We consider low energy processes described by the N=2 supercurrent on its partially (to N=1) and spontaneously broken vacuum and the attendant Nambu-Goldstone fermion (NGF), which the presence of the electric and magnetic Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) terms is responsible for. We show suppressions of amplitudes decaying into the NGF as its momentum becomes small. In the lagrangian realization (namely, the model of arXiv:hep-th/0409060) of the conserved supercurrent, the NGF resides in the overall U(1), which is nonetheless not decoupled, and interacts with the SU(N) sector through nonderivative as well as derivative couplings. The low energy suppression is instead accomplished by a cancellation between the annihilation diagram from the Yukawa couplings and the contact four-Fermi terms. We give a complete form of the supercurrent and the model is recast in more transparent notation.
This paper revisits the nonlinear realization of spontaneously broken N=1 supersymmetry. It is shown that the constrained superfield formalism can be reinterpreted in the language of standard realization of nonlinear supersymmetry via a new and simpler route. Explicit formulas of actions are presented for general renormalizable theories with or without gauge interactions. The nonlinear Wess-Zumino gauge is discussed and relations are pointed out for different definitions of gauge fields. In addition, a general procedure is provided to deal with theories of arbitrary Kahler potentials.
We discuss the generalization to global gauge anomalies of the familiar procedure for the cancellation of local gauge anomalies in effective theories of spontaneously broken symmetries. We illustrate this mechanism in a recently proposed six-dimensional extension of the standard model.
We study the solution to the Slavnov-Taylor (ST) identities in spontaneously broken effective gauge theories for a non-Abelian gauge group. The procedure to extract the $β$-functions of the theory in the presence of (generalized) non-polynomial field redefinitions is elucidated.
We present a spontaneously broken N=2 supergravity model that reduces in the flat limit to a globally supersymmetric N=2 system with explicit soft supersymmetry breaking terms. These soft terms generate a mass O(100 GeV) for mirror quarks and leptons, while leaving the physical fermions light, thereby overcoming one of the major obstacles towards the construction of a realistic N=2 model of elementary interactions.
Callan-Symanzik and renormalization group equation are discussed for the $U(1)$-axial model and it is shown that the symmetric model is not the asymptotic version of the spontaneously broken one due to mass logarithms in the $β$-functions. The Callan-Symanzik equation of the standard model is seen to have the same form as the one of the simple model.
We examine the renormalizability problem of spontaneously broken non-Abelian gauge theory on noncommutative spacetime. We show by an explicit analysis of the U(2) case that ultraviolet divergences can be removed at one loop level with the same limited number of renormalization constants as required on commutative spacetime. We thus push forward the efforts towards constructing realistic models of gauge interactions on noncommutative spacetime.
In spontaneously broken supergravity with non-flat potential the vanishing of the cosmological constant is usually associated with a non-trivial balancing of two opposite-sign contributions. We make the simple observation that, in an appropriately defined expansion of the superfield action in inverse powers of $M_P$, this tuning corresponds to the absence of two specific operators. It is then tempting to speculate what kind of non-standard symmetry or structural principle might underlie the observed extreme smallness of the corresponding coefficients in the real world. Independently of such sp…
We extend our previous results on the evolution of quantum fermi fields in Minkowski gauge field backgrounds to the case of spontaneously broken gauge theories. We obtain a selection rule which relates the amount of fermion number violation to the change in Higgs winding number of the configuration. This selection rule is applicable to any classical solution which dissipates at both early and late times.
Starting from the standard Lagrangian for a SU(2) x U(1) gauge theory plus a Higgs field we derive the corresponding "maximal helicity violating" (MHV) Lagrangian. From this MHV Lagrangian one deduces simple diagrammatic rules for the calculation of multi-particle scattering amplitudes. We arrive at the MHV Lagrangian by a canonical change of the field variables in the light-cone gauge. We comment on the modifications which occur in a spontaneously broken gauge theory as compared to a pure (unbroken) Yang-Mills theory.
