We present the explicit superfield realizations of the hidden $SU(4)$ and $O(5)$ $R$-symmetries in $4D, {\cal N}=4$ and $5D, {\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories in the harmonic superspace approach. The $R$-symmetry transformations are constructed and their algebraic structure is studied. It is shown that such transformations are consistent with both manifest and hidden supersymmetry transformations. These symmetries can serve as an alternative tool for constructing the relevant complete low-energy superfield effective actions determined earlier from the hidden supersymmetry considerations.
Within the superfield approach, we formulate the superfield supersymmetric aether-like Lorentz-breaking models, both in three- and in four-dimensional cases.
Action of 4 dimensional N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory is written by employing the superfields in N=4 superspace which were used to prove the equivalence of its constraint equations and equations of motion. Integral forms of the extended superspace are engaged to collect all of the superfields in one "master" superfield. The proposed N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills action in extended superspace is shown to acquire a simple form in terms of the master superfield.
We explicitly calculate the one-loop effective potential for the supersymmetric topologically massive gauge theory in four dimensions, where the chiral scalar superfield is directly coupled to the field strength for the gauge spinor superfield.
We study the duality of the supersymmetric self-dual and Maxwell-Chern-Simons theories coupled to a fermionic matter superfield, using a master action. This approach evades the difficulties inherent to the quartic couplings that appear when matter is represented by a scalar superfield. The price is that the spinorial matter superfield represents a unusual supersymmetric multiplet, whose main physical properties we also discuss.
The three-dimensional noncommutative supersymmetric QED is investigated within the superfield approach. We prove the absence of UV/IR mixing in the theory at any loop order and demonstrate its one-loop finiteness.
We present a superfield Lax formalism of superspace sigma model based on the target space ${\cal G}/{\cal H}$ and show that a one-parameter family of flat superfield connections exists if the target space ${\cal G}/{\cal H}$ is a symmetric space. The formalism has been related to the existences of an infinite family of local and non-local superfield conserved quantities. Few examples have been given to illustrate the results.
We apply the functional renormalization group approach to a $\mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmetric gauge model with one chiral superfield coupled to a vector $U(1)$ superfield. We find that the nonrenormalization theorem still works at leading order in the supercovariant derivative expansion of the fields. We also find the beta functions and we study the behavior of its fixed points in the local potential approximation. Regulators are also discussed.
We analyze the dynamics of a general two-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ gauged linear sigma model with semichiral superfields. By computing the elliptic genera, we study the vacuum structure of the model. The result coincides with the model without using semichiral superfields. We also show that the low energy effective twisted superpotential contributed by semichiral superfields vanishes, whether we turn on twisted masses or not.
We formulate a generic three-dimensional superfield higher-derivative gauge theory coupled to the matter, which, in certain cases reduces to the three-dimensional scalar super-QED, or supersymmetric Maxwell-Chern-Simons or Chern-Simons theories with matter. For this theory, we explicitly calculate the one-loop effective potential.
Four dimensional N=1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory action is written in terms of the spinor superfields in transverse gauge. This action is seemingly first order in space-time derivatives. Thus, it suggests that the generalized fields approach of obtaining Batalin-Vilkovisky quantization can be applicable. In fact, generalized fields which collect spinor superfields possessing different ghost numbers are introduced to obtain the minimal solution of its Batalin-Vilkovisky master equation in a compact form.
Superfield realizations of Lorentz-violating extensions of the Wess-Zumino model are presented. These models retain supersymmetry but include terms that explicitly break the Lorentz symmetry. The models can be understood as arising from superspace transformations that are modifications of the familiar one in the Lorentz-symmetric case.
