmetry breaking from ${\cal N}=2$ to ${\cal N}=1$ by adding non-linear terms to the ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetry transformations. By exploiting the necessary existence of a deformed supersymmetry algebra for partial breaking to occur, we systematically use ${\cal N}=2$ projective superspace with central charges to provide a streamlined setup. For deformed ${\cal O}(2)$ and ${\cal O}(4)$ hypermultiplets, besides reproducing known results, we describe new models exhibiting partial supersymmetry breaking with and without higher-derivative interactions.
We propose "conformal supersymmetry breaking" models, which tightly relate the conformal breaking scale (i.e. R-symmetry breaking scale) and the supersymmetry breaking scale. The both scales are originated from the constant term in the superpotential through the common source of the R-symmetry breaking. We show that dynamical tuning between those mass scales significantly reduces the degree of fine-tuning necessary for generating the almost vanishing cosmological constant.
We construct a model with D5 branes wrapped on a deformed and resolved $A_6$ singularity which realizes metastable supersymmetry breaking and minimal gauge mediation. Supersymmetry is broken at tree level by the F--term of singlet which also obtains a VEV as required in gauge mediation. Three nodes of the singularity are used to break supersymmetry whereas the other three realize gauge mediation. The supersymmetry breaking scale is suppressed due to brane instanton effects which are computed using a geometric transition.
We describe how a soft supersymmetry breaking Lagrangian arises naturally in the context of almost-commutative geometries that fall within the classification of those having a supersymmetric particle content as well as a supersymmetric spectral action. All contributions to such a Lagrangian are seen to either be generated automatically after introducing gaugino masses to the theory or coming from the second Seeley-DeWitt coefficient that is already part of the spectral action. In noncommutative geometry, a supersymmetric particle content and the appearance of a soft breaking Lagrangian thus ap…
This is the third paper in a series of four papers which introduce cybersusy, which is a new mechanism for supersymmetry breaking in the supersymmetric standard model (SSM). In this paper we display some solutions to the constraint equations of BRS cohomology in the SSM. In particular we discuss the leptonic dotspinor pseudosupermultiplets that were used in Cybersusy I to calculate leptonic supersymmetry breaking in the supersymmetric standard model. We also introduce examples of hadronic dotspinor pseudosupermultiplets that will induce baryonic supersymmetry breaking in the SSM for the baryon…
A mechanism of supersymmetry breaking in two or four-dimensions is given, in which the breaking is related to the Fermat's last theorem. It is shown that supersymmetry is exact at some irrational number points in parameter space, while it is broken at all rational number points except for the origin. Accordingly, supersymmetry is exact {\it almost everywhere}, as well as broken {\it almost everywhere} on the real axis in the parameter space at the same time. This is the first explicit mechanism of supersymmetry breaking with an arbitrarily small change of parameters around any exact supersymme…
For several classes of BPS vacua, we find a procedure to modify the PDEs that imply preserved supersymmetry and the equations of motion so that they still imply the latter but not the former. In each case we trace back this supersymmetry-breaking deformation to a distinct modification of the pure spinor equations that provide a geometrical interpretation of supersymmetry. We give some concrete examples: first we generalize the Imamura class of Mink6 solutions by removing a symmetry requirement, and then derive some local and global solutions both before and after breaking supersymmetry.
As a contribution to the current efforts to understand supersymmetry-breaking by meta-stable vacua, we study general properties of supersymmetry-breaking vacua in Wess-Zumino models: we show that tree-level degeneracy is generic, explore some constraints on the couplings and present a simple model with a long-lived meta-stable vacuum, ending with some generalizations to non-renormalizable models.
We study supersymmetry breaking metastable vacua arising from beta deformed quiver gauge theories. The relation between the bounds on metastability and the deformation are discussed. Metastable supersymmetry breaking vacua are found in the IR of beta deformed cascading quivers with vector-like field content. Furthermore the limiting case of massive Nf=Nc SQCD appears in the IR of gauge theories with chiral-like field content. We comment on the field theory origin of the deformation and on possible applications in AdS/CFT.
It is shown that the auxiliary field in the low-energy effective theory of the supersymmetric QCD (SU(N_c) gauge symmetry with flavors N_f < N_c) can be understood as a physical degree of freedom, once the supersymmetry is explicitly broken. Although the vacuum expectation value of the auxiliary field is just a measure of the supersymmetry breaking in the perturbative treatment of the supersymmetry breaking, it can be the vacuum expectation value of the quark bilinear operator in the non-perturbative treatment of the supersymmetry breaking. We show that the vacuum expectation value remains fin…
Generic partial supersymmetry breaking of $N=2$ supergravity with zero vacuum energy and with surviving unbroken arbitrary gauge groups is exhibited. Specific examples are given.
