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 College London.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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…
We study one-loop quantum corrections to gauge couplings in heterotic vacua with spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. Although in non-supersymmetric constructions these corrections are not protected and are typically model dependent, we show how a universal behaviour of threshold differences, typical of supersymmetric vacua, may still persist. We formulate specific conditions on the way supersymmetry should be broken for this to occur. Our analysis implies a generalised notion of threshold universality even in the case of unbroken supersymmetry, whenever extra charged massless states appear at …
It has been recently argued that inserting a probe anti-D3-brane in a flux background breaks supersymmetry spontaneously instead of explicitly, as previously thought. In this paper we argue that such spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry persists even when the probe anti-D3-brane is kept in a curved background with an internal space that doesn't have to be a Calabi-Yau manifold. To show this we take a specific curved background generated by fractional three-branes and fluxes on a non-Kahler resolved conifold where supersymmetry breaking appears directly from certain world-volume fermions becom…
We analyse a class of four-dimensional heterotic ground states with N=2 space-time supersymmetry. From the ten-dimensional perspective, such models can be viewed as compactifications on a six-dimensional manifold with SU(2) holonomy, which is locally but not globally K3 x T^2. The maximal N=4 supersymmetry is spontaneously broken to N=2. The masses of the two massive gravitinos depend on the (T,U) moduli of T^2. We evaluate the one-loop threshold corrections of gauge and R^2 couplings and we show that they fall in several universality classes, in contrast to what happens in usual K3 x T^2 comp…
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 further the universality of the Volkov-Akulov (V-A) action of a Nambu-Goldstone (N-G) fermion for the spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry (SUSY). We show general relations between the standard V-A action and nonlinear (NL) SUSY actions including apparently (pathological) higher derivatives of the N-G fermion. Composite fields of the N-G fermions are found, which transform homogeneously under NL SUSY transformations of V-A. Consequently, we obtain NL SUSY invariant constraints which connect our NL SUSY actions with the V-A action. The constraints are explicitly solved and we show e…
We show the existence of a supersymmetry-breaking mechanism in string theory, where N=4 supersymmetry is broken spontaneously to N=2 and N=1 with moduli-dependent gravitino masses. The BPS spectrum of the theory with lower supersymmetry is in one-to-one correspondence with the spectrum of the heterotic N=4 string. The mass splitting of the N=4 spectrum depends on the moduli as well as the three R-symmetry charges. In the case of N=4 \to N=2, the perturbative N=2 prepotential is determined by the perturbative N=4 BPS states. This observation led us to suggest a method that determines the exact …
It is shown that the super Higgs mechanism that occurs in a wide class of models with vanishing cosmological constant (at the classical level) is obtained by the gauging of a flat group which must be an electric subgroup of the duality group. If the residual massive gravitinos which occur in the partial supersymmetry breaking are BPS saturated, then the flat group is non abelian. This is so for all the models obtained by a Scherk-Schwarz supersymmetry breaking mechanism. If gravitinos occur in long multiplets, then the flat groups may be abelian. This is the case of supersymmetry breaking by s…
We propose a new spontaneous supersymmetry breaking mechanism, in which extra compact dimensions play an important role. To illustrate our mechanism, we study a simple model consisting of two chiral superfields, where one spatial dimension is compactified on a circle $S^1$. It is shown that supersymmetry is spontaneously broken irrespective of the radius of the circle, and also that the translational invariance for the $S^1$-direction and a global symmetry are spontaneously broken when the radius becomes larger than a critical radius. These results are expected to be general features of our me…
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.
Simultaneous nonlinear realizations of spontaneously broken supersymmetry in conjunction with other spontaneous and/or explicitly broken symmetries including R symmetry, global chiral symmetry, dilatations and the superconformal symmetries is reviewed.
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 review the construction of the N=2 U(N) gauge model and the analysis of vacua of the model. On the vacua, N=2 supersymmetry is spontaneously broken to N=1, and the gauge symmetry is broken to a product gauge group \prod_{i=1}^n U(N_i). The masses of the supermultiplets appearing on the N=1 vacua are given. We provide a manifestly N=2 supersymmetric formulation of the U(N) gauge model coupled with N=2 hypermultiplets, and show that N=2 supersymmetry is partially broken down to N=1 spontaneously.
