N = 2, D = 10 non-chiral supergravity and its spontaneous compactification

The non-chiral N = 2, D = 10 supergravity theory is constructed using dimensional reduction from N = 1, D = 11 supergravity. It is shown that this theory may spontaneously compactify, yielding S⁴ × S², CP² × S² and S² × S² × S² spaces for the extra dimensions.     

A nontrivial vacuum state in D = 10, N = 1 supergravity

We find a ground state of D = 10, N = 1 supergravity of the form (AdS(3) × R¹) × S³ × T³ which preserves all supersymmetries and should provide a gauged D = 4, N = 4 supergravity coupled to supermatter after dimensional reduction.     

Compactification and supersymmetry in d = 11 supergravity

We examine the conditions under which the ground state of d = 11 supergravity can be supersymmetric and be of the form M⁴ ? B⁷ with M⁴ Minkowski spacetime and B⁷ a compact seven-dimensional manifold. Since we have in mind a background that renders the effective action stationary we make no use of the classical field equations. We find that the requirement that the four-space be flat is very restrictive. It requires all components of the background four-index field to vanish and the compact manifold to be Ricci-flat and hence to have at most the abelian symmetries associated with tori.     

N = 4 supergravity coupled to N = 4 matter and hidden symmetries

We present the N = 1 supergravity in 10 dimensions obtained by truncating the reduced N = 1 supergravity from 11 dimensions. This is further reduced to 4 dimensions to give SU(4) supergravity coupled to six SO(4) vector multiplets. As the reduction is from 10 dimensions, the theory is expected to have the symmetry SL(6R)_global×SO(6)_local, but we give a theoretical argument that this can be extended to SO(6,6)×SU(1,1)_global and SO(6)×SO(6)×U(1)_local.     

Ghost interactions from auxiliary fields in d = 11 supergravity

By introducing auxiliary boson fields in 11-dimensional supergravity we can close the commutator linearly on the gravitino. Although the algebra is not closed on the boson fields, the auxiliary fields replace the four-ghost interactions.     

N = 8 supergravity

The complete structure of N = 8 supergravity is presented with an optional local SO(8) invariance. The SO(8) gauge interactions break E₇ invariance, but leave the local SU(8) unaffected. Exploiting E₇ × SU(8) invariance and using explicit lowest order results, we first derive the complete action and transformation laws. Subsequently, we introduce local SO(8) invariance and prove the consistency of the theory. Possible implications of our results are discussed.     

About bosonic rheonomic symmetry and the generation of a spin-1 field in D = 5 supergravity

In this paper we explicitly construct the bosonic sector of supergravity in 5-dimensions using the geometrical approach proposed in a previous publication. Starting from a first-order lagrangian written on an appropriate contraction of the Sp(8) group manifold we find that, in the second-order formalism the particle content of the theory is given by the graviton and by a massless spin-one self-interacting particle. The theory is proved to be factorized and rheonomic symmetrical. The rheonomic symmetry actually guarantees the necessary U(1) gauge invariance of the massless spin-one particle. The lagrangian for the spin-one field is the analogue of the lagrangian of the A_μν? field in D = 11 supergravity.     

Noncompact N=2 supergravity

A massive spin-one multiplet with central charge is coupled to N=2 supergravity. Compared to conventional gauge fields the anomalous magnetic moment of the spin-one particles is of the opposite sign. The construction of this theory is based on an N=2 supersymmetric gauge theory associated with the noncompact group SO(2,1). As a byproduct we present a convenient expression for the N=2 Einstein-Yang-Mills lagrangian.     

Extended supergravity on the supergroup manifold: N = 3 and N = 2 theories

In this paper I construct the group-manifold first-order formulation of N = 2 and N = 3 supergravity based on the $\text{Osp}\text{(}\text{4}\text{2}\text{)}\text{and Osp}\text{(}\text{4}\text{3}\text{)}$ supergroups, respectively. In the case N = 2, a group manifold version of the theory was already presented in a previous paper. Here a simpler formulation is given which shows exact factorization in the SO(2) subgroup absent in the previous one. Particular attention is paid to the algebraic role played by the $\text{spin}\text{-}\text{1}\text{2}$ field which is the novel feature of the N = 3 case with respect to N = 2. It is shown how the “non-geometrical” term in the gravitino transformation law in the N = 2 theory arises from the rheonomic symmetry mechanism.     

