Emergence of supersymmetry at a critical point of a lattice model

Sung-Sik Lee
Phys. Rev. B 76, 075103 – Published 6 August 2007

Abstract

Supersymmetry is a symmetry between a boson and a fermion. Although there is no apparent supersymmetry in nature, its mathematical consistency and appealing properties have led many people to believe that supersymmetry may exist in nature in the form of a spontaneously broken symmetry. In this paper, we explore an alternative possibility by which supersymmetry is realized in nature, that is, supersymmetry dynamically emerges in the low-energy limit of a nonsupersymmetric condensed matter system. We propose a (2+1)-dimensional lattice model which exhibits an emergent space-time supersymmetry at a quantum critical point. It is shown that there is only one relevant perturbation at the supersymmetric critical point in the ϵ expansion and the critical theory is the two copies of the Wess-Zumino theory with four supercharges. Exact critical exponents are predicted.

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  • Received 22 June 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.76.075103

©2007 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Sung-Sik Lee*

  • Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA

  • *Present address: Department of Physics & Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M1, Canada.

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Issue

Vol. 76, Iss. 7 — 15 August 2007

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