A spontaneously broken SU(2) theory is the simplest generalization of the Abelian Higgs model, containing three equally massive vector bosons and a single Higgs scalar. A strictly diagrammatic proof is presented of the tree-level unitarity of this model in the unitary gauge, i.e. employing only physical fields. A new Ward-like identity is used to show that the high-energy behaviour of all amplitudes cannot be more than quadratic; the use of generating functions for all off-shell amplitudes then leads to the unitarity proof.
The methods of non-linear realizations have proven to be powerful in studying the low energy physics resulting from spontaneously broken internal and spacetime symmetries. In this paper, we reconsider how these techniques may be applied to the case of spontaneously broken gauge theories, concentrating on Yang-Mills theories. We find that coset methods faithfully reproduce the description of low energy physics in terms of massive gauge bosons and discover that the Stückelberg replacement commonly employed when treating massive gauge theories arises in a natural manner. Uses of the methods are c…
The supersymmetric analog of the Goldberger-Treiman relation plays a critical role in the low energy effective theory of models in which supersymmetry is spontaneously broken in a hidden sector. The interactions that connect the hidden and visible sectors break a global symmetry, which implies that the low energy theory must be constructed consistently in inverse powers of the messenger scale. The Goldberger-Treiman relation determines the couplings of the Goldstino to the visible sector fields. These couplings are fixed by the soft supersymmetry breaking terms within a power counting scheme t…
We perform a comprehensive study of on-shell recursion relations for Born amplitudes in spontaneously broken gauge theories and identify the minimal shifts required to construct amplitudes with a given particle content and spin quantum numbers. We show that two-line or three-line shifts are sufficient to construct all amplitudes with five or more particles, apart from amplitudes involving longitudinal vector bosons or scalars, which may require at most five-line shifts. As an application, we revisit selection rules for multi-boson amplitudes using on-shell recursion and little-group transforma…
It was suggested by Sugimoto that there is a new supersymmetry breaking mechanism by an orientifold plane which is oppositely charged as the usual one. Here we prove the trace formula for this system to show that the supersymmetry is broken not explicitly but spontaneously. We also discuss the possibility of interpreting the orientifold plane as an intrinsic object of the superstring theory.
The Narain lattice construction of string compactifications is generalized to include spontaneously broken supersymmetry. Consistency conditions from modular invariance and Lorentz symmetry are solved in full generality. This framework incorporates models where supersymmetry breaking is inversely proportional to the radii of compact dimensions. The enhanced lattice description, however, might allow for models with a different geometrical or even non-geometrical interpretation.
A generalization of the Akulov-Volkov effective Lagrangian governing the self interactions of the Nambu-Goldstone fermions associated with spontaneously broken extended supersymmetry as well as their coupling to matter is presented and scrutinized. The resulting currents associated with R-symmetry, supersymmetry and space-time translations are constructed and seen to form a supermultiplet structure.
Goldstone's theorem states that there is a massless mode for each broken symmetry generator. It has been known for a long time that the naive generalization of this counting fails to give the correct number of massless modes for spontaneously broken spacetime symmetries. We explain how to get the right count of massless modes in the general case, and discuss examples involving spontaneously broken Poincare and conformal invariance.
We study the non-local regularization for the case of a spontaneously broken abelian gauge theory in the R_xi gauge with an arbitrary gauge parameter xi. We consider a simple abelian-Higgs model with chiral couplings as an example. We show that if we apply the nonlocal regularization procedure [to construct a nonlocal theory with finite mass parameter ] to the spontaneously broken R_xi gauge Lagrangian, using the quadratic forms as appearing in this Lagrangian, we find that a physical observable in this model, an analogue of the muon anomalous magnetic moment, evaluated to order O[g^{2}] does …
In the framework of the gauge symmetry ${SU(2)}_{\tiny{CMB}}\times {SU(2)}_{\tiny{e}}\times {SU(2)}_{\tinyμ}\times {SU(2)}_{\tinyτ}$ we provide a microscopic argument why a spontaneously broken, local Z$_2$ symmetry surviving the 1$^{\tiny{st}}$ order phase transition to the confining phase of one of the SU(2) factors generates two stable spin-1/2 excitations of vastly different mass. A mixture of Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein distributions with the former favored by a factor two over the latter is obtained by applying inequivalent, local-in-Euclidean-time Z$_2$ transformations to one and the …
We utilize Coleman's theorem and show that quantum chromodynamics based on asymptotic freedom and confinement must have chiral symmetry realized as a spontaneously broken symmetry.
