- #1
shirosato
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So, I've been tasked to learn SUSY in a small time span (few weeks) and I've made some progress but I'm a little stumped on how deeply I should go into things while still making reasonable progress (get to phenomenology, etc).
First of all, most primers seem to gloss over the algebra or go through it quickly, while it seems quite important. I suppose its easier to state my jumble of questions in point form.
1. (perhaps silly question) Is it necessary to know in detail how to derive a the algebra of symmetry generators of a theory? After some work, I learned methods how to do this given the symmetry transformations of a field but it seems quite non-trivial and easy to forget.
2. I understand that the components of the supercharges anti-commute with each other, and this implies that a successive application would annihilate a state. Is there a deeper obvious physical meaning to this?
3. What exactly is the operator [tex]$\sigma^{\mu}P_{\mu}[/tex]? I understand the Pauli matrices generate SU(2) rotations and the 4-momentum generates ST-translation, but physically, what does the projection of them on each other generate?
4. On a related note [tex] \{Q_{\alpha},Q_{\beta}^{\dagger}\}=(\sigma^{\mu})_{\alpha \beta}P_{\mu}[/tex] says that some combination of SUSY applications will equal the above mentioned operator, so some translation and rotation. Again, what is the physical implication of this?
5. Does a multiplet consist of states or fields? I understand you can build up states by applying field operators to the vacuum, but I never quite got a good definition of a multiplet despite seeing them and using them quite a bit (I know its states/fields are related by a transformation such as gauge or a SUSY trans.). This caused problems when trying to understand supermultiplets, representations of the superalgebra.6. How the heck to all these particle theorists learn all this stuff to such a deep degree? I've been spending quite a bit of time on this and I'm still scratching my head.
Thanks a bunch,
Hiro
First of all, most primers seem to gloss over the algebra or go through it quickly, while it seems quite important. I suppose its easier to state my jumble of questions in point form.
1. (perhaps silly question) Is it necessary to know in detail how to derive a the algebra of symmetry generators of a theory? After some work, I learned methods how to do this given the symmetry transformations of a field but it seems quite non-trivial and easy to forget.
2. I understand that the components of the supercharges anti-commute with each other, and this implies that a successive application would annihilate a state. Is there a deeper obvious physical meaning to this?
3. What exactly is the operator [tex]$\sigma^{\mu}P_{\mu}[/tex]? I understand the Pauli matrices generate SU(2) rotations and the 4-momentum generates ST-translation, but physically, what does the projection of them on each other generate?
4. On a related note [tex] \{Q_{\alpha},Q_{\beta}^{\dagger}\}=(\sigma^{\mu})_{\alpha \beta}P_{\mu}[/tex] says that some combination of SUSY applications will equal the above mentioned operator, so some translation and rotation. Again, what is the physical implication of this?
5. Does a multiplet consist of states or fields? I understand you can build up states by applying field operators to the vacuum, but I never quite got a good definition of a multiplet despite seeing them and using them quite a bit (I know its states/fields are related by a transformation such as gauge or a SUSY trans.). This caused problems when trying to understand supermultiplets, representations of the superalgebra.6. How the heck to all these particle theorists learn all this stuff to such a deep degree? I've been spending quite a bit of time on this and I'm still scratching my head.
Thanks a bunch,
Hiro
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