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Introduction to Rigid Supersymmetry

 
The course on "Introduction to Rigid Supersymmetry" consists of two modules, the first covering the supersymmetry algebra in general and N=1 supersymmetry in particular, while the second presenting N=2 rigid supersymmetry.
Introduction to N=1 Supersymmetry,      Domenico Seminara - Università di Firenze
 
The first part of the course will be focused on the basic features of N=1 and N=2 supersymmetric field theories. After briefly reviewing the historical path that has led to the birth of supersymmetry, we shall discuss the construction of the most general super-Poincarè algebra in four dimensions and its representations with or without central charges. We shall then introduce the concept of N=1 superspace and discuss the chiral and the vector superfields. Next, we shall study the general structure of N=1 and N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories and their couplings with matter super-multiplets. We shall then use "holomorphicity" and symmetry arguments to derive non-renormalization theorems for these theories and to discuss the Seiberg duality for supersymmetric QCD. Finally, if time permits, we shall briefly discuss some aspects of spontaneous and dynamical supersymmetry breaking.
 
Lectures notes
 
Recommended bibliography includes:
 
    J. Bagger and J. Wess, "Supersymmetry and Supergravity" (Princeton University Press)
    J. Terning, "Modern Supersymmetry: Dynamics and Duality" (Oxford University Press)
 
N=2 Supersymmetry and S-duality,      Fawad Hassan - Stockholm University
 
The lecture series will start with introduction to monopoles and dyons in gauge theories, the Bogomolnyi bound and BPS states, the Montonen-Olive duality conjecture, Witten's analysis of the theta-parameter and monopole charge and the calculation of central-charges in N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories. Then we move on to the Seiberg-Witten analysis of SU(2) gauge theory with N=2 supersymmetry and discuss the following topics: moduli space and its parametrization, duality and dyon masses, notion of monodromies on the moduli space, Seiberg-Witten solution of the N=2 pure SU(2) gauge theory, generalization of the solution to SU(2) theory with matter.
 
Recommended bibliography includes:
 
    F. Hassan and L. Alvarez-Gaumé, "Introduction to S-duality in N=2 gauge theories", [arXiv:hep-th/9701069]
    J. Terning, "Modern Supersymmetry: Dynamics and Duality" (Oxford University Press)