Non-supersymmetric vacua and the D-flatness condition

Some N = 1 gauge theories, including SQED and N-F = 1 SQCD, have the proper ty that, for arbitrary superpotentials, all stationary points of the potent ial V = F + D are D-flat. For others, stationary points of V are complex ga uge transformations of D-flat configurations. As an implication, the techni que to parametrize the moduli space of supersymmetric vacua in terms of a s et of basic holomorphic G invariants can be extended to non-supersymmetric vacua. A similar situation is found in non-gauge theories with a compact gl obal symmetry group. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.