We develop a complete off-shell Lagrangian description of the free $4D, {\cal N}=1$ supersymmetric theory of infinite spin. Bosonic and fermionic fields are formulated in terms of spin-tensor fields with dotted and undotted indices. The corresponding Lagrangians for bosonic and fermionic infinite spin fields entering into the on-shell supersymmetric model are derived within the BRST method. Lagrangian for this supersymmetric model is written in terms of the complex infinite spin bosonic field and infinite spin fermionic Weyl field subject to supersymmetry transformations. The fields involved i…
We construct the general formulation of N=1 supersymmetric self-dual abelian gauge theory involving auxiliary chiral spinor superfields. Self-duality in this context is just U(N) invariance of the nonlinear interaction of the auxiliary superfields. Focusing on the U(1) case, we present the most general form of the U(1) invariant auxiliary interaction, consider a few instructive examples and show how to generate self-dual N=1 models with higher derivatives in this approach.
We rewrite $ N=2$ quantum super $W_{3}$ algebra, a nonlinear extended $N=2$ super Virasoro algebra, containing one additional primary superfield of dimension $2$ which has no $U(1)$ charge, besides the super stress energy tensor of dimension $1$ in $N=2$ superspace. The free superfield realization of this algebra is obtained by two $N=2$ chiral fermionic superfields of dimension $1/2$ satisfying $N=2$ complex $ U(1)$ Kac-Moody algebras.
This is a brief survey of applications of the harmonic superspace methods to the models of N=4 supersymmetric quantum mechanics (SQM). The main focus is on a recent progress in constructing SQM models with couplings to the background non-Abelian gauge fields. Besides reviewing and systemizing the relevant results, we present some new examples and make clarifying comments.
In [arXiv:0808.1677] 3 dimensional field theories are proposed to on-shell represent N=8 SUSY algebra and SO(7) or SO(4)xSO(4) subgroups of full SO(8) automorphism. They are theories of 8 scalar and 8 spinor matrix fields with Yukawa, quartic and sextic self-interactions. This note is devoted to superfield and off-shell formulation of the theory. Scalar superfields are proposed to represent scalar supermultiplets. A renormalizable action with quadratic and quartic self-interactions is proposed to govern their dynamics.
We construct SU$(2|1)$, $d=1$ supersymmetric models based on the coupling of dynamical and semi-dynamical (spin) multiplets, where the interaction term of both multiplets is defined on the generalized chiral superspace. The dynamical multiplet is defined as a chiral multiplet ${\bf (2,4,2)}$, while the semi-dynamical multiplet is associated with a multiplet ${\bf (4,4,0)}$ of the mirror type.
We study the low-energy effective actions for gauge superfields induced by quantum N=2 and N=4 supersymmetric matter fields in three-dimensional Minkowski space. Analyzing the superconformal invariants in the N=2 superspace we propose a general form of the N=2 gauge invariant and superconformal effective action. The leading terms in this action are fixed by the symmetry up to the coefficients while the higher order terms with respect to the Maxwell field strength are found up to one arbitrary function of quasi-primary N=2 superfields constructed from the superfield strength and its covariant s…
Using MacDowell-Mansouri theory, in this work, we investigate a superfield description of the self-dual supergravity a la Ashtekar. We find that in order to reproduce previous results on supersymmetric Ashtekar formalism, it is necessary to properly combine the supersymmetric field-strength in the Lagrangian. We extend our procedure to the case of supersymmetric Ashtekar formalism in eight dimensions.
Within the superfield approach, we discuss the three-dimensional supersymmetric (SUSY) pseudo-QED. We prove that it is all-loop renormalizable. We demonstrate that the SUSY pseudo-QED action can be generated as a quantum correction from the coupling of a spinor gauge superfield to a set of $N$ massless complex scalar superfields. Afterwards, we calculate the two-point function of the scalar superfields in the pseudo-QED which displays a divergence vanishing in a certain gauge.
