Index theory and supersymmetry

The analysis of the dynamical breaking of supersymmetry provides a rather unexpected connection between supersymmetry and very general results in topology. In particular, it is possible to understand the general form of the index theorem for a Dirac operator in the presence of external gauge and gravitational fields in terms of a simple quantum mechanical supersymmetric system. The authors present the basic ingredients which make this connection possible, and how to use it to obtain some of the classical index theorems