Simple supersymmetry: I. Basic examples

Theories have been formulated which possess supersymmetry, i.e. which permit boson-fermion mixing operations as invariance operations, and therefore allow states with differing fermion number and boson number to be degenerate. The authors develop several nonrelativistic applications of the basic algebra of supersymmetry. These illustrate its characteristic features with a minimum of technicality. A novel derivation of the spectrum of a harmonic oscillator is given. The 2-D Pauli equation, and thus the Rabi-Landau spectrum for a Dirac particle in a constant magnetic field, affords a textbook example of supersymmetry.