We argue that orientable open string theory without GSO projection has N=2 space-time supersymmetry in a spontaneously broken phase. The arguments are presented both in Neveu-Schwarz-Ramond and Green-Schwarz formulations. The formal but explicit supersymmetry transformation law for string field is given in the framework of Witten's open string field theory. Our results support a fundamental assumption which lies behind the topological construction of stable D-branes starting from the unstable systems of D9-branes.
Rational counterterms are a key ingredient for the automation of loop calculations through numerical methods. Building on the recently established properties of rational terms of UV origin at two loops, in this paper we present a systematic method for the determination of rational counterterms within spontaneously broken theories. In particular we introduce a generalised vev-expansion approach that makes it possible to obtain the rational counterterms of UV origin for a spontaneously broken theory by means of calculations in the unbroken phase. The drastic simplifications that result from the …
We analyze the vacuum structure of spontaneously broken N=2 supersymmetric gauge theory with the Fayet-Iliopoulos term. Our theory is based on the gauge group SU(2) \times U(1) with N_f=1,2 massless quark hypermultiplets having the same U(1) charges. In the classical potential, there are degenerate vacua even in the absence of supersymmetry. It is shown that this vacuum degeneracy is smoothed out, once quantum corrections are taken into account. In N_f=1 case, the effective potential is found to be so-called runaway type, and there is neither well-defined vacuum nor local minimum. On the other…
We examine the supersymmetric non-linear O(N) sigma model with a soft breaking term. In two dimensions, we found that the mass difference between supersymmetric partner fields vanishes accidentally. In three dimensions, the mass difference is observed but O(N) symmetry is always broken also in the strong coupling region.
Conformal invariance is spontaneously broken in many physical systems leading to the appearance of a single massless Goldstone mode in the spectrum, the dilaton. The dilaton soft limit is shown to generically encode the action of both the dilatation and the special conformal transformation on observables. For massive on-shell legs these take the form of sub-leading soft theorems. At loop level, we show how anomalous dimensions for coupling constants and fields can be included. We illustrate the general analysis with a variety of formal and phenomenological applications.
I review recent work on computing radiative corrections to non-abelian gauge couplings in four-dimensional heterotic vacua with spontaneously broken supersymmetry. The prototype models can be considered as K3 surfaces with additional Scherk-Schwarz fluxes inducing the spontaneous $\mathcal{N}=2 \to \mathcal{N}=0$ breaking. Remarkably, although the gauge thresholds are no longer BPS protected and receive contributions also from the excitations of the RNS sector, their difference is still exactly computable and universal. Based on a talk presented at the DISCRETE 2014 conference at King's Colleg…
The emergent gauge theories are reconsidered in light of supersymmetry and an appropriate emergence conjecture is formulated. Accordingly, it might be expected that only global symmetries are fundamental symmetries of Nature, whereas local symmetries and associated massless gauge fields could solely emerge due to spontaneous breaking of underlying spacetime symmetries involved, such as relativistic invariance and supersymmetry. We further argue that this breaking, taken in the form of the nonlinear sigma-model type pattern for vector fields or superfields, puts essential restrictions on geomet…
A generalization of the standard electroweak model to noncommutative spacetime would involve a product gauge group which is spontaneously broken. Gauge interactions in terms of physical gauge bosons are canonical with respect to massless gauge bosons as required by the exact gauge symmetry, but not so with respect to massive ones; and furthermore they are generally asymmetric in the two sets of gauge bosons. On noncommutative spacetime this already occurs for the simplest model of U(1) x U(1). We examine whether the above feature in gauge interactions can be perturbatively maintained in this m…
