Syllabus for Advanced Supersymmetry

(Physics 246B, UC Davis, Spring 2020, CRN: 84284)

Location: Phys 185
Time: Tue. 2:10-3:30pm, Thu. 2:40-4:00pm
Lecturer: John Terning
Grader: TBA
Office: 435
Office Hours: TBA
Web Page: /teaching/246B/

Frequently Asked Questions - UC Davis Student Resources


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Course Outline
• Holomorphy
  • Non-renormalization theorems
  • The holomorphic gauge coupling
  • Gaugino condensation
  • NSVZ beta function
• The Affleck--Dine--Seiberg superpotential
• Seiberg duality for SUSY QCD
  • Phases of gauge theories
  • Moduli space
  • Infrared fixed points
  • Duality
  • S-Confinement
  • Deconfinement
• Dynamical SUSY breaking
  • Direct gauge mediation
  • Single sector models
• The Seiberg--Witten theory
  • Elliptic curves
  • Monopole condensation
• Superconformal field theories
  • A-Maximization
  • Argyres--Douglas points
• Supergravity
  • 4, 5, 10, and 11 dimensions
• Anomaly and gaugino mediation
• Introduction to the AdS/CFT correspondence
  • D-brane constructions of gauge theories
  • Spectra of CFT operators and AdS_5 x S^5 KK modes
  • finite temperature and confinement
  • The glueball mass gap
  • orbifolds

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Textbook: Modern Supersymmetry

Slides: adapted from textbook



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Grading will be based on regular reading assignments, problem sets, and a take home final. The grade breakdown will be 15% on reading assignments, 55% on problems sets, and 30% on the final exam



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Reading assignments will be available online

Lecture Notes

• Lecture 1: The power of holomorphy
• Lecture 2: Instantons and anomalies in the Path Integral
• Lecture 3: Broken instantons, gaugino condensation, exact beta functions
• Lecture 4: Exact beta functions and the ADS superpotential
• Lecture 5: ADS superpotential, instantons and gaugino condensation
• Lecture 6: Anomaly Matching
• Lecture 7: SUSY QCD, fixed points and anomaly matching
• Lecture 8: Seiberg Duality
• Lecture 9: Seiberg Duality and SO(N)
• Lecture 10: Sp Duality and S-confinement
• Lecture 11: Deconfinement and SUSY breaking
• Lecture 12: Dynamical SUSY breaking
• Lecture 13: Duality and SUSY breaking
• Lecture 14: Monopoles and Dyons in N=1
• Lecture 15: Seiberg-Witten
• Lecture 16: Superconformal Theories
• Lecture 17: Supergravity
• Lecture 18: Anomaly and Gaugino Mediation
• Lecture 19: Introduction to String Theory and AdS
• Lecture 20: Introduction to AdS/CFT

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