Supersymmetry is at an exciting stage of development. It extends the Standard Model of particle physics into a more powerful theory that both explains more and allows more questions to be addressed. Most important, it opens a window for studying and testing fundamental theories at the Planck scale. Experimentally we are finally entering the intensity and energy regions where superpartners are likely to be detected, and then studied. There has been progress in understanding the remarkable physics implications of supersymmetry, including the derivation of the Higgs mechanism, the unification of the Standard Model forces, cosmological connections such as a candidate for the cold dark matter of the universe and the scalar fields that drive inflation and their potential, the relationship to Planck scale theories, and more.While there are a number of reviews and books where the mathematical structure and uses of supersymmetry can be learned, there are few where the particle physics is the main focus. This book fills that gap. It begins with an excellent pedagogical introduction to the physics and methods and formalism of supersymmetry, by S Martin, which is accessible to anyone with a basic knowledge of the Standard Model of particle physics. Next is an overview of open questions by K Dienes and C Kolda, followed by chapters on topics ranging from how to detect superpartners to connections with Planck scale theories, by leading experts.This invaluable book will allow any interested physicist to understand the coming experimental and theoretical progress in supersymmetry, and will also help students and workers to quickly learn new aspects of supersymmetry they want to pursue.

In June 1997, fifty-seven of the world's best students gathered at TASI '97 in Boulder, Colorado, USA, to attend an intensive series of lectures on the theory and phenomenology of supersymmetry, supergravity and supercolliders. This book contains the proceedings of that school. It is aimed at advanced graduate students as well as postdoctoral and other researchers. It provides a snapshot of the state-of-the-art in an active area of high energy particle theory, and may perhaps serve as a preview of physics to be discovered in the next decade.

Supersymmetry is at an exciting stage of development. It extends the Standard Model of particle physics into a more powerful theory that both explains more and allows more questions to be addressed. Most importantly, it opens a window for studying and testing fundamental theories at the Planck scale. Experimentally we are finally entering the intensity and energy and sensitivity regions where superpartners and supersymmetric dark matter candidates are likely to be detected, and then studied. There has been progress in understanding the remarkable physics implications of supersymmetry, including the derivation of the Higgs mechanism, the unification of the Standard Model forces, cosmological connections such as a candidate for the cold dark matter of the universe and consequences for understanding the cosmological history of the universe, and more.This volume begins with an excellent pedagogical introduction to the physics and methods and formalism of supersymmetry which is accessible to anyone with a basic knowledge of the Standard Model of particle physics. Next is an overview of open questions, followed by chapters on topics such as how to detect superpartners and tools for studying them, the current limits on superpartner masses as we enter the LHC era, the lightest superpartner as a dark matter candidate in thermal and non-thermal cosmological histories, and associated Z' physics. Most chapters have been extended and updated from the earlier edition and some are new.This superb book will allow interested physicists to understand the coming experimental and theoretical progress in supersymmetry and the implications of discoveries of superpartners, and will also help students and workers to quickly learn new aspects of supersymmetry they want to pursue.

Deciphering the script for the Big Bang has now become a joint effort of particle physicists and cosmologists. The origin and first moments of the early Universe were determined by the same fundamental processes which are studied in terrestrial accelerators and whose traces from the early Universe can be seen in astrophysical observations. It is now almost universally accepted that most of the debris left over from the Big Bang is likely to be in the form of particle dark matter. Identifying its nature and measuring its abundance in the Universe have become major goals of theorists and experimentalists alike. This volume reviews the progress made at the frontiers of research in these rapidly expanding fields. A broad range of topics, from inflation to primordial black holes to physics at the Planck era, and to dark matter and neutrinos — both reviews and reports on the most recent advances — is presented by leaders in the field.

Following Witten's remarkable discovery of the quantum mechanical scheme in which all the salient features of supersymmetry are embedded, SCQM (supersymmetric classical and quantum mechanics) has become a separate area of research . In recent years, progress in this field has been dramatic and the literature continues to grow. Until now, no book has offered an overview of the subject with enough detail to allow readers to become rapidly familiar with its key ideas and methods. Supersymmetry in Classical and Quantum Mechanics offers that overview and summarizes the major developments of the last 15 years. It provides both an up-to-date review of the literature and a detailed exposition of the underlying SCQM principles. For those just beginning in the field, the author presents step-by-step details of most of the computations. For more experienced readers, the treatment includes systematic analyses of more advanced topics, such as quasi- and conditional solvability and the role of supersymmetry in nonlinear systems.

Is the universe fine-tuned for complexity, life, or something else? This comprehensive overview of fine-tuning arguments in physics, with contributions from leading researchers in their fields, sheds light on this often used but seldom understood topic. Each chapter reviews a specific subject in modern physics, such as dark energy, inflation, or solar system formation, and discusses whether any parameters in our current theories appear to be fine-tuned and, if so, to what degree. Connections and differences between these fine-tuning arguments are made clear, and detailed mathematical derivations of various fine-tuned parameters are given. This accessible yet precise introduction to fine-tuning in physics will aid students and researchers across astrophysics, atomic and particle physics and cosmology, as well as all those working at the intersections of physics and philosophy.

Nuclear double beta decay is one of the most promising tools for probing beyond-the-standard-model physics on beyond-accelerator energy scales. It is already now probing the TeV scale, on which new physics should manifest itself according to theoretical expectations. Only in the early 1980s was it known that double beta decay yields information on the Majorana mass of the exchanged neutrino. At present, the sharpest bound for the electron neutrino mass arises from this process. It is only in the last 10 years that the much more far-reaching potential of double beta decay has been discovered. Today, the potential of double beta decay includes a broad range of topics that are equally relevant to particle physics and astrophysics, such as masses of heavy neutrinos, of sneutrinos, as SUSY models, compositeness, leptoquarks, left-right symmetric models, and tests of Lorentz symmetry and equivalence principle in the neutrino sector. Double beta decay has become indispensable nowadays for solving the problem of the neutrino mass spectrum and the structure of the neutrino mass matrix OCo together with present and future solar and atmospheric neutrino oscillation experiments. Some future double beta experiments (like GENIUS) will be capable to be simultaneously neutrino observatories for double beta decay and low-energy solar neutrinos, and observatories for cold dark matter of ultimate sensitivity. This invaluable book outlines the development of double beta research from its beginnings until its most recent achievements, and also presents the outlook for its highly exciting future. Contents: Double Beta Decay OCo Historical Retrospective and Perspectives; Original Articles: From the Early Days until the Gauge Theory Era; The Nuclear Physics Side OCo Nuclear Matrix Elements; The Nuclear Physics Side OCo Nuclear Matrix Elements; Effective Neutrino Masses from Double Beta Decay, Neutrino Mass Models and Cosmological Parameters OCo Present Status and Prospects; Other Beyond Standard Model Physics: From SUSY and Leptoquarks to Compositeness and Quantum Foam; The Experimental Race: From the Late Eighties to the Future; The Future of Double Beta Decay; Appendices: Ten Years of HeidelbergOCoMoscow Experiment; The Potential Future OCo GENIUS. Readership: Particle physicists, nuclear physicists and astrophysicists."