PREFACE TO VOLUME III

Summary

This volume deals with quantum field theories that are governed by supersymmetry, a symmetry that unites particles of integer and half-integer spin in common symmetry multiplets. These theories offer a possible way of solving the ‘hierarchy problem,’ the mystery of the enormous ratio of the Planck mass to the 300 GeV energy scale of electroweak symmetry breaking. Supersymmetry also has the quality of uniqueness that we search for in fundamental physical theories. There is an infinite number of Lie groups that can be used to combine particles of the same spin in ordinary symmetry multiplets, but there are only eight kinds of supersymmetry in four spacetime dimensions, of which only one, the simplest, could be directly relevant to observed particles.

These are reasons enough to devote this third volume of The Quantum Theory of Fields to supersymmetry. In addition, the quantum field theories based on supersymmetry have remarkable properties that are not found among other field theories: some supersymmetric theories have couplings that are not renormalized in any order of perturbation theory; other theories are finite; and some even allow exact solutions. Indeed, much of the most interesting work in quantum field theory over the past decade has been in the context of supersymmetry.