Syllabus for Non-perturbative Supersymmetry

(Physics 284, Harvard, Fall 1999)

Lecturer: John Terning



---

Course Outline
• Introduction to SUSY (~ 2 lectures)
  • Unreasonable Effectiveness of the Standard Model
  • SUSY Algebra
  • SUSY Representations
  • Wess-Zumino Model
  • Superpotentials
• SUSY Gauge Theories (~ 2)
  • couplings, beta functions
  • flat directions
  • Super-Higgs mechanism
• Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (~ 6)
  • construction
  • soft SUSY breaking
  • electroweak symmetry breaking
  • FCNC's, CP
  • mu problem
  • "more minimal" model
  • signatures
• Non-perturbative Results (~ 6)
  • holomorphy and the non-renormalization theorem
  • Affleck-Dine-Seiberg superpotential
  • NSVZ exact beta function
  • anomaly matching
• N=1 Duality (~ 8)
  • duality as effective field theory
  • anomaly matching
  • fixed point duals
  • IR free duals
  • confinement
  • "deconfinement"
• SUSY Breaking (~ 8)
  • dynamical models (including dual descriptions)
  • mediation (SUGRA, gauge, single sector, anomaly)
• Seiberg-Witten (~ 2)
• Introduction to AdS/CFT (~ 2)




---

Grading will be based on regular problem sets and a take home final.



---

Suggested reading:
• A supersymmetry primer by S. Martin
• Lectures on supersymmetric gauge theories and electric-magnetic duality by K. Intriligator and N. Seiberg
• Dynamical Supersymmetry Breaking by Y. Shadmi and Y. Shirman
Additional References:
• "Supersymmetry and Supergravity," by J. Wess and J. Bagger
• Compendium of relations for Pauli, Dirac, Gell-Mann, etc. matrices



---

The following lecture summary notes are available:

• Introduction to Supersymmetry, pdf
• Supersymmetric Lagrangians: Part I, pdf
• Supersymmetric Lagrangians: Part II, pdf
• Supersymmetry: More or Less, pdf
• Supersymmetric QCD: Part I, pdf
• Supersymmetric QCD: Part II, pdf
• The Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model: Part I, pdf
• The Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model: Part II, pdf
• The Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model: Part III, pdf
• SUSY Breaking and the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, pdf
• Holomorphy, pdf
• Instantons and Gaugino Condensation, pdf
• The Affleck-Dine-Seiberg Superpotential, pdf
• Anomalies and the NSVZ Beta Function, pdf
• Duality for SUSY QCD, pdf
• Confinement in SUSY QCD: Part I, pdf
• Confinement in SUSY QCD: Part II, pdf
• Duality for SO(N), pdf
• The Coulomb Phase of SO(N), pdf
• Sp(2N) and Chiral Theories, pdf
• Dynamical SUSY Breaking: Part I, pdf
• Dynamical SUSY Breaking: Part II, pdf
• Gauge Mediation: Part I, pdf
• Gauge Mediation: Part II, pdf
• N=1 Supergravity, pdf
• Anomaly Mediation: Part I, pdf
• Anomaly Mediation: Part II, pdf
• Introduction to AdS/CFT, pdf
• The AdS/CFT Correspondence, pdf
• Applications of the AdS/CFT Correspondence, pdf

---

Assignments:

• Assignment #1. Due Oct. 6.
• Assignment #2. Due Oct. 13.
• Assignment #3. Due Oct. 20.
• Assignment #4. Due Oct. 27.
• Assignment #5. Due Nov. 3.
• Assignment #6. Due Nov. 10.
• Assignment #7. Due Nov. 17.
• Assignment #8. Due Dec. 1.
• Assignment #9. Due Dec. 8.
• Assignment #10. Due Dec. 15.
Note 15 % will be deducted per day late.

Final Exam. Due Jan. 12.

---

Back