A superfield formulation is presented of the central charge anomaly in quantum corrections to solitons in two-dimensional theories with N=1 supersymmetry. Extensive use is made of the superfield supercurrent, that places the supercurrent J^{mu}_{alpha}, energy-momentum tensor Theta^{mu nu} and topological current zeta^{mu} in a supermultiplet, to study the structure of supersymmetry and related superconformal symmetry in the presence of solitons. It is shown that the supermultiplet structure of (J^{mu}_{alpha}, Theta^{mu nu}, zeta^{mu}) is kept exact while the topological current zeta^μ acquir…
We present a manifestly $N=2$ supersymmetric formulation of $N=2$ super-$W_3$ algebra (its classical version) in terms of the spin 1 and spin 2 supercurrents. Two closely related types of the Feigin-Fuchs representation for these supercurrents are found: via two chiral spin $\frac{1}{2}$ superfields generating $N=2$ extended $U(1)$ Kac-Moody algebras and via two free chiral spin 0 superfields. We also construct a one-parameter family of $N=2$ super Boussinesq equations for which $N=2$ super-$W_3$ provides the second hamiltonian structure.
We give the superfield quantization of chiral/nonminimal (CNM) scalar multiplets defined by pairs of N=1 chiral and complex linear scalar superfields kinematically coupled. In the pure massive case we develop the covariant quantization when CNM multiplets are coupled to background gauge superfields. Furthermore, we study some properties of N=1 supersymmetric Yang--Mills theories constructed using CNM scalar matter superfields. In particular, we compute the one--loop contribution to the effective action for the matter superfields, we study the analogue of the Konishi anomaly and discuss some pr…
We examine the BRS cohomology of chiral matter in $N=1$, $D=4$ supersymmetry to determine a general form of composite superfield operators which can suffer from supersymmetry anomalies. Composite superfield operators $\Y_{(a,b)}$ are products of the elementary chiral superfields $S$ and $\ov S$ and the derivative operators $D_\a$, $\ov D_{\dot \b}$ and $\pa_{\a \dot \b}$. Such superfields $\Y_{(a,b)}$ can be chosen to have `$a$' symmetrized undotted indices $\a_i$ and `$b$' symmetrized dotted indices $\dot \b_j$. The result derived here is that each composite superfield $\Y_{(a,b)}$ is subject…
Commutative four dimensional supersymmetric Yang-Mills (SYM) is known to be renormalizable for ${\mathcal N} = 1, 2$, and finite for ${\mathcal N} = 4$. However, in the noncommutative version of the model the UV/IR mechanism gives rise to infrared divergences which may spoil the perturbative expansion. In this work we pursue the study of the consistency of the ${\cal N} = 1, 2, 4$ noncommutative supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with gauge group U(N) (NCSYM). We employ the covariant superfield framework to compute the one-loop corrections to the two- and three-point functions of the gauge super…
Effective superpotentials are considered which include glueball chiral superfields among their arguments in supersymmetric gauge theories. It is seen that the accommodation of glueball superfields is suitable for their complete determination.
We study the quantum structure of four-dimensional ${\cal N}=2$ superfield sigma-model formulated in harmonic superspace in terms of the omega-hypermultiplet superfield $ω$. The model is described by harmonic superfield sigma-model metric $g_{ab}(ω)$ and two potential-like superfields $L^{++}_{a}(ω)$ and $L^{(+4)}(ω)$. In bosonic component sector this model describes some hyper-Kähler manifold. The manifestly ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric covariant background-quantum splitting is constructed and the superfield proper-time technique is developed to calculate the one-loop effective action. The one…
By computing the two-loop effective potential of the D=3 N=1 supersymmetric Chern-Simons model minimally coupled to a massless self-interacting matter superfield, it is shown that supersymmetry is preserved, while the internal U(1) and the scale symmetries are broken at two-loop order, dynamically generating masses both for the gauge superfield and for the real component of the matter superfield.
