Supersymmetry and the Goldstino-Like Mode in Bose-Fermi Mixtures

Abstract

Supersymmetry is assumed to be a basic symmetry of the world in many high-energy theories, but none of the superpartners of any known elementary particle have been observed yet. We argue that supersymmetry can also be realized and studied in ultracold atomic systems with a mixture of bosons and fermions, with properly tuned interactions and single particle dispersion. We further show that in such nonrelativistic systems supersymmetry is either spontaneously broken or explicitly broken by a chemical potential difference between the bosons and fermions. In both cases the system supports a sharp fermionic collective mode similar to the Goldstino mode in high-energy physics, due to supersymmetry. We also discuss possible ways to detect this mode experimentally.