When supersymmetry is spontaneously broken at tree level, the spectrum of the heterotic string compactified on orbifolds of tori contains an infinite number of potentially tachyonic modes. We show that this implies instabilities of Minkowski spacetime, when the scale of supersymmetry breaking is of the order of the string scale. We derive the phase space structure of vacua in the case where the tachyonic spectrum contains a mode with trivial momenta and winding numbers along the internal directions not involved in the supersymmetry breaking.
These lectures provide a simple introduction to supersymmetry breaking. After presenting the basics of the subject and illustrating them in tree-level examples, we discuss dynamical supersymmetry breaking, emphasizing the role of holomorphy and symmetries in restricting dynamically-generated superpotentials. We then turn to mechanisms for generating the MSSM supersymmetry-breaking terms, including ``gravity mediation'', gauge mediation, and anomaly mediation. We clarify some confusions regarding the decoupling of heavy fields in general and D-terms in particular in models of anomaly-mediation.
We show explicitly by the heuristic and practical arguments that for $N = 2$ supersymmetry (SUSY) a SUSY invariant relation between component fields of a vector supermultiplet of linear SUSY and Nambu-Goldstone fermions of the Volkov-Akulov model of nonlinear SUSY is written by using only three arbitrary dimensionless parameters, which can be recasted as the vacuum expectation values of auxiliary fields in the vector supermultiplet.
It is proved that, even if the gauge symmetry has been broken spontaneously at tree level, supersymmetry would never break through any finite orders of perturbation if it is not broken classically.
We discuss supersymmetry breaking in some supersymmetric quantum mechanical models with periodic potentials. The sensitivity to the parameters appearing in the superpotential is more acute than in conventional nonperiodic models. We present some simple elliptic models to illustrate these points.
Starting with two supersymmetric dual theories, we imagine adding a chiral perturbation that breaks supersymmetry dynamically. At low energy we then get two theories with soft supersymmetry-breaking terms that are generated dynamically. With a canonical Kahler potential, some of the scalars of the "magnetic" theory typically have negative mass-squared, and the vector-like symmetry is broken. Since for large supersymmetry breaking the "electric" theory becomes ordinary QCD, the two theories are then incompatible. For small supersymmetry breaking, if duality still holds, the magnetic theory anal…
A new way of supersymmetry breaking involving a dynamical parameter is introduced. It is independent of particle phenomenology and gauge groups. The only requirement is that Lorentz invariance be valid strictly infinitesimally (i. e. Spin(1,3) be for some values of the parameter replaced by a compact group G locally isomorphic to Spin(1,3).
We consider intersecting brane configurations realizing N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories broken to N=1 by multitrace superpotentials, and softly to N=0. We analyze, in the framework of M5-brane wrapping a curve, the supersymmetric vacua and the analogs of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking and soft supersymmetry breaking in gauge theories. We show that the M5-brane does not exhibit the analog of metastable spontaneous supersymmetry breaking, and does not have non-holomorphic minimal volume curves with holomorphic boundary conditions. However, we find that any point in the N=2 moduli space can…
Supersymmetric quantum mechanics is formulated on a two dimensional noncommutative plane and applied to the supersymmetric harmonic oscillator. We find that the ordinary commutative supersymmetry is partially broken and only half of the number of supercharges are conserved. It is argued that this breaking is closely related to the breaking of time reversal symmetry arising from noncommutativity.
We analyze metastable supersymmetry breaking in 3D WZ models. We study the regime of validity of the perturbative computation for superpotentials with marginal and relevant couplings. Lifetime of the metastable states in presence of a triangular potential barrier is estimated.
Some of supersymmetric Chern-Simons theories are known to exhibit supersymmetry breaking when the Chern-Simons level is less than a certain number. The mechanism of the supersymmetry breaking is, however, not clear from the field theory viewpoint. In this paper, we discuss vacuum states of ${\cal N}=2$ pure Chern-Simons theory and ${\cal N}=2$ Chern-Simons-matter theories of quiver type using related theories in which Chern-Simons terms are replaced with (anti-)fundamental chiral multiplets. In the latter theories, supersymmetry breaking can be shown to occur by examining that the vacuum energ…
We study non-relativistic supersymmetric field theories in diverse dimensions. The theories consist of scalars and fermions and possess two, four or eight real supercharges. We analyze their spontaneous supersymmetry breaking structure and calculate the gapless spectrum. We calculate the perturbative quantum corrections at the supersymmetric vacua and show that while supersymmetry is preserved, scale invariance is broken and the theories are IR free.
