Over the last twenty years, work based on lattice supersymmetry has generated many new results and insights into the non-perturbative nature of string theory, quantum black holes, and gravity. This endeavor is a broad research program encompassing lattice field theory, supersymmetry, string theory, and quantum gravity. In this volume, we look at a selected subset of the topics covering recent progress in lattice supersymmetry and holography.
We review the study, on the lattice, of the Green-Schwarz gauge-fixed string action describing worldsheet fluctuations about the minimal surface holographically dual to the null cusp Wilson loop, useful to evaluate the cusp anomaly of N = 4 super Yang-Mills (sYM). We comment on discretization, numerical explorations and challenges for the non-perturbative study of this benchmark model of gauge-fixed worldsheet actions.
In this paper we use lattice simulation to study four dimensional $N=4$ super Yang-Mills (SYM) theory. We have focused on the three color theory on lattices of size $12^4$ and for 't Hooft couplings up to $λ=40.0$. Our lattice action is based on a discretization of the Marcus or GL twist of $N=4$ SYM and retains one exact supersymmetry for non-zero lattice spacing. We show that lattice theory exists in a single non-Abelian Coulomb phase for all 't Hooft couplings. Furthermore the static potential we obtain from correlators of Polyakov lines is in good agreement with that obtained from holograp…
We consider maximally supersymmetric SU(N) Yang--Mills theory in Euclidean signature compactified on a flat two-dimensional torus with anti-periodic (`thermal') fermion boundary conditions imposed on one cycle. At large N, holography predicts that this theory describes certain black hole solutions in Type IIA and IIB supergravity, and we use lattice gauge theory to test this. Unlike the one-dimensional quantum mechanics case where there is only the dimensionless temperature to vary, here we emphasize there are two more parameters which determine the shape of the flat torus. While a rectangular…
We propose a new lattice superfield formalism in momentum representation which accommodates species doublers of the lattice fermions and their bosonic counterparts as super multiplets. We explicitly show that one dimensional N=2 model with interactions has exact Lie algebraic supersymmetry on the lattice for all super charges. In coordinate representation the finite difference operator is made to satisfy Leibnitz rule by introducing a non local product, the ``star'' product, and the exact lattice supersymmetry is realized. The standard momentum conservation is replaced on the lattice by the co…
In this work a lattice formulation of a supersymmetric theory is proposed and tested that preserves the complete supersymmetry on the lattice. The results of a one-dimensional nonperturbative simulation show the realization of the full supersymmetry and the correct continuum limit of the theory. It is proven that the violation of supersymmetry due to the absence of the Leibniz rule on the lattice can be amended only with a nonlocal derivative and nonlocal interaction term. The fermion doubling problem is also discussed, which leads to another important source of supersymmetry breaking on the l…
We show how 3-dimensional, N=2 supersymmetric theories, including super QCD with matter fields, can be put on the lattice with existing techniques, in a way which will recover supersymmetry in the small lattice spacing limit. Residual supersymmetry breaking effects are suppressed in the small lattice spacing limit by at least one power of the lattice spacing a.
We propose an algebraic lattice supersymmetry formulation which has an exact supersymmetry on the lattice. We show how lattice version of chiral conditions can be imposed to satisfy an exact lattice supersymmetry algebra. The species doublers of chiral fermions and the corresponding bosonic counterparts can be accommodated to fit into chiral supermultiplets of lattice supersymmetry and thus lattice chiral fermion problem does not appear. We explicitly show how N=2 Wess-Zumino model in one and two dimensions can be formulated to keep exact supersymmetry for all super charges on the lattice. The…
We construct a variety of supersymmetric gauge theories on a spatial lattice, including N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in 3+1 dimensions. Exact lattice supersymmetry greatly reduces or eliminates the need for fine tuning to arrive at the desired continuum limit in these examples.
