Supersymmetry and its Applications

This volume contains papers presented at the Nuffield Workshop on supersymmetry and its applications held at Cambridge in the summer of 1985 and attended by many of the leading experts in the field. In physical terms, supersymmetry is a symmetry or gauge invariance which connects bosons (particles with integer spin) with fermions (particles with half integer spin). The study of supersymmetry has led to the construction of Yang-Mills theories, which are the first field theories to be free of the divergences that usually occur in quantum theories, with an infinite number of degrees of freedom. It has also led to the construction of supergravity and superstring theories which seem to be the best hope for a complete unified theory of all physical interactions including gravity. Supersymmetry and its Applications reviews a number of recent advances in the area of anomalies, the topology of gauge theories, superstrings, supergravity and super Yang-Mills theory.The papers, written by both physicists and mathematicians, include both expository articles and progress reports describing most recent developments.