Dynamical Supersymmetry Breaking

TL;DR

This review surveys dynamical supersymmetry breaking in four-dimensional $N=1$ gauge theories, emphasizing how holomorphy and Seiberg duality illuminate nonperturbative dynamics and enable controlled analyses of SUSY-breaking vacua. It catalogs calculable models (e.g., the $(3,2)$ and $(4,1)$ constructions) and noncalculable cases (e.g., ISS, ITIY, and duality-driven $(5,3)$ setups), illustrating how a separation of scales allows explicit determination of vacua, spectra, and symmetry-breaking patterns. The discussion links these theoretical insights to phenomenology, notably gauge-mediated SUSY breaking, including direct-mediation ideas that unify the SUSY-breaking sector with the MSSM gauge group. Overall, the work highlights how exact results from holomorphy and duality guide model-building and sharpen predictions for SUSY-breaking signals in experiments.

Abstract

Dynamical supersymmetry breaking is a fascinating theoretical problem. It is also of phenomenological significance. A better understanding of this phenomenon can help in model building, which in turn is useful in guiding the search for supersymmetry. In this article, we review the recent developments in the field. We discuss a few examples, which allow us to illustrate the main ideas in the subject. In the process, we also show how the techniques of holomorphy and duality come into play. Towards the end we indicate how these developments have helped in the study of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking. The review is intended for someone with a prior knowledge of supersymmetry who wants to find out about the recent progress in this field.

Figures (2)

• Figure 1: The three potentials discussed in the text: (a.) supersymmetry broken at tree level, (b.) supersymmetry unbroken, (c.) supersymmetry unbroken at tree level, but broken due to instantons (tunneling between the wells).
• Figure 2: The scalar potential in the 3-2 model: instanton vs. tree-level contribution.