Cosmological Breaking of Supersymmetry?

TL;DR

The paper argues that asymptotically de Sitter space enforces a finite number of quantum states, making the cosmological constant a fundamental boundary condition that inherently breaks SUSY. It posits that UV/IR connections in M-theory allow large renormalizations from virtual black holes, potentially changing the classical SUSY-breaking relation to M_SUSY ∼ (Λ M_P^4)^{1/8} and that SUSY is restored in the flat-space limit. A semiclassical thermodynamic calculation is outlined to estimate SUSY breaking from black-hole states, and the absence of an S-matrix in AsDS spaces motivates a holographic, finite-dimensional description of local physics. The work discusses vacuum selection, phenomenological implications, and the philosophical notion of cosmology emerging from quantum mechanics, while acknowledging significant open questions about the exact constants and high-energy dynamics.

Abstract

It is conjectured that M-theory in asymptotically flat spacetime must be supersymmetric, and that the observed SUSY breaking in the low energy world must be attributed to the existence of a nonzero cosmological constant. This would be consistent with experiment, if the {\it critical exponent} $α$ in the relation $M_{SUSY} \sim M_P (Λ/M_P^4)^α$ took on the value 1/8, rather than its classical value 1/4. We attribute this large renormalization to the effect of large virtual black holes via the UV/IR correspondence.