Covariant fermionic vertex in superstrings

A covariant fermionic vertex is constructed in terms of Ramond spinors and ghost operators, starting from the Neveu-Schwarz model. Correlation functions of spinors and ghosts are defined. The supersymmetry algebra is realized as the algebra of massless vertices with zero momentum.     

Superstring effects on D=4, N=1 supergravity

We give a lagrangian and supersymmetry transformation rules for the four-dimensional N=1 supergravity sector of superstring theories with their O(α′) corrections, obtained by the dimensional reduction á la Witten of the effective action of the ten-dimensional heterotic superstring. We also give general forms of O(α′ ″) corrections to supersymmetry transformation rules which arise through an axial vector superfield. Since our system is based on the ten-dimensional superstring without any auxiliary fields, our four-dimensional N=1 supergravity is free of auxiliary fields. Our point-field theory lagrangian is supposed to describe the mass-less fields in the untwisted sector of the ten-dimensional heterotic superstring propagating on orbifolds.     

Superstring theory

Dual string theories, initially developed as phenomenological models of hadrons, now appear more promising as candidates for a unified theory of fundamental interactions. Type I superstring theory (SST I), is a ten-dimensional theory of interacting open and closed strings, with one supersymmetry, that is free from ghosts and tachyons. It requires that an SO(n) or Sp(2n) gauge group be used. A light-cone-gauge string action with space-time supersymmetry automatically incorporates the superstring restrictions and leads to the discovery of type II superstring theory (SST II). SST II is an interacting theory of closed strings only, with two D = 10 supersymmetries, that is also free from ghosts and tachyons. By taking six of the spatial dimensions to form a compact space, it becomes possible to reconcile the models with our four-dimensional perception of spacetime and to define low-energy limits in which SST I reduces to N = 4, D = 4 super Yang-Mills theory and SST II reduces to N = 8, D = 4 supergravity theory. The superstring theories can be described by a light-cone-gauge action principle based on fields that are functionals of string coordinates. With this formalism any physical quantity should be calculable. There is some evidence that, unlike any conventional field theory, the superstring theories provide perturbatively renormalizable (SST I) or finite (SST II) unifications of gravity with other interactions.     

The gauging of BV algebras

A BV algebra is a formal framework within which the BV quantization algorithm is implemented. In addition to the gauge symmetry, encoded in the BV master equation, the master action often exhibits further global symmetries, which may be in turn gauged. We show how to carry this out in a BV algebraic set up. Depending on the nature of the global symmetry, the gauging involves coupling to a pure ghost system with a varying amount of ghostly supersymmetry. Coupling to an N=0$N=0$ ghost system yields an ordinary gauge theory whose observables are appropriately classified by the invariant BV cohomology. Coupling to an N=1$N=1$ ghost system leads to a topological gauge field theory whose observables are classified by the equivariant BV cohomology. Coupling to higher N$N$ ghost systems yields topological gauge field theories with higher topological symmetry. In the latter case, however, problems of a completely new kind emerge, which call for a revision of the standard BV algebraic framework.     

Generalised G 2–Manifolds

We define new Riemannian structures on 7–manifolds by a differential form of mixed degree which is the critical point of a (possibly constrained) variational problem over a fixed cohomology class. The unconstrained critical points generalise the notion of a manifold of holonomy G ₂, while the constrained ones give rise to a new geometry without a classical counterpart. We characterise these structures by means of spinors and show the integrability conditions to be equivalent to the supersymmetry equations on spinors in type II supergravity theory with bosonic background fields. In particular, this geometry can be described by two linear metric connections with skew–symmetric torsion. Finally, we construct explicit examples by introducing the device of T–duality.On leave at: Centre de Mathématiques Ecole Polytechnique 91128 Palaiseau, France. E-mail: fwitt@math.polytechnique.fr     

Conformal symmetry breaking and mass generation

We consider an extension of the supersymmetry formalism in order to include gauge fields. We construct a fiber bundle P(M ₄×{θ}, G) over the superspace with the gauge group as the structural group. We obtain the equations of interacting pure Yang-Mills and massless Higgs fields, considering these fields as the components of the same gauge field. Moreover, by fixing a gauge we generate a mass as a result of the supersymmetry breaking. Supported by Instituto Nacional de Investigacao Cientifica (Lisboa).     

Spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry and gauge invariance in supergravity

Using the new minimal auxiliary fields of N = 1 supergravity it is found possible to construct a model of local supersymmetry which spontaneously breaks both supersymmetry and gauge invariance. The status of the cosmological constant resulting from this breaking is discussed.     

Diagrammar in classical scalar field theory

In this paper we analyze perturbatively a g?⁴classical field theory with and without temperature. In order to do that, we make use of a path-integral approach developed some time ago for classical theories. It turns out that the diagrams appearing at the classical level are many more than at the quantum level due to the presence of extra auxiliary fields in the classical formalism. We shall show that a universal supersymmetry present in the classical path-integral mentioned above is responsible for the cancelation of various diagrams. The same supersymmetry allows the introduction of super-fields and super-diagrams which considerably simplify the calculations and make the classical perturbative calculations almost “identical” formally to the quantum ones. Using the super-diagrams technique, we develop the classical perturbation theory up to third order. We conclude the paper with a perturbative check of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem.     

Auxiliary-field anomalies

In general, quantum corrections to matter-supergravity couplings uniquely determine what are acceptable auxiliary fields for N = 1 supergravity, and partially determine those for N = 2. This is because one-loop corrections produce anomalies in not only the local superscale transformations, but also in the local (Poincaré) supersymmetry transformations themselves, except for special cases: in particular, for N = 1 the $\text{n =}\text{1}\text{3}$ minimimal set of auxiliary fields is uniquely chosen.     

A generalisation of (very) special geometry

We construct non-Abelian on-shell vector multiplets in five and in four dimensions. Closing of the supersymmetry algebra imposes dynamical constraints on the fields, and these constraints should be interpreted as equations of motion. If these field equations should not be derivable from an action, we find that supersymmetry allows a broader class of target-space geometries than the familiar rigid (very) special manifolds. These theories, moreover, have more general potentials due to the possibility of including Fayet–Iliopoulos terms in the non-Abelian case. We show that by introducing an action, we recover the standard results. Finally, we relate the five- and four-dimensional theories through dimensional reduction and discuss the corresponding generalised r-map.     

Dynamical symmetry breaking in SYM theories as a non-semiclassical effect

We study supersymmetry breaking effects in N=1 SYM from the point of view of quantum effective actions. Restrictions on the geometry of the effective potential from superspace are known to be problematic in quantum effective actions, where explicit supersymmetry breaking can and must be studied. On the other hand the true ground state can be determined from this effective action, only. We study the problem whether some parts of superspace geometry are still relevant for the effective potential and discuss whether the ground states found this way justify a low energy approximation based on this geometry. The answer to both questions is negative. Essentially non-semiclassical effects change the behavior of the auxiliary fields completely and lead to the demand of a new interpretation of superspace geometry. These non-semiclassical effects can break supersymmetry. Received: 10 January 2002 / Revised version: 13 April 2002 / Published online: 18 October 2002 RID="*" ID="*" Work supported in part by the Schweizerischer Nationalfonds RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: bergamin@tph.tuwien.ac.at     

The spinning superparticle

Doubly graded massless supersymmetric particle models with both world-line local and space-time global supersymmetry are considered. We describe the first quantization of the model with four-dimensional space-time and N=1 world-line SUSY. Using the Gupta-Bleuler method we obtain as the super wave-function a pair of D=4 chiral spinor superfields with the on-shell spectrum containing scalar and vector multiplets.     

