Lattice Study of the O(3) Supersymmetric Sigma Model

We present preliminary numerical results from a lattice study of the two-dimensional O(3) non-linear sigma model. In the continuum this model possesses N=2 supersymmetry. The lattice formulation we use retains an exact (twisted) supersymmetry except for a soft breaking associated with a Wilson mass term needed to remove the doubles. Our numerical results show that the partition function is independent of coupling as predicted by supersymmetry.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, presented at Lattice04(Theory

Twisted Supersymmetric Sigma Model on the Lattice

In this paper we conduct a numerical study of the supersymmetric O(3) non-linear sigma model. The lattice formulation we employ was derived in \cite{sigma1} and corresponds to a discretization of a {\it twisted} form of the continuum action. The twisting process exposes a {\it nilpotent} supercharge Q and allows the action to be rewritten in Q-exact form. These properties may be maintained on the lattice. We show how to deform the theory by the addition of potential terms which preserve the supersymmetry. A Wilson mass operator may be introduced in this way with a minimal breaking of supersymmetry. We additionally show how to rewrite the theory in the language of K\ {a}hler-Dirac fields and explain why this avenue does not provide a good route to discretization. Our numerical results provide strong evidence for a restoration of full supersymmetry in the continuum limit {\it without} fine tuning. We also observe a non-vanishing chiral condensate as expected from continuum instanton calculations

Lattice Sigma Models with Exact Supersymmetry

We show how to construct lattice sigma models in one, two and four dimensions which exhibit an exact fermionic symmetry. These models are discretized and {\it twisted} versions of conventional supersymmetric sigma models with N=2 supersymmetry. The fermionic symmetry corresponds to a scalar BRST charge built from the original supercharges. The lattice theories possess local actions and in many cases admit a Wilson term to suppress doubles. In the two and four dimensional theorie s we show that these lattice theories are invariant under additional discrete symmetries. We argue that the presence of these exact symmetries ensures that no fine tuning is required to achieve N=2 supersymmetry in the continuum limit. As a concrete example we show preliminary numerical results from a simulation of the O(3) supersymmetric sigma model in two dimensions.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures, formalism generalized to allow for explicit Wilson mass terms. New numerical results added. Version to be published in JHE

Exact supersymmetry on the lattice

We describe a new approach of putting supersymmetric theories on the lattice. The basic idea is to discretize a twisted formulation of the (extended) supersymmetric theory. One can think about the twisting as an exotic change of variables that modifies the quantum numbers of the original fields. It exposes a scalar nilpotent supercharge which one can be preserved exactly on the lattice. We give explicit examples from sigma models and Yang-Mills theories. For the former, we show how to deform the theory by the addition of potential terms which preserve the supersymmmetry and play the role of Wilson terms, thus preventing the appearance of doublers. For the Yang-Mills theories however, one can show that their twisted versions can be rewritten in terms of two real Kähler-Dirac fields whose components transform into each other under the twisted supersymmetry. Once written in this geometrical language, one can ensure that the model does not exhibit spectrum doubling if one maps the component tensor fields to appropriate geometrical structures in the lattice. Numerical study of the O (3) sigma models and U (2) and SU (2) Yang-Mills theories for the case [Special characters omitted.] = D = 2 indicates that no additional fine tuning is needed to recover the continuum supersymmetric models