N=4 AND N=1 SYM

PHIL SAAD
1
1.1. N=4 SYM has 1 gauge eld, 4 Weyl spinors, and 6 real or 3 complex scalars, with an SU(4) = SO(6)
R symmetry. We can split these apart into an N=1 vector supereld and 3 N=1 chiral superelds. The
Lagrangian we want, which should respect an SU(3) symmetry of the 3 chiral elds, which we will combine
with the terms from the vector multiplet to make an SU(4) symmetry, is
L =
1
16k

d
2
Tr

W
a
W
a

+ c.c +

d
4
Tr

i
e
V

i
e
V

+ A

d
2
Tr

i
[
j
,
k
])
ijk
+ c.c
Where all our elds are in the adjoint representation and Tr[T
A
T
B
] = k
AB
. That last term can be written
Tr

T
A
[T
B
, T
C
])
i
A

j
B

k
C

ijk
= Tr

T
A
T
D

F
BCD

i
A

j
B

k
C

ijk
= k
AD
F
BCD

i
A

j
B

k
C

ijk
= k
i
A

j
B

k
C

ijk
F
ABC
Combining the constants A and k, we have the Lagrangian
L =
1
16kg
2

d
2
Tr

W
a
W
a

+ c.c +

d
4
Tr

i
e
V

i
e
V

+ A

d
2

i
A

j
B

k
C

ijk
F
ABC
+ c.c
The rst two parts of the Lagrangian are done out in Wess and Bagger, giving (ignoring the theta term)
L =
1
k
Tr

1
4
F

i
i

i
|D

Z
i
|
2

+ i

2f
ABC
Z
i
A

i
B

C
+ c.c
+F
i
A
F
i
A
+
1
2
D
2
A
+ D
A
Z
i
B
Z
i
C
f
ABC
We can integrate out D, using the equation of motion
D
A
+ Z
i
B
Z
i
C
f
ABC
= 0
The superpotential term can be written as
Ak

d
2

i
A

j
B

k
C

ijk
F
ABC
= 3Ak
ijk
f
ABC

F
i
A
Z
j
B
Z
k
C

i
A

j
B
Z
k
C

We want these Yukawa terms to match up to the other Yukawa terms, so we choose A =

2/3k. Now we
can eliminate F using the equation of motion
F
i
A
+

2
ijk
f
ABC
Z
j
B
Z
k
C
= 0
Writing out all the terms that involve just Z, we have
L
1
2
Z
i
B
Z
i
C
Z
j
D
Z
j
E
f
ABC
f
ADE
Z
i
B
Z
i
C
Z
j
D
Z
j
E
f
ABC
f
ADE
+4
ijk

ilm
f
ABC
f
ADE
Z
j
B
Z
k
C
Z
l
D
Z
m
E
Ill address this later. The Yukawa parts are
L i

2f
ABC
Z
i
A

i
B

2
ijk
Z
i
A

j
B

k
C
+ c.c
I want to group the fermions together into
I
= (
i
, ). Taking the complex scalars apart, Z
i
= X
a
+iX
a+3
,
we have the Yukawa terms
L f
ABC
C
a
IJ
X
a
A

J
B

K
C
+ c.c
Date: March 27 2014.
1
2 PHIL SAAD
Where the C
a
IJ
are antisymmetric in I and J. The fundamental representation of SO(6) and the antisym-
metric matrix representation of SU(4) both have 6 components, and so this is like putting out SO(6) vector
X
i
into an antisymmetric SU(4) matrix X
IJ
= X
i
C
i
IJ
instead
We identify, for i = 1, 2, 3,
C
i
j4
= C
i
4j
= i
ij
C
i
JK
=
ijk
and for i = 4, 5, 6
C
i
j4
= C
i
4j
=
i3,j
C
i
jk
= i
i3,jk
Well I got stuck here but http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0201253 tells me that these guys should be related to
the gamma matrices for SO(6). If I dene

i
=

0 iC
i
JK
i(C
i
JK
)