We explore the possibility that scale symmetry is a quantum symmetry that is broken only spontaneously and apply this idea to the Standard Model (SM). We compute the quantum corrections to the potential of the higgs field ($ϕ$) in the classically scale invariant version of the SM ($m_ϕ=0$ at tree level) extended by the dilaton ($σ$). The tree-level potential of $ϕ$ and $σ$, dictated by scale invariance, may contain non-polynomial effective operators, e.g. $ϕ^6/σ^2$, $ϕ^8/σ^4$, $ϕ^{10}/σ^6$, etc. The one-loop scalar potential is scale invariant, since the loop calculations manifestly preserve t…
We consider an N=2 supersymmetric SU(2) \times U(1) gauge theory with N_f=2 massless flavors and a Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) term. In the presence of the FI term, supersymmetry is spontaneously broken at tree level (on the Coulomb branch), leaving a pseudo-flat direction in the classical potential. This vacuum degeneracy is removed once quantum corrections are taken into account. Due to the SU(2) gauge dynamics, the effective potential exhibits a local minimum at the dyon point, where not only supersymmetry but also U(1)_R symmetry is broken, while a supersymmetric vacuum would be realized toward …
We investigate fermion production in the background of Minkowski space solutions to the equations of motion of $SU(2)$ gauge theory spontaneously broken via the Higgs mechanism. First, we attempt to evaluate the topological charge $Q$ of the solutions. We find that for solutions $Q$ is not well-defined as an integral over all space-time. Solutions can profitably be characterized by the (integer-valued) change in Higgs winding number $ΔN_H$. We show that solutions which dissipate at early and late times and which have nonzero $ΔN_H$ must have at least the sphaleron energy. We show that if we co…
It is known that the fermionic shift symmetry of the N=1, U(N) gauge model with a superpotential of an adjoint chiral superfield is replaced by the second (spontaneously broken) supersymmetry in the N=2, U(N) gauge model with a prepotential and Fayet-Iliopoulos parameters. Based on a diagrammatic analysis, we demonstrate how the well-known form of the effective superpotential in the former model is modified in the latter. A set of two equations on the one-point functions stating the Konishi anomaly is modified accordingly.
Loop regularization (LORE) is a novel regularization scheme in modern quantum field theories. It makes no change to the spacetime structure and respects both gauge symmetries and supersymmetry. As a result, LORE should be useful in calculating loop corrections in supersymmetry phenomenology. To demonstrate further its power, in this article we revisit in the light of LORE the old issue of the absence of quadratic contributions (quadratic divergences) in softly broken supersymmetric field theories. It is shown explicitly by Feynman diagrammatic calculations that up to two loops the Wess-Zumino …
We consider the class of four-dimensional N=2 gauged supergravities whose maximally symmetric ground states leave only one of the two supersymmetries intact. For these theories we derive the low-energy effective action below the scale of partial supersymmetry breaking and compute the N=1 couplings in terms of the N=2 'input data'. We show that this effective action satisfies the constraints of N=1 supergravity in that its sigma-model metric is Kahler, while the superpotential and the gauge kinetic functions are holomorphic. As an example we discuss the N=1 effective supergravity of type II com…
We present a Z_2 x Z_2 four dimensional orientifold in which supersymmetry is broken by a temperature-like Scherk-Schwarz mechanism. As usual in this type of models, at the tree-level the breaking affects only the branes tangent to the direction involved by the SS deformation, and it can propagate only through radiative corrections to other sectors, where the gauge group is broken. The result is a non-chiral model with gauge group Usp(16)^2 x Usp(8)^4.