The subject of this thesis is the construction and the study of four-dimensional effective theories with spontaneously broken and non-linearly realised global and local supersymmetry. In the first part, the global supersymmetric case is analysed. The discussion starts from the supersymmetry breaking sector, describing the goldstino and its interactions, in the case of minimal supersymmetry and it is then generalised to a generic number of spontaneously broken supersymmetry generators. A systematic procedure is given in order to construct effective theories with non-linearly realised supersymme…
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 wel…
We dispute a recent claim for a nonperturbative nonrenormalisation theorem stating that mass cannot be spontaneously generated in supersymmetric QED. We also extend a long-standing perturbative result, namely that the effective potential is zero to all orders of perturbation theory, to the nonperturbative regime for arbitrary numbers of flavours.
We show explicitly in D = 2 that N = 2 nonlinear supersymmetric (SUSY) Volkov-Akulov model is equivalent to a spontaneously broken N = 2 linear SUSY interacting theory containing the ordinary Yukawa interactions and mass terms, which is renormalizable, by using SUSY invariant relations.
We consider the effective superpotential of N=2, U(N) gauge model where N=2 supersymmetry is spontaneously broken to N=1. By the computation of loop diagrams, we obtain a formula for the effective superpotential which is deformed from the well-known form of the effective superpotential of N=1, U(N) gauge model with a tree level superpotential.
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.
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…
We briefly review a construction of N=2 supersymmetric U(N) gauge model in which rigid N=2 supersymmetry is spontaneously broken to N=1. This model generalizes the abelian model considered by Antoniadis, Patouche and Taylor. We discuss the conditions on the vacua of the model with partial supersymmetry breaking.
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…
Scattering amplitudes have the potential to provide new insights to the study of supergravity theories with gauged R-symmetry and Minkowski vacua. Such gaugings break supersymmetry spontaneously, either partly or completely. In this paper, we develop a framework for double-copy constructions of Abelian and non-Abelian gaugings of N=8 supergravity with these properties. They are generally obtained as the double copy of a spontaneously-broken (possibly supersymmeric) gauge theory and a theory with explicitly-broken supersymmetry. We first identify purely-adjoint deformations of N=4 super-Yang-Mi…
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…
These are expanded notes of lectures given at the summer school "Gif 2000" in Paris. They constitute the first part of an "Introduction to supersymmetry and supergravity" with the second part on supergravity by J.-P. Derendinger to appear soon. The present introduction is elementary and pragmatic. I discuss: spinors and the Poincaré group, the susy algebra and susy multiplets, superfields and susy lagrangians, susy gauge theories, spontaneously broken susy, the non-linear sigma model, N=2 susy gauge theories, and finally Seiberg-Witten duality.
We construct the worldline superfield massive superparticle actions which preserve 1/4 portion of the underlying higher-dimensional supersymmetry. The rest of supersymmetry is spontaneously broken and realized by nonlinear transformations. We consider the cases of N=4 to N=1 and N=8 to N=2 partial breaking. In the first case we present the corresponding Green-Schwarz type target superspace action with one $κ$-supersymmetry. It is related to the superfield action via a field redefinition. In the second case we find out two possible models, one of which is a direct generalization of the N=4 to N…
Guided by the gauging of U(N) isometry associated with the special Kahler geometry, and the discrete R symmetry, we construct the N=2 supersymmetric action of a U(N) invariant nonabelian gauge model in which rigid N=2 supersymmetry is spontaneously broken to N=1. This generalizes the abelian model considered by Antoniadis, Partouche and Taylor. We shed light on complexity of the supercurrents of our model associated with a broken N=2 supermultiplet of currents, and discuss the spontaneously broken supersymmetry as an approximate fermionic shift symmetry.
It is reviewed how space-time supersymmetry is realized nonlinearly in open superstring theory without making the GSO projection. We show that the world-sheet string dualities, viz. dualities of open-closed strings and of open-open strings, play crucial roles for the existence of 10 dimensional N=2 supersymmetry in a spontaneously broken phase. We also speculate on a possible mechanism of the restoration of supersymmetry from the viewpoint of world-sheet dynamics.
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.