We analyze the possibility of constructing a supersymmetric invariant that contains the $R^4$ term among its components as a superpotential term in type IIB on-shell superspace. We consider a scalar superpotential, i.e. an arbitrary holomorphic function of a chiral scalar superfield. In general, IIB superspace does not allow for the existence of chiral superfields, but the obstruction vanishes for a specific superfield, the dilaton superfield. This superfield contains all fields of type IIB supergravity among its components, and its existence is implied by the solution of the Bianchi identitie…
The superfield light cone gauge formulation of $\mathcal{N} =4$ SYM in plane wave background is developed. We find a realization of superconformal symmetries in terms of a light cone superfield. An oscillator realization of superconformal symmetries is also obtained.
The "long" indecomposable N=2, d=1 multiplet (2, 4, 2) defined in arXiv:1503.05537 [hep-th] as a deformation of the pair of chiral multiplets (2, 2, 0) and (0, 2, 2) by a number of the mass-dimension parameters is described in the superfield approach. We present its most general superfield and component actions, as well as a generalization to the case with the superfields of the opposite Grassmann parities and dimensionless deformation parameter. We show that the long N=2, d=1 multiplets are naturally embedded into the chiral SU(2|1), d=1 superfields having nonzero external spins with respect …
We consider the six dimensional hypermultiplet, vector and tensor multiplet models in (1,0) harmonic superspace and discuss the corresponding superfield actions. The actions for free (2,0) tensor multiplet and for interacting vector/tensor multiplet system are constructed. Using the superfield formulation of the hypermultiplet coupled to the vector/tensor system we develop an approach to calculation of the one-loop superfield effective action and find its divergent structure.
Using the N=4, 1D harmonic superspace approach, we construct a new type of N=4 supersymmetric mechanics involving 4n-dimensional Quaternion-Kähler (QK) 1D sigma models as the bosonic core. The basic ingredients of our construction are {\it local} N=4, 1D supersymmetry realized by the appropriate transformations in 1D harmonic superspace, the general N=4, 1D superfield vielbein and a set of 2(n+1) analytic "matter" superfields representing (n+1) off-shell supermultiplets (4, 4, 0). Both superfield and component actions are given for the simplest QK models with the manifolds \mathbb{H}H^n = Sp(1…
Two dimensional N=2 supersymmetric nonlinear sigma models on hermitian symmetric spaces are formulated in terms of the auxiliary superfields. If we eliminate auxiliary vector and chiral superfields, they give D- and F-term constraints to define the target manifolds. The integration over auxiliary vector superfields, which can be performed exactly, is equivalent to the elimination of the auxiliary fields by the use of the classical equations of motion.
Using 4D, N=1 superfield techniques, a discussion of the 6D sigma-model possessing simple supersymmetry is given. Two such approaches are described. Foremost it is shown that the simplest and most transparent description arises by use of a doublet of chiral scalar superfields for each 6D hypermultiplet. A second description that is most directly related to projective superspace is also presented. The latter necessarily implies the use of one chiral superfield and one nonminimal scalar superfield for each 6D hypermultiplet. A separate study of models of this class, outside the context of projec…
We define SU(2|1) supermultiplets described by chiral superfields having non-zero external spins with respect to SU(2) \subset SU(2|1) and show that their splitting into N=2, d=1 multiplets contains the so called "long" indecomposable N=2, d=1 multiplets (2, 4, 2)_l. We give superfield formulation for this type of N=2 long multiplets and construct their most general superfield action. A simple example of long N=4, d=1 multiplet is also considered, both in the superfield and the component formulations.
In this paper we study the Nielsen identity for the supersymmetric Chern-Simons-matter model in the superfield formalism, in three spacetime dimensions. The Nielsen identity is essential to understand the gauge invariance of the symmetry breaking mechanism, and it is calculated by using the BRST invariance of the model. We discuss the technical difficulties in applying this identity to the complete effective superpotential, but we show how we can study in detail the gauge independence of one part of the effective superpotential, $K_{eff}$. We calculate the renormalization group functions of th…
A ten-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theory is written in terms of N=1, D=4 superfields. The theory is dimensionally reduced over six-dimensional coset spaces. We find that the resulting four-dimensional theory is either a softly broken N=1 supersymmetric gauge theory or a non-supersymmetric gauge theory depending on whether the coset spaces used in the reduction are non-symmetric or symmetric. In both cases examples susceptible to yield realistic models are presented.