Recently a remarkable agreement was found between lattice simulations of long Wilson lines and behavior of the Nambu Goto string in flat space-time. However, the latter fails to fit the short distance behavior since it admits a tachyonic mode for a string shorter than a critical length. In this paper we examine the question of whether a classical holographic Wilson line can reproduce the lattice results for Wilson lines of any length. We determine the condition on the the gravitational background to admit a Coulombic potential at short distances. We analyze the system using three different ren…
We derive lattice actions for Yang-Mills quantum mechanics for models with $\cQ=4, 8$ and 16 supercharges which possess an exact supersymmetry at non-zero lattice spacing. These are obtained by dimensional reduction of twisted versions of the corresponding super Yang-Mills theories in $D=2, 3$ and 4 dimensions.
We propose a lattice action for two dimensional super Yang-Mills theory with a twisted N=2 supersymmetry. The extended supersymmetry is fully and exactly realized on the lattice. The method employed is quite general and its extension to the N=4 supersymmetry in four dimensions is briefly presented. The lattice has a new type of ``fermionic'' links, where odd Grassmann variables, supercharges and fermionic connections sit. The Leibniz rule is preserved on the lattice, although in a modified ``shifted'' form that takes into account the link nature of both derivatives and supercharges. Superfield…
We examine the relation between supersymmetric lattice gauge theories constructed by the link approach and by orbifolding and show that they are equivalent. We discuss the number of preserved supersymmetries.
We formulate a Euclidean spacetime lattice whose continuum limit is (2,2) supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in two dimensions, a theory which possesses four supercharges and an anomalous global chiral symmetry. The lattice action respects one exact supersymmetry, which allows the target theory to emerge in the continuum limit without fine-tuning. Our method exploits an orbifold construction described previously for spatial lattices in Minkowski space, and can be generalized to more complicated theories with additional supersymmetry and more spacetime dimensions.
Finite-density QCD is difficult to study numerically because of the sign problem. We prove that, in a certain region of the phase diagram, the phase quenched approximation is exact to O(Nf/Nc). It is true for any physical observables. We also consider the implications for the lattice simulations and find a quantitative evidence for the validity of the phase quenching from existing lattice QCD results at Nc=3. Our results show that the phase-quench approximation is rather good already at Nc=3, and the 1/Nc correction can be incorporated by the phase reweighting method without suffering from the…
Supersymmetric lattice Ward-Takahashi identities are investigated perturbatively up to two-loop corrections for super doubler approach of $N=2$ lattice Wess-Zumino models in 1- and 2-dimensions. In this approach notorious chiral fermion doublers are treated as physical particles and momentum conservation is modified in such a way that lattice Leibniz rule is satisfied. The two major difficulties to keep exact lattice supersymmetry are overcome. This formulation defines, however, nonlocal field theory. Nevertheless we confirm that exact supersymmetry on the lattice is realized for all superchar…
We study dynamical supersymmetry breaking by non perturbative lattice techniques in a class of two-dimensional N=1 Wess-Zumino models. We work in the Hamiltonian formalism and analyze the phase diagram by analytical strong-coupling expansions and explicit numerical simulations with Green Function Monte Carlo methods.
Recently there has been a notable progress in the study of glueball states in lattice gauge theories, in particular extrapolating their spectrum to the limit of large number of colors $N$. In this note we compare the large $N$ lattice results with the holographic predictions, focusing on the Klebanov-Strassler model. We note that glueball spectrum demonstrates approximate universality across a range of gauge theory models. Because of this universality the holographic models can give reliable predictions for the spectrum of pure $SU(N)$ Yang-Mills theories with and without supersymmetry. This i…
We present a procedure to improve the lattice definition of $\mathcal N = 4$ supersymmetric Yang--Mills theory. The lattice construction necessarily involves U(1) flat directions, and we show how these can be lifted without violating the exact lattice supersymmetry. The basic idea is to modify the equations of motion of an auxiliary field, which determine the moduli space of the system. Applied to numerical calculations, the resulting improved lattice action leads to dramatically reduced violations of supersymmetric Ward identities and much more rapid approach to the continuum limit.
