Spontaneous supersymmetry breaking in string theory

We present a construction of string theories, with spontaneously broken supersymmetry and chiral fermion families, obtained by a suitable choice of boundary conditions in toroidal compactifications of ten-dimensional (1,1) or heterotic models. The crystallographic groups in four-dimensions determine the possible values of the supersymmetry-breaking parameters, which therefore are discrete.     

Spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry through dimensional reduction

A general technique for deriving consistent theories with spontaneously broken supersymmetry and massive gravitinos is illustrated by exploiting the chiral invariance of N = 1 supergravity in four dimensions to construct a theory with broken N = 2 supersymmetry in three dimensions.     

Spontaneous supersymmetry breaking in supersymmetric string theories

A generalization of the dimensional reduction of supersymmetric string theories is introduced which leads to spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry. This supersymmetry breaking has non-trivial consequences for the quantization and dynamics of the theory. The lowest quantum correction to the cosmological constant is calculated and found to be unacceptably large.     

Spontaneous supersymmetry breaking induced by vacuum condensates

We propose a novel mechanism of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking which relies upon a ubiquitous feature of Quantum Field Theory, vacuum condensates. Such condensates play a crucial role in many phenomena. Examples include Unruh effect, superconductors, particle mixing, and quantum dissipative systems. We argue that in all these phenomena supersymmetry, when present, is spontaneously broken. Evidence for our conjecture is given for the Wess–Zumino model, that can be considered as an approximation to the supersymmetric extensions of the above mentioned systems. The magnitude of the effect is estimated for a recently proposed experimental setup based on an optical lattice.     

Self-gravitating radiation in anti-de sitter space

Equilibrium configurations of self-gravitating massless thermal radiation inside spherical boxes of radiusR in asymptotically anti-de Sitter space (A = -3/b ₂) are constructed numerically for a range of central densities. For each box radius considered (R/b = 0, 1/2, 1, 2, 4, ), there is a unique configuration with maximal total mass and entropy, and another (at a lower central density) with maximum asymptotic red-shifted temperature. With the box removed toR=, the maximum total mass and entropy of self-gravitating thermal radiation areM _max 0.4598b0.7964(–A)^–1/2 andS _max1.3560a ^1/4 b ^3/2 3.0910a ^1/4(–A)^–3/4, and the maximum red-shifted temperature is     

Spontaneous breaking of local supersymmetry by gravitational instantons

We study the gravitino condensate 〈(D_μΨ_ν − D_μΨ_ν)(D^μΨ^ν − D^νΨ^μ)〉 in the one-loop approximation around a nontrivial background metric. It turns out that, among the known regular solutions of the euclidean Einstein equations, the Eguchi-Hanson metric is the unique relevant configuration. The standard functional integration gives a finite answer for the gravitino condensate. Due to the presence of an anomalous supersymmetry transformation law, this implies that local supersymmetry is broken spontaneously in all supergravity models with scalar multiplets.     

Spontaneous supersymmetry breaking by large-N matrices

Motivated by supersymmetry breaking in matrix model formulations of superstrings, we present some concrete models, in which the supersymmetry is preserved for any finite N, but gets broken at infinite N, where N is the rank of matrix variables. The models are defined as supersymmetric field theories coupled to some matrix models, and in the induced action obtained after integrating out the matrices, supersymmetry is spontaneously broken only when N is infinity. In our models, the large value of N gives a natural explanation for the origin of small parameters appearing in the field theories which trigger the supersymmetry breaking.     

The collapse of an anti-de sitter bubble

We prove that the ultimate fate of a bubble of negative energy density which forms in a metastable universe of zero energy density is gravitational collapse. We improve on previous treatments in that we allow for departures from O(3, 1) symmetry in the initial state, so long as they are not too great.     

Spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry and gauge invariance in supergravity

Using the new minimal auxiliary fields of N = 1 supergravity it is found possible to construct a model of local supersymmetry which spontaneously breaks both supersymmetry and gauge invariance. The status of the cosmological constant resulting from this breaking is discussed.     