We discuss $SU(N_c)$ gauge theory coupled to two adjoint chiral superfields $X$ and $Y$, and a number of fundamental chiral superfields $Q^i$. We add a superpotential that has the form of Arnold's $D$ series $W = \Tr X^{k+1} + \Tr XY^2$. We present a dual description in terms of an $SU(3kN_f - N_c)$ gauge theory, and we show that the duality passes many tests. At the end of the paper, we show how a deformation of this superpotential flows to another duality having a product gauge group $SU(N_c)\times SU(N_c')$, with an adjoint field charged under $SU(N_c)$, an adjoint field charged under $SU(N…
We studied the Dynamical Symmetry Breaking (DSB) mechanism in a supersymmetric Chern-Simons theory in $\left(2+1\right)$ dimensions coupled to $N$ matter superfields in the superfield formalism. For this purpose, we developed a mechanism to calculate the effective superpotencial $K_{\mathrm{eff}}\left(σ_{\mathrm{cl}},α\right)$, where $σ_{\mathrm{cl}}$ is a background superfield, and $α$ a gauge-fixing parameter that is introduced in the quantization process. The possible dependence of the effective potential on the gauge parameter have been studied in the context of quantum field theory. We de…
We present an N=1 superfield formulation of supersymmetric gauge theories with a compact extra dimension. The formulation incorporates the radion superfield and allows to write supersymmetric theories on warped gravitational backgrounds. We apply it to study the breaking of supersymmetry by the F-term of the radion, and show that, for flat extra dimensions, this leads to the same mass spectrum as in Scherk-Schwarz models of supersymmetry breaking. We also consider scenarios where supersymmetry is broken on a boundary of a warped extra dimension and compare them with anomaly mediated models.
We present the exact effective superpotentials in $4d$, $N=1$ supersymmetric $SU(2)$ gauge theories with $N_3$ triplets and $N_2$ doublets of matter superfields. For the theories with a single triplet matter superfield we present the exact gauge couplings for arbitrary bare masses and Yukawa couplings.
We argue that off-shell dualities between d=1 supermultiplets with different sets of physical bosonic components and the same number of fermionic ones are related to gauging some symmetries in the actions of the supermultiplets with maximal sets of physical bosons. Our gauging procedure uses off-shell superfields and so is manifestly supersymmetric. We focus on N=4 supersymmetric mechanics and show that various actions of the multiplet (3,4,1) amount to some gauge choices in the gauged superfield actions of the linear or nonlinear (4,4,0) multiplets. In particular, the conformally invariant (3…
This paper is a collection of lecture notes on the superfield approach in three- and four-dimensional supersymmetric quantum field theory. Many examples of the applications of this approach to different superfield models are considered.
A constrained superfield formalism has been proposed recently to analyze the low energy physics related to Goldstinos. We prove that this formalism can be reformulated in the language of standard realization of nonlinear supersymmetry. New relations have been uncovered in the standard realization of nonlinear supersymmetry.
We consider the ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric theory of the massive Yang-Mills field formulated in the ${\cal N}=2$ harmonic superspace. The various gauge-invariant forms of writing the mass term in the action (in particular, using the Stueckelberg superfield), which result in dual formulations of the theory, are presented. We develop a gauge-invariant and explicitly supersymmetric scheme of the loop off-shell expansion of the superfield effective action. In the framework of this scheme, we calculate gauge-invariant and explicitly ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric one-loop counterterms including new c…
Darboux transformation is constructed for superfields of the super sine-Gordon equation and the superfields of the associated linear problem. The Darboux transformation is shown to be related to the super Bäcklund transformation and is further used to obtain $N$ super soliton solutions.
