(Mostly notes to self)
Two interesting short papers today by Wung-Hong Huang. hep-th/0308094 is a short proof that if SUSY is unbroken at the classical level, then it can’t be broken at any level of perturbation theory, even if all the gauge symmetries are broken. Not an unexpected result, but it’s kinda stark – just more evidence of how powerful a symmetry SUSY really is. Need to think a bit about this issue, and what it means for SUSY breaking in the universe.
hep-th/0308095 is an analysis of the statistical mechanics of systems that allow boson-fermion transmuting processes. I need to think a bit about his result – there’s at least one subtle step there – but if it’s correct, then this would be a nice way to think about the stat mech of a supersymmetric gas. (To do: Figure out what the value to his α parameter would be for a given gas, say shydrogen.) I’m not sure if this is good for anything, but (a) imagining what the universe would look like if it were supersymmetric is fun, and (b) this seems like it might have some unexpected uses later, if nothing else in getting a solid feel for some weird kinds of statistical systems.
Yonatan Zunger’s Blog 
You’re beggin’ for a wedgie.
Come here, geekboy.
Bring it on, jughead. 🙂
The only technical term in there that I recognized was bozon, and that, I think, from star trek, so it doesn’t count… 🙂
But they sound cool.
Simon
I’ll help with the wedgies!!
I recognized most of the technical terms there, but “shydrogen” has me worried. Is it a typo for “hydrogen”, or something far more obscure?
–Ben
Supersymmetric hydrogen. It’s a bound state of a sproton and a selectron. And no, I’m not making those names up. 🙂