Orientable open string theories containing both bosons and fermions without the GSO projection are expected to have the 10 dimensional N=2(A) space-time supersymmetry in a spontaneously broken phase. We study the low-energy theorem for the nonlinearly realized N=2 supersymmetry using the effective action for an unstable D9-brane. It is explicitly confirmed that the 4-fermion open string amplitudes without the GSO projection obey the low-energy theorem derived from the nonlinear N=2 supersymmetry. An intimate connection between the existence of the hidden supersymmetry and the open-open string …
We discuss how to incorporate non-supersymmetric branes in compactifications of type II string theories. We particularly focus on flux compactifications on $SU(3)\times SU(3)$ structure manifolds to four dimensions, so that a linear $\mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmetry is spontaneously broken by spacetime filling Dp-branes. Anti-Dp-branes are a very special subset of such branes but our analysis is generic. We show that the backreaction of non-supersymmetric branes can be incorporated into the standard 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ supergravity by including a nilpotent chiral multiplet. Supersymmetry in such se…
The global supersymmetry is spontaneously broken if and only if the ground-state energy is strictly positive. We propose to use this fact to observe the spontaneous supersymmetry breaking in euclidean lattice simulations. For lattice formulations that possess a manifest fermionic symmetry, there exists a natural choice of a hamiltonian operator that is consistent with a topological property of the Witten index. We confirm validity of our idea in models of the supersymmetric quantum mechanics. We then examine a possibility of a dynamical supersymmetry breaking in the two-dimensional $\mathcal{N…
We review the general gauged N=2 supergravity coupled to an arbitrary number of vector multiplets and hypermultiplets. We consider two different models where N=2 supersymmetry is broken to N=1 spontaneously, one has a U(1) vector multiplet and the other has a U(N) vector multiplet. In both cases, partial breaking of N=2 supersymmetry is accomplished by the Higgs and the super-Higgs mechanisms. The mass spectrum can be evaluated and we conclude that the resulting models have N=1 supersymmetry. This is based on master thesis submitted to Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, in Marc…
In this paper we consider superstring propagation in a nontrivial NS-NS background. We deform the world sheet stress tensor and supercurrent with an infinitesimal B_{μν} field. We construct the gauge-covariant super-Poincare generators in this background and show that the B_{μν} field spontaneously breaks spacetime supersymmetry. We find that the gauge-covariant spacetime momenta cease to commute with each other and with the spacetime supercharges. We construct a set of "magnetic" super-Poincare generators that are conserved for constant field strength H_{μνλ}, and show that these generators o…
When supersymmetry is spontaneously broken it will be generically non-linearly realized. A method to describe the non-linear realization of supersymmetry is with constrained superfields. We discuss the basic features of this description and review some recent developments in supergravity.
We argue that compactifications on Calabi-Yau threefolds with vanishing Euler number yield effective four dimensional theories exhibiting (spontaneously broken) N=4 supersymmetry. To this end, we derive the low-energy effective action for general SU(2) structure manifolds in type IIA string theory and show its consistency with gauged N=4 supergravity. Focusing on the special case of Calabi-Yau manifolds with vanishing Euler number, we explain the absence of perturbative corrections at the two-derivative level. In addition, we conjecture that all non-perturbative corrections are governed and co…
This paper summarizes a new approach to supersymmetry breaking in the supersymmetric standard model (SSM). The approach arises from some remarkable features of the BRS cohomology for composite operators in the SSM, and the behaviour of those operators when gauge symmetry is spontaneously broken. A new realization of supersymmetry arises for these operators. This realization is equivalent to the generation of supersymmetry anomalies, though they are not present in the usual sense. The consequences are worked out in detail for the electron and neutrino flavour triplets, by using the appropriate …
It is shown that supersymmetry is spontaneously broken in certain three-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories, by using the s-rule in their string theory realization as brane configurations. In particular, supersymmetry is broken in N=3 supersymmetric Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons theory with gauge group SU(n) and CS coefficient k, as well as in its N=2 and N=1 deformations, when n>|k|. In addition, supersymmetry is broken in the N=1 mass deformation of N=2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with gauge group SU(n) and one matter multiplet when n>1. In the latter case the breaking is induced by an …
Supergravities with gauged R-symmetry and Minkowski vacua allow for spontaneous supersymmetry breaking and, as such, provide a framework for building supergravity models of phenomenological relevance. In this letter we initiate the study of double-copy constructions for these supergravities. We argue that, on general grounds, we expect their scattering amplitudes to be described by a double copy of the type: (Higgsed gauge theory) x (gauge theory with broken SUSY). We present a simple realization in which the resulting supergravity has U(1)_R gauge symmetry, spontaneously-broken N=2 supersymme…
The vacuum structure of N = 2 linear supersymmetry (LSUSY) invariant QED, which is equivalent to N = 2 nonlinear supersymmetry (NLSUSY) model, is studied explicitly in two dimensional space-time (d = 2). Two different isometries SO(1,3) and SO(3,1) appear for the vacuum field configuration corresponding to the various parameter regions. Two different field configurations of SO(3,1) isometry describe the two different physical vacua, i.e. one breaks spontaneously both U(1) and SUSY and the other breaks spontaneously SUSY alone.
Under a few mild assumptions, N=1 supersymmetry in four dimensions is shown to be spontaneously broken in a self-consistent Hartree-Fock approximation of BCS/NJL type to one-loop off-shell, in the gauge theory specified by the gauge kinetic function and the superpotential of adjoint chiral superfields, in particular, that possesses N=2 extended supersymmetry spontaneously broken to N=1 at tree level. The N=2 gauginos receive mixed Majorana-Dirac masses and are split. We derive an explicit form of the gap equation, showing the existence of a nontrivial solution.