We examine spontaneously broken N=2 supersymmetry in four dimensions and associate a spinor superfield with each Goldstino via a finite supersymmetry transformation with parameters that are the Grassmann coordinates of N=2 superspace. Making use of a special choice of coset parametrization allows us to develop a version of nonlinearly realized N=2 supersymmetry for which the associated Goldstino superfields are defined on harmonic superspace, thereby providing a natural mechanism for construction of a Goldstino action. The corresponding superfield Lagrangian is an O(4) multiplet. This property…
In the formulation of Cachazo, He, and Yuan, tree-level amplitudes for massless particles in gauge theory and gravity can be expressed as rational functions of the Lorentz invariants $k_a \cdot k_b$, $ε_a \cdot k_b$, and $ε_a \cdot ε_b$, valid in any number of spacetime dimensions. We use dimensional reduction of higher-dimensional amplitudes of particles with internal momentum $κ$ to obtain amplitudes for massive particles in lower dimensions. In the case of gauge theory, we argue that these massive amplitudes belong to a theory in which the gauge symmetry is spontaneously broken by an adjoin…
Conformal Field Theories (CFTs) have rich dynamics in heavy states. We describe the constraints due to spontaneously broken boost and dilatation symmetries in such states. The spontaneously broken boost symmetries require the existence of new low-lying primaries whose scaling dimension gap, we argue, scales as $O(1)$. We demonstrate these ideas in various states, including fluid, superfluid, mean field theory, and Fermi surface states. We end with some remarks about the large charge limit in 2d and discuss a theory of a single compact boson with an arbitrary conformal anomaly.
A new class of renormalizable gauges is introduced that is particularly well suited to compute effective potentials in spontaneously broken gauge theories. It allows one to keep free gauge parameters when computing the effective potential from vacuum graphs or tadpoles without encountering mixed propagators of would-be-Goldstone bosons and longitudinal modes of the gauge field. As an illustrative example several quantities are computed within the Abelian Higgs model, which is renormalized at the two-loop level. The zero temperature effective potential in the new gauge is compared to that in $R…
Using lattice simulations of a one-component $(λΦ^4)_4$ theory, we have measured the energy spectrum $ω({\mathbf{k}})$ in the broken phase at various lattice sizes. Our data show that the energy-gap $ω(0)$ is {\it not} the `Higgs mass' $M_h$ but an infrared-sensitive quantity that becomes smaller and smaller by increasing the lattice size and may even vanish in the infinite-volume limit.
The proof given in the paper was incomplete due to an omission in the proof of Lemma 2. A corrected and improved version of the paper is in arXiv:0902.2486.
We consider the matter induced part of the effective superpotential of N=2, U(N) gauge model in which N=2 supersymmetry is spontaneously broken to N=1, by using the properties of the chiral ring and the generalized Konishi anomaly equations derived in our previous paper arXiv:0704.1060. It is shown that the effective superpotential is related to the planar free energy of the matrix model by a formula which consists of two parts -- the well-known part due to Dijkgraaf-Vafa and the part that acts as a deformation of the couplings. These couplings are those of the original bare prepotential in th…
By using zero-norm states in the spectrum, we explicitly demonstrate the existence of an infinite number of high energy symmetry structures of the closed bosonic string theory. Each symmetry transformation (except those generated by massless zero-norm states) relates infinite particles with different masses, thus they are broken spontaneously at the Planck scale as previously conjectured by Gross and Evans and Ovrut. As an application, the results of Das and Sathiapalan which claim that sigma-midel is nonperturbatively nonrenormalizable are reproduced from a stringy symmetry argument point of …
Noncommutative geometry(NCG) on the discrete space successfully reproduces the Higgs mechanism of the spontaneously broken gauge theory, in which the Higgs boson field is regarded as a kind of gauge field on the discrete space. We could construct the generalized differential geometry(GDG) on the discrete space $M_4\times Z_N$ which is very close to NCG in case of $M_4\times Z_2$. GDG is a direct generalization of the differential geometry on the ordinary manifold into the discrete one. In this paper, we attempt to construct the BRST invariant formulation of spontaneously broken gauge theory ba…
Gauge fixing and the observable fields for both abelian and non-abelian gauge theories with spontaneous breaking of gauge symmetry are studied. We explicitly show that it is possible to globally fix the gauge in the broken sector and hence construct physical fields even in the non-abelian theory. We predict that any high temperature restoration of gauge symmetry will be accompanied by a confining transition.
We consider a relativistic effective field theory of vector boson whose vacuum exhibits spontaneous breaking of Lorentz invariance. We argue that a simple model of this type, considered recently by Kraus and Tomboulis, is obstructed from having a consistent ultraviolet completion according to the diagnostic recently suggested by Adams, Arkani-Hamed, Dubovsky, Nicolis, and Rattazzi.