I expect to get the algebra

{
i
,
j
} = 2
ij
I calculated a couple instances and found this to be true. So the Yukawa terms must be SU(4) invariant.
Putting the scalar potential terms in terms of the real scalar elds, I get the same thing as what that paper
has, giving me the full Lagrangian
L =
1
k
Tr

1
4
F
2
i
I

I
|D

X
i
|
2
+ C
i
JK

J
[X
i
,
K
] + c.c +
1
2
[X
i
, X
j
]
2

The only way I could justify saying that my

i
satisfy the SO(6) gamma matrix algebra implies that my La-
grangian has the correct symmetry was by looking at http://physics.ucsd.edu/ mcgreevy/fall08/psets/soln02.pdf.
This actually addresses putting N=4 SYM in terms of N=1 but it was done a little dierently than me (he
stuck with complex scalars). The actually helpful part is section 3 of question 1, where he reduces 10 d N=1
to 4d N=4. From this it is clear why my
i
must be dened the way they are, and why them satisfying this
algebra means that I have the right symmetry, but this seems very roundabout. I cant see a more direct
way to show this.
So I have a better understanding, and to make it easier for you Ill do out the relevant stu from that
problem. I make the Majorana spinor, where the index I runs from 1 to 4, for my 4 dierent fermions, and
the index S captures both the right and left handed version of each.

S
a
=
I,
a
=

I+
a
(
I
)

The relevant term in the 10 d Lagrangian is the fermion kinetic term, which splits up into the 4d kinetic
term and another part

M
D
M
=

S
a

M
abST
D
M

T
b
=

S
a

abST
D

T
b
+

S
a

i
abST
D
i

T
b
The i run from 1 to 6. These give us the Yukawa terms as the covariant derivative has a commutator with
the X
i
(taken from the 10 d gauge eld). The solutions said the
M
can be decomposed as

abST
=

ab
I
ST

i
abST
=
5
ab

i
ST
Where
i
ST
are the SO(6) gamma matrices. These pretty clearly satisfy the full 10 d gamma matrix algebra
if the
i
ST
satisfy the SO(6) gamma matrix algebra.
We can break up these gamma matrices,
i
ST
=
i
IJ
, into o diagonal blocks, with terms with two
plusses or two minuses being zero. The justication was that the Gamma matrices only relate spinors of
opposite chiralities, and the plus and minus denote those chiralities. I then have

S
a

i
abST
D
i

T
b
= (
S
a
)

0
ab

5
bc

i
ST
D
i

T
c
= (
I+
a
)

0
ab

5
bc

i
I+J
D
i

J
c
+ (
I
a
)

0
ab

5
bc

i
IJ+
D
i

J+
c
N=4 AND N=1 SYM 3
Where the last step was done by taking the sums over S and T into sums over I and J, and + and , with
the same chirality gamma matrix terms zero. I then use the denitions of (
I+
a
)

and so on to get (doing

out the commutators in the covariant derivatives)
if
ABC

I
A

i
I+J
X
i
B

J
C
if
ABC

I
A

i
IJ+
X
i

J
C
Theres a mistake in the hw solutions I looked at, theres a minus sign he missed. If I switch around indices
and use the antisymmetry of f, and if i
i
I+J
= (C
i
IJ
)

and i
i
IJ+
= C
i
IJ
, then I have what I got earlier.
These connections are shown with the charge conjugation matrix. The 10 d charge conjugation matrix is
C
abST
= C
ab

0 I
4
I
4
0

ST
And since CC
1
= (phases)

, and we have
C
i
C
1
=

0 1
1 0

0 iC
i
IJ
(iC
i
IJ
)

0 1
1 0

0 (iC
i
IJ
)

iC
i
IJ
0

= (
i
)

Thus my identication of the Cs with the s is correct.

So I see through this very roundabout way that my Lagrangian has the correct symmetry. Is there a more
direct way to do this?