The story of the discovery of supersymmetry is a fascinating one, unlike that of any other major development in the history of science. This engaging book presents a view of the process, mainly in the words of people who participated. It combines anecdotal descriptions and personal reminiscences with more technical accounts of the trailblazers, covering the birth of the theory and its first years - the origin of the idea, four-dimensional field theory realization, and supergravity. The eyewitnesses convey to us the drama of one of the deepest discoveries in theoretical physics in the 20th century. This book will be equally interesting and useful to young researchers in high energy physics and to mature scholars - physicists and historians of science.
Author(s): Gordon L. Kane, Mikhail A. Shifman
Edition: 1st American
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 289
CONTENTS......Page 14
FOREWORD......Page 6
The Predecessors......Page 16
EARLY SUPERSYMMETRY ON THE PRAIRIE......Page 17
THIRTY YEARS AGO......Page 23
STRINGS AND THE ADVENT OF SUPERSYMMETRY: THE VIEW FROM PASADENA a......Page 26
REMEMBERING THE EARLY TIMES OF SUPERSYMMETRY a......Page 34
REMINISCENCES 1......Page 41
Discovery of Supersymmetry in Four Dimensions......Page 48
NOTES OF AN OLD GRADUATE STUDENTa......Page 49
MY HUSBAND, MY LOVEa......Page 57
LAST INTERVIEW WITH D.V. VOLKOVa......Page 69
NONLINEAR WAY TO SUPERSYMMETRY......Page 78
FROM SYMMETRY TO SUPERSYMMETRY a......Page 82
Local Supersymmetry (Supergravity)......Page 102
THE SOURCES OF SUPERGRAVITY......Page 103
SUPERGRAVITY AND THE QUEST FOR A UNIFIED THEORYa......Page 108
The Pioneers......Page 126
A GLIMPSE......Page 127
RECOLLECTIONS OF A YOUNG CONTRIBUTOR......Page 128
Introduction......Page 135
Nature does not seem to be supersymmetric!......Page 137
Continuous R-invariance and electroweak symmetry breaking (from an early attempt to relate the photon and the neutrino)......Page 144
The Supersymmetric Standard Model......Page 146
On supersymmetry breaking, and the way from R- invariance t o R-parity......Page 149
SUPERSYMMETRIC HIGGS POTENTIALS......Page 160
THE SUPERSYMMETRIC EFFECTIVE POTENTIAL......Page 165
The Historical Perspective......Page 172
REVEALING THE PATH TO THE SUPERWORLDa......Page 173
NOTES ON THE CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF SUPERSYMMETRY a......Page 184
Contents......Page 187
Introduction......Page 189
Outline......Page 192
A Note on ‘Conceptual Development’......Page 195
1.1 Spin and Statistics......Page 196
1.2 The Role of Symmetry in High Energy Physics......Page 198
1.3 No-go Theorems......Page 199
2 The Dawn of Supersymmetry......Page 200
2.1 Graded Algebras......Page 201
2.2 Dual Pion Models......Page 205
2.3 Strings with World-Sheet Supersymmetry......Page 206
2.4 The Interplay Between High Energy Theory, Experiment, and Mathematics, circa 1974......Page 207
3 The Changing Fortunes of String Theories and Local Field Theories......Page 208
3.1 Duality and Hadronic String Theories......Page 212
3.2 Strings as ‘Theories of Everything,’ and the Connection Between String and Field Theories......Page 213
3.3 Local Field Theory......Page 216
3.4 Mapping the Changing Fortunes......Page 217
4 The Dual Discovery of Supersymmetric Field Theories......Page 218
4.1 Supersymmetry Rises in the East......Page 220
4.2 Supersymmetry Rises in the West......Page 226
5 Quantum Behavior of Supersymmetric Theories......Page 232
5.1 The Early Work Which Was Done Without Superfields......Page 234
5.2 Superfields......Page 236
6.1 The Discovery and Development of Supergravity......Page 241
7 Supersymmetry in Higher Dimensions......Page 255
7.1 Higher Dimensions of Dual Models......Page 256
7.2 The Physical Interpretation of Extra Compact Spatial Dimensions: an Extrapolation in the Context of Dual Models......Page 257
7.3 Precedents to This Early Work......Page 259
7.5 Supersymmetry in Higher Dimensions......Page 260
8 Supersymmetry and Superstrings: Back to the Future......Page 268
8.1 Strings With Space-time Supersymmetry: the Elimination of Tachyons......Page 269
8.2 Explicit Supersymmetry and Anomaly and Infinity Cancelations: Superstrings Take Off......Page 270
9.1 Supersymmetry and Experiment......Page 272
9.2 A Superfuture ?......Page 275