We investigate non-perturbative supersymmetry breaking in various models of quantum mechanics, including an interesting class of $PT$-invariant models, using lattice path integrals. These theories are discretized on a temporal Euclidean lattice with anti-periodic boundary conditions. Hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm is used to update the field configurations to their equilibrium values. We used the Ward identities and expectation values of superpotentials as tools for probing supersymmetry breaking.
We propose a lattice formulation of three dimensional super Yang-Mills model with a twisted N=4 supersymmetry. The extended supersymmetry algebra of all the eight supercharges is fully and exactly realized on the lattice with a modified "Leibniz rule". The formulation we employ here is a three dimensional extension of manifestly gauge covariant method which was developed in our previous proposal of Dirac-Kaehler twisted N=2 super Yang-Mills on two dimensional lattice. The twisted N=4 supersymmetry algebra is geometrically realized on a three dimensional lattice with link supercharges and the u…
Employing a novel type of non-commutative product in the Dirac-Kahler twisted superspace on a lattice, we formulate a field theoretically rigid framework of extended supersymmetry on a lattice. As a first example of this treatment, we calculate one-loop (in some cases any loops) quantum corrections for a twisted Wess-Zumino model with N \times N hermitian matrix superfields on a two dimensional lattice. The calculations are entirely given in a lattice superfield framework. We report that the mass and the coupling constant are exactly protected from the radiative corrections at non-zero lattice…
We show how to derive the supersymmetric orbifold lattices of Cohen et al. \cite{Cohen:2003xe,Cohen:2003qw} and Kaplan et al. \cite{Kaplan:2005ta} by direct discretization of an appropriate twisted supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. We examine in detail the four supercharge two dimensional theory and the theory with sixteen supercharges in four dimensions. The continuum limit of the latter theory is the well known Marcus twist of ${\cal N}=4$ Yang-Mills. The lattice models are gauge invariant and possess one exact supersymmetry at non-zero lattice spacing.
We study Euclidean lattice formulations of non-gauge supersymmetric models with up to four supercharges in various dimensions. We formulate the conditions under which the interacting lattice theory can exactly preserve one or more nilpotent anticommuting supersymmetries. We introduce a superfield formalism, which allows the enumeration of all possible lattice supersymmetry invariants. We use it to discuss the formulation of Q-exact lattice actions and their renormalization in a general manner. In some examples, one exact supersymmetry guarantees finiteness of the continuum limit of the lattice…
We propose a lattice field theory formulation which overcomes some fundamental difficulties in realizing exact supersymmetry on the lattice. The Leibniz rule for the difference operator can be recovered by defining a new product on the lattice, the star product, and the chiral fermion species doublers degrees of freedom can be avoided consistently. This framework is general enough to formulate non-supersymmetric lattice field theory without chiral fermion problem. This lattice formulation has a nonlocal nature and is essentially equivalent to the corresponding continuum theory. We can show tha…
A manifestly supersymmetric nonperturbative matrix regularization for a twisted version of N=(8,8) theory on a curved background (a two-sphere) is constructed. Both continuum and the matrix regularization respect four exact scalar supersymmetries under a twisted version of the supersymmetry algebra. We then discuss a succinct Q=1 deformed matrix model regularization of N=4 SYM in d=4, which is equivalent to a non-commutative $A_4^*$ orbifold lattice formulation. Motivated by recent progress in supersymmetric lattices, we also propose a N=1/4 supersymmetry preserving deformation of N=4 SYM theo…
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…
It is old folklore that the violation of Leibniz rule on a lattice is an obstruction for constructing a lattice supersymmetric model. While it is still true for full supersymmetry, we show that a slightly modified form of the Leibniz rule, which we call cyclic Leibniz rule (CLR), is actually a criterion for the existence of partial lattice supersymmetry. In one dimension, we find sets of lattice difference operator and field multiplication smeared over lattice which satisfy the CLR under some natural assumptions such as translational invariance and locality. Thereby we construct a model of sup…
For lattice formulations of the two-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ Wess--Zumino (2D $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ WZ) model on the basis of the Nicolai map, we show that supersymmetry (SUSY) and other symmetries are restored in the continuum limit without fine tuning, to all orders in perturbation theory. This provides a theoretical basis for use of these lattice formulations for computation of correlation functions.
