A Note On Some Minimally Supersymmetric Models In Two Dimensions

TL;DR

This paper investigates two-dimensional sigma-models with minimal supersymmetry, analyzing their fixed points, supersymmetry breaking, and conditions for continuous connections between different phases, with implications from topological modular forms.

Contribution

It identifies conditions under which these models flow to superconformal fixed points or break supersymmetry, linking these to topological properties of the target space.

Findings

Superconformal fixed points exist for nonzero Wess--Zumino coupling k.

Supersymmetry spontaneously breaks at k=0.

Models can connect via RG flow if k is a multiple of 24.

Abstract

We explore the dynamics of a simple class of two-dimensional models with $(0,1)$ supersymmetry, namely sigma-models with target $S^3$ and the minimal possible set of fields. For any nonzero value of the Wess--Zumino coupling $k$, we describe a superconformal fixed point to which we conjecture that the model flows in the infrared. For $k=0$, we conjecture that the model spontaneously breaks supersymmetry. We further explore the question of whether this model can be continuously connected to one that spontaneously breaks supersymmetry by "flowing up and down the renormalization group trajectories," in a sense that we describe. We show that this is possible if $k$ is a multiple of 24, or equivalently if the target space with its $B$-field is the boundary of a "string manifold." The mathematical theory of "topological modular forms" suggests that this condition is necessary as well as sufficient.