B Is supersymmetry a part of string theory

[wolram]

Is supersymmetry part of string theory or does it have a place in the standard model

 

[PeterDonis]

Is supersymmetry part of string theory

You can combine string theory with supersymmetry to get superstring theory, but there is also string theory without supersymmetry, and there are supersymmetric theories that are not based on string theory.

does it have a place in the standard model

No. There is a theory called the "Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model", which basically takes the standard model and adds supersymmetry, but to the minimum extent possible. But the actual standard model itself does not include supersymmetry.

 

[wolram]

So if the LHC detects supersymmetry it will be a notch for sting theorists?

 

[PeterDonis]

So if the LHC detects supersymmetry it will be a notch for sting theorists?

Did you read the part of my post where I said there are supersymmetric theories that are not based on string theory? Detecting supersymmetry is not equivalent to detecting evidence for string theory.

 

[Chronos]

Supersymmetry originated outside of string theory, but, was rapidly embraced by the string community because it suppresses the infinities and other embarrassments, like imaginary energy, that keep popping up in theory. Naturally, stringophiles wasted little time claiming supersymmetry was actually predicted on the back of one or more of their 10⁵⁰⁰ envelopes. For a discussion of supersymmetry, see https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0002232, Supersymmetry Phenomenology.

 

[Chalnoth]

You can combine string theory with supersymmetry to get superstring theory, but there is also string theory without supersymmetry, and there are supersymmetric theories that are not based on string theory.

I don't think this is accurate. String theory is unstable without supersymmetry. While you can write down on paper a string theory model which doesn't require supersymmetry (bosonic string theory), that model has an unstable vacuum.

Supersymmetry originated outside of string theory, but, was rapidly embraced by the string community because it suppresses the infinities and other embarrassments, like imaginary energy, that keep popping up in theory. Naturally, stringophiles wasted little time claiming supersymmetry was actually predicted on the back of one or more of their 10⁵⁰⁰ envelopes. For a discussion of supersymmetry, see https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0002232, Supersymmetry Phenomenology.

There was somebody who presented the idea a few years before, but it was never really investigated in full. The first time that supersymmetry became widely-discussed in the physics community was in the context of string theory. It is possible to come up with supersymmetric theories which make no reference to string theory, of course, but the primary motivation for its development was string theory.

 

[PeterDonis]

While you can write down on paper a string theory model which doesn't require supersymmetry (bosonic string theory), that model has an unstable vacuum.

Yes, agreed. All I was saying was that you can write down string theory models without supersymmetry.

 

[Chronos]

The first recognized string paper was by Veneziano appeared in Nuovo Cimento, in 1968: re - http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/classics1986/A1986A161800001.pdf. The field that came to be known as supersymmetry originated about the same time by soviet physicists and first appeared in print in 1971 as noted here; https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0101209, Around SuSy 1970. It was quickly incorporated into string theory as noted here; https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0011078, String Theory Origins of Supersymmetry. The two fields obviously share a common ancestory.