The $T\bar{T}$ deformation of a supersymmetric two-dimensional theory preserves the original supersymmetry. Moreover, in several interesting cases the deformed theory possesses additional non-linearly realized supersymmetries. We show this for certain $\mathcal N =(2,2)$ models in two dimensions, where we observe an intriguing similarity with known $\mathcal N=1 $ models in four dimensions. This suggests that higher-dimensional models with non-linearly realized supersymmetries might also be obtained from $T\bar{T}$-like flow equations. We show that in four dimensions this is indeed the case fo…
We explore the dynamics of a simple class of two-dimensional models with $(0,1)$ supersymmetry, namely sigma-models with target $S^3$ and the minimal possible set of fields. For any nonzero value of the Wess--Zumino coupling $k$, we describe a superconformal fixed point to which we conjecture that the model flows in the infrared. For $k=0$, we conjecture that the model spontaneously breaks supersymmetry. We further explore the question of whether this model can be continuously connected to one that spontaneously breaks supersymmetry by "flowing up and down the renormalization group trajectorie…
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 briefly review the properties of the N=2 U(N) gauge model with/without matters. On the vacua, N=2 supersymmetry and the gauge symmetry are spontaneously broken to N=1 and a product gauge group, respectively. The masses of the supermultiplets appearing on the N=1 vacua are given. We also discuss the relation to the matrix model.
We analyze a recently proposed supersymmetry breaking mass deformation of the $E_1$ superconformal fixed point in five dimensions which, at weak gauge coupling, leads to pure $SU(2)$ Yang-Mills and which was conjectured to lead to an interacting CFT at strong coupling. We provide an explicit geometric construction of the deformation using brane-web techniques and show that for large enough gauge coupling a global symmetry is spontaneously broken and the theory enters a new phase which, at infinite coupling, displays an instability. The Yang-Mills and the symmetry broken phases are separated by…
We analyze the moduli space of spontaneously broken N=8 supergravity theories in 4 dimensions with classical Minkowski vacua. We find that all the known classical vacua, as well as the several new ones we construct here, can be connected by sending some of the moduli to their boundary values. We also show that Cremmer-Scherk-Schwarz models can be viewed as special limits of more general CSO* gaugings, which allow for non-Abelian residual symmetries on the vacuum. Finally, we find that all the classical Minkowski vacua with fully broken supersymmetry found so far are unstable with respect to 1-…
We argue that the BRST and the anti-BRST super symmetries in the four-dimensional Yang-Mills theory can be spontaneously broken in a nonlinear partial gauge due to ghost-anti-ghost condensation. However, we show that the spontaneous BRST symmetry breaking can be avoided if we adopt the modified Maximal Abelian gauge which is an orthosymplectic $OSp(4|2)$ invariant renormalizable gauge proposed by the author to derive quark confinement. We compare the Maximal Abelian gauge with the conventional $OSp(4|2)$ invariant gauge proposed by Delbourgo-Jarvis and Baulieu-Thierry-Mieg. Finally, an implica…
We study $\mathcal{N}=1$ models in which supersymmetry and $R$-symmetry are broken spontaneously. We find that even the simplest well-known O'Raifeartaigh-like models exhibit previously unnoticed phases and dynamics. D-terms play an important role in the dynamics, creating a runaway behavior at tree-level which is stabilized radiatively at a large scale. This leads to a dynamically-generated hierarchy of scales. Additionally, this mechanism generically leads to a spontaneously broken $R$-symmetry without fine tuning the couplings of the theory. These are arguably the simplest known models that…
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 point out a connection between R symmetry and \susy\ breaking. We show that the existence of an R symmetry is a necessary condition for \susy\ breaking and a spontaneously broken R symmetry is a sufficient condition provided two conditions are satisfied. These conditions are: {\it genericity}, \ie\ the effective Lagrangian is a generic Lagrangian consistent with the symmetries of the theory (no fine tuning), and {\it calculability}, \ie\ the low energy theory can be described by a supersymmetric Wess-Zumino effective Lagrangian without gauge fields. All known models of dynamical supersymmet…
We investigate N = 1 supersymmetric gauge theories where monopole condensation triggers supersymmetry breaking in a metastable vacuum. The low-energy effective theory is an O'Raifeartaigh-like model of the kind investigated recently by Shih where the R-symmetry can be spontaneously broken. We examine several implementations with varying degrees of phenomenological interest.