The complete N =2, d = 10 supergravity

The alternative N = 2, d = 10 supergravity, which is not derivable by dimensional reduction from the N = 1, d = 11 theory, is constructed at the full non-linear level. The transformation laws of the component fields and the equations of motion are derived and shown to be consistent. The derivation makes use of superspace techniques and exploits the fact that the scalars belong to the coset space SU(1,1)/U(1).     

Linearized N = 2 superfield supergravity

We present the formulation of linearized SU(2) supergravity and U(2) conformal supergravity in terms of unconstrained N = 2 superfields: the gauge superfield, compensating superfields, gauge transformations, supertensors, actions and covariant derivatives.     

Magnetovacs in gauged N = 4 supergravity

A two-parameter family of supersymmetric background field solutions of the recently formulated version of gauged N = 4 supergravity is found. This constitutes strong evidence that the theory has stable vacua, despite energy densities that are unbounded below. The background geometries are metric products of (AdS)₂ × S₂, and there are covariantly constant magnetic and electric fields. For a special choice of parameters the (AdS)₂ factor becomes a flat Minkowski space and electric fields vanish.     

Black holes in N=8 supergravity

Solutions of the bosonic field equations of the ungauged, N=8 supergravity which describe black holes with no scalar hairs are obtained. It is found that, in contrast to the Einstein-Maxwell theory where a uniqueness theorem exists, there are two distinct families of black holes in N=8 supergravity. There are also two distinct generalizations of Majumdar-Papapertrou solutions which describe the static equilibrium of many black holes.     

A monopole in N = 8 supergravity

An explicit ansatz for a monopole in N = 8 supergravity is constructed. The monopole mass is estimated by extremizing an energy functional, whose positive definite character is guaranteed by a positive energy theorem.     

N = 2 supergravity action in terms of N = 1 superfields

We construct the full N = 2 supergravity action in terms of N = 1 supergravity and matter fields.     

A new group theoretical technique for the analysis of Bianchi identities and its application to the auxiliary field problem of D = 5 supergravity

For any (super)group and hence for any geometrical (super)theory Bianchi identities imply that certain 3-forms vanish. In order to perform a systematic analysis of their implications in the presence of constraints one needs a complete basis of independent 3-forms spanning the 3-form linear space. In this paper we discuss a general procedure for the derivation of such a basis in the case of supersymmetric theories involving commuting spinor 1-forms. Our technique is based on the decomposition of the product of group representations into irreducible components and replaces all Fierz rearrangements. We give as examples the cases of N = 1, d = 4, N = 2, d = 4 and N = 2, d = 5 supergravity. Then applying our algebraic techniques to the last of these three models, the only other known example, besides N = 1, d = 4 supergravity, of a pure geometrical theory, we derive its off-shell structure containing 48 bosons and 48 fermions. The torsion-like constraints which we implement in the Bianchis in order to obtain our set of auxiliary fields are a subset of the complete set of variational equations of the theory so that we derive our off-shell multiplet without any reference to an embedding conformal symmetry. The point with which we still need to use ingenuity is the selection of those equations which are to be kept and those which are to be thrown out.     

Bound states in N = 8 supergravity and N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories

We present a study of possible bound states in N = 8 supergravity. We find evidence for the existence of multiplets of two-body bound states and expect that many-body bound states may exist as well. Our study is based on a calculation of Regge trajectories in the two-body scattering amplitudes of the lagrangian field theory. We also study Regge trajectories in N = 4 Yang-Mills theory and find evidence for a possible spin zero, SU(4) and gauge singlet, massless bound state. If such a state actually exists and supersymmetry is not broken, it may be a member of a supersymmetric multiplet which includes the graviton.     

N = 1 supergravity in the light-cone gauge

N = 1 supergravity is studied in a light-cone gauge. The non-linear transformations and the hamiltonian are constructed to order K in the coupling constant as a realization of the super-Poicaré algebra. The only input except the algebraic structure is the helicity content ($\text{±2, ±}\text{3}\text{2}$) and the dimensionality of the coupling constant.     

Compactification of d = 11 supergravity on S4 (or 11 = 7 + 4, too)

Eleven-dimensional supergravity can compactify spontaneously on either S⁷ or S⁴. We study the latter case, with attention to its connection with a possible gauged N = 4 supergravity in d = 7. We derive the linearized field equations and supersymmetry transformation rules for the effective d = 7 supergravity multiplet. There are five third rank antisymmetric tensors in this multiplet which are in the 5 representation of the gauge group USp(4) and they are propagated with a self-duality condition in 7 dimensions. There is also a 14 of scalar fields and they are found to propagate with a non-conformal wave operator.