The partial breaking of supersymmetry in anti-de Sitter (AdS) space can be accomplished using two of four dual representations for the massive OSp(1,4) spin-3/2 multiplet. The representations can be ``unHiggsed,'' which gives rise to a set of dual N=2 supergravities and supersymmetry algebras.
The use of the AdS/CFT correspondence to arrive at quiver gauge field theories is dicussed, focusing on the orbifolded case without supersymmetry. An abelian orbifold with the finite group $Z_{p}$ can give rise to a $G = SU(N)^p$ gauge group with chiral fermions and complex scalars in different bi-fundamental representations of $G$. The precision measurements at the $Z$ resonance suggest the values $p = 12$ and $N = 3$, and a unifications scale $M_U \sim 4$ TeV.The robustness and predictivity of such grand unification is discussed.
A new mechanism of supersymmetry breaking involving a dynamical parameter is introduced. It is independent of particle phenomenology and gauge groups. An explicit realization of this mechanism takes place in Type II superstring compactifications which admit eight supercharges (also known as generalized SU(3) structures). The resulting Kahler potentials are expressed in terms of Hitchin functionals.
We consider the minimal three-form ${\cal N}=1$ supergravity coupled to nilpotent three-form chiral superfields. The supersymmetry breaking is sourced by the three-forms of the chiral multiplets, while the value of the gravitino mass is controlled by the three-form of the supergravity multiplet. The three-forms can nucleate membranes which scan both the supersymmetry breaking scale and the gravitino mass. The peculiar supergravity feature that the cosmological constant is the sum of a positive contribution from the supersymmetry breaking scale and a negative contribution from the gravitino mas…
We construct examples of single-sector supersymmetry breaking based on simple deformations of supersymmetric QCD with (weakly) gauged flavor group. These theories are calculable in a weakly coupled Seiberg dual description. In these models, some of the particles in the first two generations of quarks and leptons are composites of the same strong dynamics which leads to dynamical supersymmetry breaking. Such models can explain the hierarchies of Yukawa couplings in the Standard Model, in a way that predictively correlates with the spectrum of SUSY-breaking soft terms.
We give a concise geometric recipe for constructing D-brane gauge theories that exhibit metastable SUSY breaking. We present two simple examples in terms of branes at deformed CY singularities.
We discuss an $\cal{N}=2$ supergravity model that interpolates the full and the partial supersymmetry breakings. In particular, we find the conditions for an $\cal{N}=0$ Minkowski vacuum, which is continuously connected to the partial-breaking ($\cal{N}=1$ preserving) one. The model contains multiple (Abelian) vector multiplets and a single hypermultiplet, and is constructed by employing the embedding tensor technique. We compute the mass spectrum on the Minkowski vacuum, and find some non-trivial mass relations among the massive fields. Our model allows us to choose the two supersymmetry-brea…
We review the "no-go" theorems that severely constrain the breaking of N=2 supersymmetry to N=1 (both in rigid supersymmetry and supergravity), and we exhibit some models that evade them.
We study the IR dynamics of the cascading non-conformal quiver theory on N regular and M fractional D3 branes at the tip of the complex cone over the first del Pezzo surface. The horizon of this cone is the irregular Sasaki-Einstein manifold Y^{2,1}. Our analysis shows that at the end of the cascade supersymmetry is dynamically broken.
We identify configurations of intersecting branes that correspond to the meta-stable supersymmetry breaking vacua in the four-dimensional N=1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory coupled to massive flavors. We show how their energies, the stability properties, and the decay processes are described geometrically in terms of the brane configurations.
The general gauge mediation scenario provides a framework in which properties of a visible sector with soft supersymmetry breaking are computed from current correlation functions in the supersymmetry breaking hidden sector. In this paper we will use holography to model strongly coupled hidden sectors by weakly curved geometries and describe how the current correlators relevant for general gauge mediation are computed by holographic methods. We illustrate the general setup by a toy example which captures most of the relevant features.
We present a simple four-dimensional model in which anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking naturally dominates. The central ingredient is that the hidden sector is near a strongly-coupled infrared fixed-point for several decades of energy below the Planck scale. Strong renormalization effects then sequester the hidden sector from the visible sector. Supersymmetry is broken dynamically and requires no small input parameters. The model provides a natural and economical explanation of the hierarchy between the supersymmetry-breaking scale and the Planck scale, while allowing anomaly mediation to…
