More on softly broken N=2 QCD

TL;DR

This paper extends the understanding of softly broken N=2 supersymmetric QCD by developing a formalism for general gauge groups, analyzing vacuum structures, and exploring phase transitions and mass spectra, including potential links to Argyres-Douglas phases.

Contribution

It introduces a formalism for soft breaking via a dilaton spurion for any gauge group and provides exact effective potentials and mass formulas, with explicit results for SU(2).

Findings

Vacuum structure features in pure SU(N) Yang-Mills.

Explicit mass spectrum results for SU(2).

Evidence of phase transitions with dyon condensation.

Abstract

We extend previous work on the soft breaking of $N=2$ supersymmetric QCD. We present the formalism for the breaking due to a dilaton spurion for a general gauge group and obtain the exact effective potential. We obtain some general features of the vacuum structure in the pure $SU(N)$ Yang-Mills theory and we also derive a general mass formula for this class of theories, in particular we present explicit results for the mass spectrum in the $SU(2)$ case. Finally we analyze the vacuum structure of the $SU(2)$ theory with one massless hypermultiplet. This theory presents dyon condensation and a first order phase transition in the supersymmetry breaking parameter driven by non-mutually local BPS states. This could be a hint of Argyres-Douglas-like phases in non-supersymmetric gauge theories.