We discuss models where N=1 global supersymmetry is spontaneously broken, at the classical level, in the presence of non-anomalous gauge interactions. We take such models as effective theories, valid up to some suitable scale and arising from supergravity models with a light gravitino, and therefore we allow them to contain non-renormalizable interactions. First, we examine the case where the goldstino is a gauge singlet. We elucidate the model-independent relations between supersymmetry-breaking masses and some associated interactions, with special attention to the behaviour of some four-part…
The Galilei group involves mass as a central charge. We show that the associated superselection rule is incompatible with the observed phenomenology of superfluid helium 4: this is recovered only under the assumption that mass is spontaneously broken. This remark is somewhat immaterial for the real world, where the correct space-time symmetries are encoded by the Poincaré group, which has no central charge. Yet it provides an explicit example of how superselection rules can be experimentally tested. We elaborate on what conditions must be met for our ideas to be generalizable to the relativist…
We first review the representations of the six-dimensional (2,0) superalgebra on a free tensor multiplet and on a free string. We then construct a supersymmetric Lagrangian describing a free tensor multiplet. (It also includes a decoupled anti self-dual part of the three-form field strength.) This field theory is then rewritten in variables appropriate for analyzing a situation where the R-symmetry is spontaneously broken by the vacuum expectation values of the scalar moduli fields. Finally, we construct a supersymmetric and kappa-symmetric action for a free string.
In the framework of standard electrodynamics with linear local response, we construct a model that provides spontaneously broken transparency. The functional dependence of the medium parameter turns out to be of the Higgs type.
We quantize the spontaneously broken abelian U(1) Higgs model by using the improved BFT and BFV formalisms. We have constructed the BFT physical fields, and obtain the first class observables including the Hamiltonian in terms of these fields. We have also explicitly shown that there are exact form invariances between the second class and first class quantities. Then, according to the BFV formalism, we have derived the corresponding Lagrangian having U(1) gauge symmetry. We also discuss at the classical level how one easily gets the first class Lagrangian from the symmetry-broken second class …
The KKLT construction of de Sitter vacua includes an uplifting term coming from an anti-D3-brane. Here we show how this term can arise via spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry, based on the emergence of a nilpotent chiral supermultiplet on the world-volume of the anti-D3-brane. We establish and use the fact that both the DBI as well as the WZ term, with account of orientifolding, acquire a form of the Volkov-Akulov action. For an O3 orientifold involution of $\mathbb{R}^{9,1}$ we demonstrate the cancellation between the fermionic parts of the DBI and WZ term for the D3-brane action. For the a…
We consider a complex scalar $Φ^4 $ theory with spontaneously broken global U(1) symmetry, minimally coupling to perturbatively quantized Einstein gravity which is treated as an effective theory at the energy well below the Planck scale. Both the lowest order pure real scalar correction and the gravitational correction to the renormalization of the Higgs sector in this model have been investigated. Our results show that the gravitational correction renders the renormalization of the Higgs sector in this model inconsistent while the pure real scalar correction to it leads to a compatible renorm…
We propose a mechanism to break the translational invariance of compactified space spontaneously. As a simple model, we study a real $ϕ^4$ model compactified on $M^{D-1}\otimes S^1$ in detail, where we impose a nontrivial boundary condition on $ϕ$ for the $S^1$-direction. It is shown that the translational invariance for the $S^1$-direction is spontaneously broken when the radius $R$ of $S^1$ becomes larger than a critical radius $R^*$ and also that the model behaves like a $ϕ^4$ model on a single kink background for $R \to \infty$. It is pointed out that spontaneous breakdown of translational…
In 2 + 1 dimensions, in the presence of gravity, supersymmetry can ensure the vanishing of the cosmological constant without requiring the equality of bose and fermi masses.
In a wide class of three-dimensional Abelian gauge theories with a bare Chern-Simons term, the Lorentz invariance is spontaneously broken by dynamical generation of a non-vanishing magnetic field. A detailed computation of an energy density of the true vacuum is given. The originally massive photon becomes massless, fulfilling the role of a Nambu-Goldstone boson associated with the spontaneous breaking of the Lorentz invariance.
