String Webs and the Decay of Supersymmetric Particles

TL;DR

This paper explores how the spectrum of stable supersymmetric particles can change discontinuously due to decay processes, and describes these processes using semi-classical configurations within the low energy effective theory, generalizing the string web picture.

Contribution

It introduces a semi-classical description of supersymmetric particle decay processes at strong coupling, extending the string web framework to a broader class of theories.

Findings

Decay processes are described by semi-classical configurations.

The stable spectrum can change discontinuously.

The approach generalizes the string web picture.

Abstract

The spectrum of stable electrically and magnetically charged supersymmetric particles can change discontinuously due to the decay of these particles as the vacuum on the Coulomb branch is varied. We show that this decay process is well described by semi-classical field configurations purely in terms of the low energy effective action on the Coulomb branch even when it occurs at strong coupling. The resulting picture of the stable supersymmetric spectrum is a generalization of the ``string web'' picture of these states found in string constructions of certain theories.