Boson-Fermion Confusion: The String Path To Supersymmetry

Abstract

Reminiscences on the String origins of Supersymmetry are followed by a discussion of the importance of confusing bosons with fermions in building superstring theories in 9+1 dimensions. In eleven dimensions, the kinship between bosons and fermions is more subtle, and may involve the exceptional group $F_4$.

9 pages, Macros included. Contribution to ``30 Years of Supersymmetry", University of Minnesota

Cited by in corpus (8)

• A magic pyramid of supergravities
• Supersymmetry and Euler Multiplets
• On the geometry of the supermultiplet in M-theory
• Exceptional Super Yang-Mills in $D=27+3$ and Worldvolume M-Theory
• The massless irreducible representation in E theory and how bosons can appear as spinors
• The Sirens of Eleven Dimensions
• OP2 bundles in M-theory
• Kernel solutions of the Kostant operator on eight-dimensional quotient spaces