A general formalism to construct and improve supercurrents and source or anomaly superfields in two-derivative N=1 supersymmetric theories is presented. It includes arbitrary gauge and chiral superfields and a linear superfield coupled to gauge fields. These families of supercurrent structures are characterized by their energy-momentum tensors and R currents and they display a specific relation to the dilatation current of the theory. The linear superfield is introduced in order to describe the gauge coupling as a background (or propagating) field. Supersymmetry does not constrain the dependen…
We present the derivation of a supersymmetric model for fermionic fields with integer valued mass dimension based on a general superfield with one free spinor index. First, we demonstrate that it is impossible to formulate such a model based on a general scalar superfield. This is due to problems constructing a Lagrangian containing a kinetic term for the fermionic mass dimension one field, as well as problems deriving a consistent second quantisation. We then develop a formalism based on a general superfield with one free spinor index. We systematically derive all associated chiral and anti-c…
A manifestly N=2 supersymmetric completion of the four-dimensional Nambu-Goto-Born-Infeld action, which is self-dual with respect to electric-magnetic duality, is constructed in terms of the abelian N=2 superfield strength W in the conventional N=2 superspace. A relation to the known N=1 supersymmetric Born-Infeld action in N=1 superspace is established. The action found can be considered either as the Goldstone action associated with partial breaking of N=4 supersymmetry down to N=2, with the N=2 vector superfield being a Goldstone field, or, equivalently, as the gauge-fixed superfield action…
We show that the continuum limit of one-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric matrix models can be described by a two-dimensional interacting field theory of a massless boson and two chiral fermions. We interpret this field theory as a two-dimensional N=1 supersymmetric theory of two chiral superfields, in which one of the chiral superfields has a non-trivial vacuum expectation value.
Within the superfield formalism, we study the dynamical generation of mass to the gauge superfield in the noncommutative two-dimensional supersymmetric Schwinger model. We show that the radiatively generated mass does not depend on the noncommutative parameter up to one-loop order.
A supersymmetric theory with several scalar superfields generically has several domain wall type classical configurations which interpolate between various supersymmetric vacua of the scalar fields. Depending on the couplings, some of these configurations develop instability and decay into multiple domain walls, others can form intersections in space. These phenomena are considered here in a simplest, yet non-trivial, model with two scalar superfields.
In this thesis we have obtained and studied the complete set of superfield equations of motion for the interacting system of four-dimensional supermembrane and dynamical scalar multiplet. This study provides the first example of superfield equations for interacting system involving matter superfields and extended supersymmetric object, as well as the first set of superfield equations of motion for a dynamical system which includes supermembrane. The action for a supermembrane in a N = 1 D = 4 chiral superfield background has been also presented for the first time. We have obtained the complete…
The supersymmetric Born-Infeld actions describing gauge-fixed D-5- and D-3-branes in ambient six-dimensional (6d) spacetime are constructed in superspace. A new 6d action is the (1,0) supersymmetric extension of the 6d Born-Infeld action. It is related via dimensional reduction to another remarkable 4d action describing the N=2 supersymmetric extension of the Born-Infeld-Nambu-Goto action with two real scalars. Both actions are the Goldstone actions associated with partial (1/2) spontaneous breaking of extended supersymmetry having 16 supercharges down to 8 supercharges. Both actions can be pu…
This talk summarizes the study of superfield gaugings of isometries of extended supersymmetric mechanics in hep-th/0605211, hep-th/0611247 and arXiv:0706.0706. The gauging procedure provides a manifestly supersymmetric realization of d=1 automorphic dualities which interrelate various irreducible off-shell multiplets of d=1 extended supersymmetry featuring the same number of physical fermions but different divisions of bosonic fields into the physical and auxiliary subsets. We concentrate on the most interesting N=4 case and demonstrate that, with a suitable choice of the symmetry to be gauged…
