Supersymmetry is a theoretical framework in physics that suggests the existence of a symmetry between particles with integer spin (bosons) and particles with half-integer spin (fermions). It proposes that for every known particle, there exists a partner particle with different spin properties. There have been multiple experiments on supersymmetry that have failed to provide evidence that it exists in nature. If evidence is found, supersymmetry could help explain certain phenomena, such as the nature of dark matter and the hierarchy problem in particle physics.
Leon N. Cooper is an American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate who, with John Bardeen and John Robert Schrieffer, developed the BCS theory of superconductivity. His name is also associated with the Cooper pair and the BCM theory of synaptic plasticity.
In theoretical physics, supergravity is a modern field theory that combines the principles of supersymmetry and general relativity; this is in contrast to non-gravitational supersymmetric theories such as the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. Supergravity is the gauge theory of local supersymmetry. Since the supersymmetry (SUSY) generators form together with the Poincaré algebra a superalgebra, called the super-Poincaré algebra, supersymmetry as a gauge theory makes gravity arise in a natural way.
In particle physics, for models with N=1 supersymmetry a higgsino, symbol
H͂
, is the superpartner of the Higgs field. A higgsino is a Dirac fermionic field with spin 1⁄2 and it refers to a weak isodoublet with hypercharge half under the Standard Model gauge symmetries. After electroweak symmetry breaking higgsino fields linearly mix with U(1) and SU(2) gauginos leading to four neutralinos and two charginos that refer to physical particles. While the two charginos are charged Dirac fermions, the neutralinos are electrically neutral Majorana fermions. In an R-parity-conserving version of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, the lightest neutralino typically becomes the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). The LSP is a particle physics candidate for the dark matter of the universe since it cannot decay to particles with lighter mass. A neutralino LSP, depending on its composition can be bino, wino or higgsino dominated in nature and can have different zones of mass values in order to satisfy the estimated dark matter relic density. Commonly, a higgsino dominated LSP is often referred as a higgsino, in spite of the fact that a higgsino is not a physical state in the true sense.
Pran Nath is a theoretical physicist working at Northeastern University, with research focus in elementary particle physics. He holds a Matthews Distinguished University Professor chair.
Savas Dimopoulos is a particle physicist at Stanford University. He worked at CERN from 1994 to 1997. Dimopoulos is well known for his work on constructing theories beyond the Standard Model.
Julius Erich Wess was an Austrian theoretical physicist noted as the co-inventor of the Wess–Zumino model and Wess–Zumino–Witten model in the field of supersymmetry and conformal field theory. He was also a recipient of the Max Planck medal, the Wigner medal, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, the Heineman Prize, and of several honorary doctorates.
Igor R. Klebanov is an American theoretical physicist. Since 1989, he has been a faculty member at Princeton University where he is currently a Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics and the director of the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science. In 2016, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Since 2022, he is the director of the Simons Collaboration on Confinement and QCD Strings.
Sergio Ferrara is an Italian physicist working on theoretical physics of elementary particles and mathematical physics. He is renowned for the discovery of theories introducing supersymmetry as a symmetry of elementary particles and of supergravity, the first significant extension of Einstein's general relativity, based on the principle of "local supersymmetry". He is an emeritus staff member at CERN and a professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Superstring theory is an attempt to explain all of the particles and fundamental forces of nature in one theory by modeling them as vibrations of tiny supersymmetric strings.
Renata Elizaveta Kallosh is a Russian-American theoretical physicist. She is a professor of physics at Stanford University, working there on supergravity, string theory and inflationary cosmology.
Faheem Hussain, was a Pakistani theoretical physicist and a professor of physics at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). A research scientist in the field of superstring theory at the National Center for Physics, Hussain made contributions to the fields of superstring and string theory. He was the first Pakistani physicist to publish a research paper in the field of superstring theory. A social activist and democratic activist, he authored various scientific research papers in peer-reviewed journals.
In theoretical physics, in the context of M-theory, the action for the N=8 M2 branes in full is :
Ali H. Chamseddine is a Lebanese physicist known for his contributions to particle physics, general relativity and mathematical physics. As of 2013, Chamseddine is a physics Professor at the American University of Beirut and the Institut des hautes études scientifiques.
Paolo Di Vecchia is an Italian theoretical physicist who works in the field of elementary particle physics, quantum field theory and string theory.
Jean Zinn-Justin is a French theoretical physicist.
Peter Christopher West, born on 4 December 1951, is a British theoretical physicist at King's College, London and a fellow of the Royal Society.
Probir Roy is an Indian particle physicist and a former professor at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He is also a senior scientist of the Indian National Science Academy at Bose Institute and a former Raja Ramanna fellow of Department of Atomic Energy at Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics.
Jonathan Anders Bagger is an American theoretical physicist, specializing in high energy physics and string theory. He is known for the Bagger–Lambert–Gustavsson action.
Vernon Duane Barger is an American theoretical physicist, specializing in elementary particle physics.
