Emergent gauge theories and supersymmetry: a QED primer

TL;DR

This paper explores how spontaneous supersymmetry breaking can lead to emergent gauge fields like photons as Nambu-Goldstone modes, with implications for gauge invariance and particle phenomenology.

Contribution

It introduces a supersymmetric QED model with polynomial vector superfield potential, demonstrating photon emergence and protection of its masslessness through gauge invariance.

Findings

Photon appears as a Goldstone mode of broken SUSY.

Photon mass is protected against radiative corrections.

Light pseudo-goldstino arises from mixed SUSY breaking sectors.

Abstract

We argue that a generic trigger for photon and other gauge fields to emerge as massless Nambu-Goldstone modes could be spontaneously broken supersymmetry rather than physically manifested Lorentz violation. We consider supersymmetric QED model extended by an arbitrary polynomial potential of vector superfield that induces the spontaneous SUSY violation in the visible sector. As a consequence, massless photon appears as a companion of massless photino being Goldstone fermion state in tree approximation. Remarkably, the photon masslessness appearing at tree level is further protected against radiative corrections due to the simultaneously generated special gauge invariance in the broken SUSY phase. Meanwhile, photino being mixed with another goldstino appearing from a spontaneous SUSY violation in the hidden sector largely turns into light pseudo-goldstino whose physics seems to be of special interest.