particle physics Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of Elementary particle, fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the s ...

, supersymmetry breaking or SUSY breaking is a process via which a seemingly non- supersymmetric physics emerges from a supersymmetric theory. Assuming a breaking of supersymmetry is a necessary step to reconcile supersymmetry with experimental observations.

Superpartner In particle physics, a superpartner (also sparticle) is a class of hypothetical elementary particles predicted by supersymmetry, which, among other applications, is one of the well-studied ways to extend the Standard Model of high-energy physics. ...

particles, whose mass is equal to the mass of the regular particles in supersymmetry, become much heavier with supersymmetry breaking. In

supergravity In theoretical physics, supergravity (supergravity theory; SUGRA for short) 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 ...

, this results in a slightly modified counterpart of the

Higgs mechanism In the Standard Model of particle physics, the Higgs mechanism is essential to explain the Mass generation, generation mechanism of the property "mass" for gauge bosons. Without the Higgs mechanism, all bosons (one of the two classes of particles ...

where the

gravitino In supergravity theories combining general relativity and supersymmetry, the gravitino () is the gauge fermion supersymmetric partner of the hypothesized graviton. It has been suggested as a candidate for dark matter. If it exists, it is a f ...

s become massive. Supersymmetry breaking is relevant in the domain of applicability of

stochastic differential equation A stochastic differential equation (SDE) is a differential equation in which one or more of the terms is a stochastic process, resulting in a solution which is also a stochastic process. SDEs have many applications throughout pure mathematics an ...

s, which includes classical physics, and encompasses nonlinear dynamical phenomena as

chaos Chaos or CHAOS may refer to: Science, technology, and astronomy * '' Chaos: Making a New Science'', a 1987 book by James Gleick * Chaos (company), a Bulgarian rendering and simulation software company * ''Chaos'' (genus), a genus of amoebae * ...

turbulence In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers with no disruption between ...

, and

pink noise Pink noise, noise, fractional noise or fractal noise is a signal (information theory), signal or process with a frequency spectrum such that the power spectral density (power per frequency interval) is inversely proportional to the frequenc ...

. Various mechanisms for this breaking have been discussed by physicists, including soft SUSY breaking and types of

spontaneous symmetry breaking Spontaneous symmetry breaking is a spontaneous process of symmetry breaking, by which a physical system in a symmetric state spontaneously ends up in an asymmetric state. In particular, it can describe systems where the equations of motion o ...

Supersymmetry breaking scale

The

energy scale This list compares various energies in joules (J), organized by order of magnitude. Below 1 J 1 to 105 J 106 to 1011 J 1012 to 1017 J 1018 to 1023 J Over 1024 J SI multiples See also * Conversion of units of e ...

where supersymmetry breaking takes place is known as the supersymmetry breaking scale. In the scenario known as ''low energy supersymmetry'', in which supersymmetry fully solves the

hierarchy problem In theoretical physics, the hierarchy problem is the problem concerning the large discrepancy between aspects of the weak force and gravity. There is no scientific consensus on why, for example, the weak force is 1024 times stronger than gravi ...

, this scale should not be far from 1000 GeV, and therefore should be accessible using the

Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It was built by the CERN, European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008, in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists, ...

and future accelerators. However, supersymmetry may also be broken at high energy scales. Nature does not have to be supersymmetric at any scale.

References

Supersymmetric quantum field theory Symmetry {{quantum-stub