Supersymmetric 3D model for gravity with $SU(2)$ gauge symmetry, mass generation and effective cosmological constant

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel 3D supersymmetric gravity model with $SU(2)$ gauge symmetry that features spontaneous mass and cosmological constant generation, and explores its potential applications to electron dynamics in graphene.

Contribution

It proposes a unique supersymmetric 3D gravity model without gravitini or gauginos, where parameters are protected or emerge as integration constants, and demonstrates spontaneous symmetry breaking leading to mass and cosmological constant.

Findings

Model includes gravity, $SU(2)$ gauge field, and fermions with charge, but no gravitini or gauginos.

Spontaneous breaking of scale invariance generates effective mass and cosmological constant.

Vacuum solutions include Minkowski, AdS$_3$, BTZ black holes, and point particles.

Abstract

A Chern--Simons system in $2+1$ dimensions invariant under local Lorentz rotations, $SU(2)$ gauge transformations, and local $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetry transformations is proposed. The field content is that of $(2+1)$-gravity plus an $SU(2)$ gauge field, a spin-1/2 fermion charged with respect to $SU(2)$ and a trivial free abelian gauge field. A peculiarity of the model is the absence of gravitini, although it includes gravity and supersymmetry. Likewise, no gauginos are present. All the parameters involved in the system are either protected by gauge invariance or emerge as integration constants. An effective mass and effective cosmological constant emerge by spontaneus breaking of local scaling invariance. The vacuum sector is defined by configurations with locally flat Lorentz and $SU(2)$ connections sporting nontrivial global charges. Three-dimensional Lorentz-flat geometries are spacetimes of locally constant negative --or zero--, Riemann curvature, which include Minkowski space, AdS$_3$, BTZ black holes, and point particles. These solutions admit different numbers of globally defined, covariantly constant spinors and are therefore good candidates for stable ground states. The fermionic sector in this system could describe the dynamics of electrons in graphene in the long wavelength limit near the Dirac points, with the spin degree of freedom of the electrons represented by the $SU(2)$ label. If this is the case, the $SU(2)$ gauge field would produce a spin-spin interaction giving rise to strong correlation of electron pairs.