We discuss the motivations, difficulties and progress in the study of supersymmetric lattice gauge theories focusing in particular on ${\cal N}=1$ and ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills in four dimensions. Brief reviews of the corresponding lattice formalisms are given and current results are presented and discussed. We conclude with a summary of the main aspects of current work and prospects for the future.
By numerically investigating the conservation law of the supercurrent, we confirm the restoration of supersymmetry in Sugino's lattice formulation of the two-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ supersymmetric SU(2) Yang-Mills theory with a scalar mass term. Subtlety in the case without the scalar mass term, that appears to ruin perturbative power counting, is also pointed out.
Maximally supersymmetric Yang--Mills theory in four dimensions can be formulated on a space-time lattice while exactly preserving a single supersymmetry. Here we explore in detail this lattice theory, paying particular attention to its strongly coupled regime. Targeting a theory with gauge group SU(N), the lattice formulation is naturally described in terms of gauge group U(N). Although the U(1) degrees of freedom decouple in the continuum limit we show that these degrees of freedom lead to unwanted lattice artifacts at strong coupling. We demonstrate that these lattice artifacts can be remove…
It is argued that the noncommutativity approach to fully supersymmetric field theories on the lattice suffers from an inconsistency. Supersymmetric quantum mechanics is worked out in this formalism and the inconsistency is shown both in general and explicitly for that system, as well as for the Abelian super BF model.
The Ginsparg-Wilson relation is extended to interacting field theories with general linear symmetries. Our relation encodes the remnant of the original symmetry in terms of the blocked fields and guides the construction of invariant lattice actions. We apply this approach in the case of lattice supersymmetry. An additional constraint has to be satisfied because of the appearance of a derivative operator in the symmetry transformations. The solution of this constraint leads to non-local SLAC-type derivatives. We investigate the corresponding kinetic operators on the lattice within an exact solu…
I discuss the usefulness of lattice supersymmetry in relation to string phenomenology. I suggest how lattice results might be incorporated into string phenomenology. I outline difficulties and describe some constructions that contain an exact lattice version of supersymmetry, thereby reducing fine-tuning of the regulator. I mention some problems that occur for these lattices.
For the purpose of constructing supersymmetric(SUSY) theories on lattice, we propose a new type relation on lattice -cyclic Leibniz rule(CLR)- which is slightly different from an ordinary Leibniz rule. Actually, we find that CLR can enlarge the number of SUSYs and construct more Nicolai mappings in a quantum-mechanical model. In this model, the exact mass degeneracy between fermion and boson is shown.
