Thread: Supersymmetry clarification

Hello all I have been studying physics and I came across the idea of Supersymmetry. I know its a symmetry relating bosons to fermions but how exactly does it relate the two.-thanks

Originally Posted by Dirac1357

Hello all I have been studying physics and I came across the idea of Supersymmetry. I know its a symmetry relating bosons to fermions but how exactly does it relate the two.-thanks

Big topic. Read Gordan Kane's book Supersymmetry if you want something for a general audience or the third volume of Steven Weinberg's book series on quantum field theory if you want the x-rated version.

Originally Posted by Dirac1357

Hello all I have been studying physics and I came across the idea of Supersymmetry. I know its a symmetry relating bosons to fermions but how exactly does it relate the two.-thanks

There is a good chapter in Sean Carroll's book- The Particle at the End of the Universe. The supersymmetric partners of fermions are called the same with an "s" on the front like squarks and selectrons.
Bosons have "ino" added onto the end like gluino and higgsino. Although most of the other bosons mix together to form neutralino or chargino.
I apologise if this didn't answer your question. But I highly recommend Sean Carroll's book

I'll see how much math I can avoid.

Supersymmetry is an extension of continuous space-time symmetries: translations, rotations, boosts. Rotations and boosts relate different components of vectors and the like, and SUSY generators extend that to particles with different spins. A SUSY generator turns a particle with one spin into a particle with another spin, usually differing by 1/2.

So applying a SUSY generator to a SUSY multiplet rearranges the particles in it, making a redefinition of it. Much like how rotation rearranges the components of a vector.

I hope that my description of how SUSY works has not been too horrible.