The power of supersymmetry; exact results in field and string theories

Institute of Physics in Scotland, Edinburgh Programme – 2011 / 12

Abstract: I will take a tour through string theory and supersymmetric field theories and concentrate on quantities which can be calculated exactly. The theories I will explore are similar to the one describing subatomic particles (known as the standard model of particle physics), but not identical. Though at a superficial level they look very complicated (in particular more complicated than the standard model), they have some hidden beauty. This allows one to perform calculations, like the strength of the force between charged particles exactly - at arbitrary distance and arbitrary strength of the coupling constant. In fact, we have several very different ways of viewing these theories and where the same physical quantity is expressed as different questions, but we indeed find from them identical answers.