Spontaneous supersymmetry breaking and superconductivity in a non-relativistic model

The conjecture that supersymmetry breaking implies superconductivity is supported by the analysis of a class of supersymmetric non-relativistic models involving only fermions. Here the investigation is extened to a non-relativistic model involving both fermions and bosons, which in a sense is the non-relativistic version of the Wess-Zumino model. A sufficient condition is established for the validity of the conjecture. This condition can be possibly violated at most in a two-dimensional subspace of the three-dimensional space of the coupling constants.     

Electroweak breaking and supersymmetry breaking

We discuss the clash between the absence of fine tuning in the Higgs potential and a sufficient suppression of flavour changing neutral current transitions in supersymmetric extensions of the standard model. It is pointed out that horizontalU(1) symmetry combined with theD-term supersymmetry breaking provides a realistic framework for solving both problems.     

Z'-mediated supersymmetry breaking

We consider a class of models in which supersymmetry breaking is communicated dominantly via a U1' gauge interaction, which also helps solve the mu problem. Such models can emerge naturally in top-down constructions and are a version of split supersymmetry. The spectrum contains heavy sfermions, Higgsinos, exotics, and Z' approximately 10-100 TeV, light gauginos approximately 100-1000 GeV, a light Higgs boson approximately 140 GeV, and a light singlino. A specific set of U1' charges and exotics is analyzed, and we present five benchmark models. The implications for the gluino lifetime, cold dark matter, and the gravitino and neutrino masses are discussed.     

Conserved charges for gravity with locally anti-de sitter asymptotics

A new formula for the conserved charges in 3+1 gravity for spacetimes with local anti-de Sitter asymptotic geometry is proposed. It is shown that requiring the action to have an extremum for this class of asymptotia sets the boundary term that must be added to the Lagrangian as the Euler density with a fixed weight factor. The resulting action gives rise to the mass and angular momentum as Noether charges associated to the asymptotic Killing vectors without requiring specification of a reference background in order to have a convergent expression. A consequence of this definition is that any negative constant curvature spacetime has vanishing Noether charges. These results remain valid in the Lambda = 0 limit.     

Randall-sundrum brane model with 7D anti-de sitter space

In the same sense that 5D anti-de Sitter space (AdS(5)) warped geometries arise naturally from type IIB string theory with stacks of D3 branes, AdS(7) warped geometries arise naturally from M theory with stacks of M5 branes. We compactify two spatial dimensions of AdS(7) to get AdS(5) x Sigma(2), where the metric for Sigma(2) inherits the same warp factor as appears in the AdS(5). We analyze the 5D spectrum in detail for the case of a bulk scalar or a graviton in AdS(5) x T(2), in a setup which mimics the first Randall-Sundrum model. The results display novel features which might be observed in experiments at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. For example, we obtain TeV scale string winding states without lowering the string scale. This is due to the double warping which is a generic feature of winding states along compactified AdS directions. Experimental verification of these signatures of AdS(7) could be interpreted as direct evidence for M theory.     

Dynamical breaking of supersymmetry

General conditions for dynamical supersymmetry breaking are discussed. Very small effects that would usually be ignored, such as instantons of a grand unified theory, might break supersymmetry at a low energy scale. Examples are given (in 0 + 1 and 2 + 1 dimensions) in which dynamical supersymmetry breaking occurs. Difficulties that confront such a program in four dimensions are described.     

Soft breaking of supersymmetry

Using superfield methods we discuss systematically explicit soft breaking of global supersymmetry. We find that, in a component field language, dimension-two operators are soft while, in general, dimension-three operators are not and introduce quadratic divergences not present in the unbroken theory. At the one-loop level we give a parallel discussion based on the effective potential.     

Finite entropy of Schwarzschild anti-de sitter black hole in different coordinates

This paper studies the finite statistical-mechanical entropy of the Schwarzschild anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetime arising from quantum massless scalar field by using the `brick wall' approach in the Painlev\'e and Lemaitre coordinates. At first glance, it seems that the results would be different from that in the Schwarzschild-like coordinate since both the Painlev\'e and the Lemaitre spacetimes do not possess the event horizon obviously. However, this paper proves that the entropies in these coordinates are exactly equivalent to that in the Schwarzschild-like coordinate.