Supersymmetry plays prominent roles in the study of quantum field theory and in many proposals for potential new physics beyond the standard model, while lattice field theory provides a non-perturbative regularization suitable for strongly interacting systems. Lattice investigations of supersymmetric field theories are currently making significant progress, though many challenges remain to be overcome. In this brief overview I discuss particularly notable progress in three areas: supersymmetric Yang--Mills (SYM) theories in fewer than four dimensions, as well as both minimal N=1 SYM and maxima…
We find that fermion determinants are not generally positive in a recent class of constructions with explicit lattice supersymmetry. These involve an orbifold of supersymmetric matrix models, and have as their target (continuum) theory (2,2) 2-dimensional super-Yang-Mills. The fermion determinant is shown to be identically zero for all boson configurations due to the existence of a zeromode fermion inherited from the "mother theory." Once this eigenvalue is factored out, the fermion determinant generically has arbitrary complex phase. We discuss the implications of this result for simulation o…
We show how to construct lattice sigma models in one, two and four dimensions which exhibit an exact fermionic symmetry. These models are discretized and {\it twisted} versions of conventional supersymmetric sigma models with N=2 supersymmetry. The fermionic symmetry corresponds to a scalar BRST charge built from the original supercharges. The lattice theories possess local actions and in many cases admit a Wilson term to suppress doubles. In the two and four dimensional theorie s we show that these lattice theories are invariant under additional discrete symmetries. We argue that the presence…
We propose a lattice model of supersymmetric complex quantum mechanics which realizes the non-renormalization theorem on a lattice. In our lattice model, the Leibniz rule in the continuum, which cannot hold on a lattice due to a no-go theorem, is replaced by the cyclic Leibniz rule (CLR) for difference operators. It is shown that CLR allows two of four supercharges of the continuum theory to preserve while a naive lattice model can realize one supercharge at the most. A striking feature of our lattice model is that there are no quantum corrections to potential terms in any finite order of pert…
We construct SU($N$) super Yang-Mills theories with extended supersymmetry on hypercubic lattices of various dimensions keeping one or two supercharges exactly. It is based on topological field theory formulation for the super Yang-Mills theories. Gauge fields are represented by compact unitary link variables, and the exact supercharges on the lattice are nilpotent up to gauge transformations. In particular, the lattice models are free from the vacuum degeneracy problem, which was encountered in earlier approaches. Thus, we do not need to introduce any supersymmetry breaking terms, and the exa…
A strict positivity of the ground-state energy is a necessary and sufficient condition for spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. This ground-state energy may be directly determined from the expectation value of the Hamiltonian in the functional integral, defined with an \emph{antiperiodic} temporal boundary condition for all fermionic variables. We propose to use this fact to observe the dynamical spontaneous supersymmetry breaking in Euclidean lattice simulations. If a lattice formulation possesses a manifestly preserved fermionic symmetry, there exists a natural choice of a Hamiltonian operato…
I review recent approaches to constructing supersymmetric lattice theories focusing in particular on the concept of topological twisting. The latter technique is shown to expose a nilpotent, scalar supersymmetry which can be implemented exactly in the lattice theory. Using these ideas a lattice action for $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills in four dimensions can be written down which is gauge invariant, free of fermion doublers and respects one out of a total of 16 continuum supersymmetries. It is shown how these exact symmetries together with the large point group symmetry of the lattice strong…
We formulate Euclidean spacetime lattices whose continuum limits are supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories with eight supercharges in two and three dimensions. The lattice actions are themselves supersymmetric.
We perform lattice simulations of two-dimensional supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with sixteen supercharges with a lattice action which has two exact supercharges (Sugino lattice action). According to the gauge/gravity duality, the theory at finite temperature is expected to be well described by the corresponding black 1-branes, at low temperature in the large N limit. We aim to confirm the duality conjecture by comparing the lattice results with the theoretical predictions obtained in the gravity side. In this article, at the beginning of this study, we examine the supersymmetric Ward-Takaha…
The lattice superalgebra of the link approach is shown to satisfy a Hopf algebraic supersymmetry where the difference operator is introduced as a momentum operator. The breakdown of the Leibniz rule for the lattice difference operator is accommodated as a coproduct operation of (quasi)triangular Hopf algebra and the associated field theory is consistently defined as a braided quantum field theory. Algebraic formulation of path integral is perturbatively defined and Ward-Takahashi identity can be derived on the lattice. The claimed inconsistency of the link approach leading to the ordering ambi…
