Editorial standards and corrections
A useful physics explanation makes its assumptions visible and gives the reader a way to check its result. Lessons here define new objects before using compressed notation, show consequential steps in a derivation, and provide exercises with complete solutions.
Sources and conventions
Section titled “Sources and conventions”Specialized claims are tied to the relevant primary papers. Equation references identify the version used when versions differ. Author-written lectures can supply an additional explanation. A reference near a formula should support that formula’s stated scope; it is not a blanket endorsement of every nearby statement.
Calculations state the dimension, signature, fields, and normalizations they use. In supersymmetry, the full symmetry of a theory, the subalgebra made explicit by a formalism, and the charges preserved by a background are different pieces of information. Gauge rank is a separate label.
A convention translation changes the notation while preserving the physical statement. For example, if for a nonzero ordinary number , then in the single-variable Berezin convention. The normalization is unchanged. Holding the measure fixed while rescaling the variable would change the integral. The Grassmann lesson develops the underlying calculus.
Scientific checks
Section titled “Scientific checks”A lesson’s checks are chosen for the calculation: dimensions, charges, a limiting case, an independent derivation, or a numerical comparison with a known benchmark. Repeating the same formula in another program is not automatically independent evidence.
Numerical work states the precision, cutoffs, integration prescription, and expected output needed to interpret it. Established results, approximations, numerical observations, and proposed research questions are distinguished where they appear. AI-assisted review is described as such.
How a correction propagates
Section titled “How a correction propagates”Suppose a two-variable Grassmann integral were printed with its measure in the opposite order but its answer unchanged. The correction would first fix the canonical lesson’s orientation and the displayed calculation. Its worked example and exercise solutions would be checked using the same order. Any downloadable calculation would then be corrected and rerun, and references or paper guides using that formula would be checked for the same sign assumption.
This is an illustrative correction, not a report of an error in a particular source. It shows why changing one displayed answer is insufficient when several explanations share a convention.
Correction record
Section titled “Correction record”22 October 2026 — table presentation, before publication. Restored two numerical tables and complete formulas in seven other tables. Some absolute-value, boundary-restriction and state-vector bars had been mistaken for column boundaries, hiding formulas or placing entries in the wrong columns. The intended equations, numerical values and scientific conclusions are unchanged.
The affected material is the numerical diagnostic in BPS masses and stability, the convergence table in the free-chiral calculation, and tables in four-dimensional actions, a-maximization, Coulomb-branch masses, boundary conditions, monopole states, SQED branches, and BPS observables.
Useful error reports
Section titled “Useful error reports”Send corrections and display problems to [email protected].
Identify the page and equation or paragraph, state the convention you used, and show the shortest calculation or source passage that exposes the discrepancy. A missing assumption can be as consequential as an algebraic mistake. For a display problem, include the affected formula and whether it occurs on a narrow screen, in print, or in a particular theme.
Corrections should preserve stable links and update dependent explanations together. Readable text, accessible mathematics, working navigation, and usable exercise disclosures are checked separately from the scientific argument.