ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on analysing the quantum properties of supersymmetric field theories. It establishes the superfield extension of the Feynman path integral perturbation theory. When using the component field formulation, the path integral rules turn out to be correct in the sense that they lead to the same physical results as canonical quantization. When working in the superfield approach, it is worth expecting that the superfield path integral rules will guarantee the supersymmetry to remain explicit at any stage of calculations. The chapter demonstrates the equivalence of two perturbation theories for computing correlation functions, based on the use of the component field and superfield formulations, respectively, in a large class of non-gauge supersymmetric dynamical systems. Renormalization is one of the essential elements of quantum field theory. The chapter analyses the general structure of the counterterms in super Yang—Mills theories. It introduces a supersymmetric generalization of the effective potential leading to the so-called superfield effective potential.