We propose an unconventional formulation of lattice field theories which is quite general, although originally motivated by the quest of exact lattice supersymmetry. Two long standing problems have a solution in this context: 1) Each degree of freedom on the lattice corresponds to $2^d$ degrees of freedom in the continuum, but all these doublers have (in the case of fermions) the same chirality and can be either identified, thus removing the degeneracy, or, in some theories with extended supersymmetry, identified with different members of the same supermultiplet. 2) The derivative operator, de…
We report on a non-perturbative study of two dimensional $\cN=(2,2)$ super QCD. Our lattice formulation retains a single exact supersymmetry at non-zero lattice spacing, and contains $N_f$ fermions in the fundamental representation of a $U(N_c)$ gauge group. The lattice action we employ contains an additional Fayet-Iliopoulos term which is also invariant under the exact lattice supersymmetry. This work constitutes the first numerical study of this theory which serves as a toy model for understanding some of the issues that are expected to arise in four dimensional super QCD. We present evidenc…
We study the two-dimensional Wess-Zumino model with extended N=2 supersymmetry on the lattice. The lattice prescription we choose has the merit of preserving {\it exactly} a single supersymmetric invariance at finite lattice spacing $a$. Furthermore, we construct three other transformations of the lattice fields under which the variation of the lattice action vanishes to $O(ga^2)$ where $g$ is a typical interaction coupling. These four transformations correspond to the two Majorana supercharges of the continuum theory. We also derive lattice Ward identities corresponding to these exact and app…
In a finite volume system, we prove a no-go theorem on a Leibniz rule with a care of locality argument on latttice. The new possibility on the Leibniz rule solutions on lattice is discussed. Although the new solution admits a local difference operator, a non-local product rule is needed. In the case, a supersymmetric interacting theory is simply realized. The difference between finite flavor systems and matrix representations of infinite flavor systems is explained based on a finite volume system analysis including the no-go theorem.
We consider a lattice formulation of the four dimensional N=1 Wess-Zumino model in terms of the Ginsparg-Wilson relation. This formulation has an exact supersymmetry on the lattice. The lattice action is invariant under a deformed supersymmetric transformation which is non-linear in the scalar fields and it is determined by an iterative procedure in the coupling constant to all orders in perturbation theory. We also show that the corresponding Ward-Takahashi identity is satisfied at fixed lattice spacing. The calculation is performed in lattice perturbation theory up to order $g^3$ (two-loop) …
The effect of the complex phase of the fermion determinant is a key question related to the sign problem in finite-density QCD. Recently it has been shown that ignoring the complex phase -- the phase quenching -- does not change physics in a certain region of the phase diagram when a number of colors N_c is large. In this paper we study the effect of the phase quenching within the frameworks of effective models and holographic models. We show, in a unified manner, that the phase quenching gives exact results for any fermionic observables (e.g., chiral condensate) in the mean-field approximatio…
We provide an introduction to recent lattice formulations of supersymmetric theories which are invariant under one or more real supersymmetries at nonzero lattice spacing. These include the especially interesting case of ${\cal N}=4$ SYM in four dimensions. We discuss approaches based both on twisted supersymmetry and orbifold-deconstruction techniques and show their equivalence in the case of gauge theories. The presence of an exact supersymmetry reduces and in some cases eliminates the need for fine tuning to achieve a continuum limit invariant under the full supersymmetry of the target theo…
I discuss a new approach to constructing lattices for gauge theories with extended supersymmetry. The lattice theories themselves respect certain supersymmetries, which in many cases allows the target theory to be obtained in the continuum limit without fine-tuning.
We discuss the possibility of representing supersymmetry exactly in a lattice discretized system. In particular, we construct a perfect supersymmetric action for the Wess-Zumino model.
We study supersymmetry breaking from a lattice model of N=2 supersymmetric quantum mechanics using the direct computational method proposed in arXiv:1803.07960. The vanishing Witten index is realized as a numerical result in high precision. The expectation value of Hamiltonian is evaluated for the double-well potential. Compared with the previous Monte-Carlo results, the obtained vacuum energy coincides with the known values within small errors for strong couplings. The instanton effect is also reproduced for weak couplings. The used computational method helps us to evaluate the effect of fini…