Calculation of BRS cohomology with spectral sequences

A method for finding the general form of the BRS cohomology spaceH for the various gauge and supersymmetry theories is presented. The method is adapted for use in the space of integrated local polynomials of the gauge fields and ghosts with arbitrary numbers of fields and dervivatives. The technique uses the Hodge decomposition in a Fock space with a Euclidean inner product, and combines this with spectral sequences to generate simple and soluble equations whose solutions span a simple spaceE isomorphic to the complicated spaceH. The technique is illustrated for pedagogic purposes by the detailed calculation of the ghost charge zero and one sectors ofH for Yang-Mills theory with gauge groupSO (32) in ten dimensions. The method is appropriate for supersymmetric theories, gravity, supergravity and superstrings where higher order terms with many derivatives occur naturally in the effective action.Research supported in part by the Robert A. Welch Foundation and NSF Grants PHY 77-18762 and PHY 9009850     

Local supersymmetry anomaly in two dimensions

We study the local supersymmetry anomaly by constructing an N = 1 (counted by Majorana-Weyl spinors) chiral supergravity model in two dimensions. There is the local supersymmetry anomaly as well as the gravitational anomaly. We obtain the linearized forms of these anomalies by perturbation calculation. The full non-linear forms are obtained by finding a solution to the Wess-Zumino consistency condition. These anomalies can be derived from the supersymmetric extension of the Chern-Simons invariant in three dimensions.     

Elliptic index and superstring effective actions

Certain N = 1 supersymmetric string one-loop effective actions can be obtained directly from the path integral. As the computation is essentially the same as the one leading to the index of the Dirac-Ramond operator, they are determined by the gauge and gravitational anomaly structure of the theory. Specifically, we calculate the four-point effective action in ten dimensions, the corrections to the kinetic terms in d = 6 (including auxiliary fields) and the Fayet-Iliopoulos D-term in d = 4. We also compute the β-function of four-dimensional N = 2 theories from the elliptic genus in d = 6. Furthermore, we derive supersymmetry Ward type identities in terms of Kac-Moody characters, relating parity conserving with parity violating amplitudes.     

Supercurrents

Supercurrents that provide irreducible off-shell representation of N-extended supersymmetry with maximum $\text{spin}\text{?}\text{1}\text{2}\text{N}$ are constructed as bilinears of massless on-shell superfields. The corresponding prepotentials are derived and used to construct maximally gauge-invariant field theories with maximum $\text{spin}\text{?}\text{1}\text{2}\text{N}$. The construction of non-conformal theories using these irreducible field multiplets is discussed; in particular the superfield form of massive spin 1 is given for N = 2 and compensating fields are proposed for N = 4 Poincarésupergravity. We also show how the components of supercurrents may be simply obtained with the aid of the “tableaux calculus” and we work out in detail several N = 4 and N = 8 examples.     

Superfield Formulation for Non-Relativistic Chern–Simons-Matter Theory

We construct a superfield formulation for non-relativistic Chern–Simons-matter theories with manifest dynamical supersymmetry. By eliminating all the auxiliary fields, we show that the simple action reduces to the one obtained by taking non-relativistic limit from the relativistic Chern–Simons-matter theory proposed in the literature. As a further application, we give a manifestly supersymmetric derivation of the non-relativistic ABJM theory.      

Super p-branes

It is shown that the extension of the spacetime supersymmetric Green-Schwarz covariant action p-dimensional extended objects (p-branes) is possible if and only if the on-shell p-dimensional Bose and Fermi degrees of freedom are equal. This is further evidence for world-tube supersymmetry in these models. All the p-branes models are related to superstring actions in d=3, 4, 6 or 10 dimensions by double dimensional reduction (which we generalise to reduction on arbitrary compact spaces), and we also show how they may be considered as topological defects of supergravity theories.     

Invariance of actions,rheonomy, and the new minimal N = 1 supergravity in the group manifold approach

A new definition of rheonomy is proposed based on Bianchi identities instead of field equation. For theories with auxiliary fields, the transformation rules are obtained in a completely geometrical way and invariance of the action is equivalent to d$\text{P}$ = 0, which means surface-independence of the action integral. For theories without auxiliary fields, the transformation rules are found by requiring that the action be invariant, just as in the component approach. Previous methods of obtaining the transformation rules which start from rheonomy of field equations and use certain recipes to find the off-shell extensions of the rules are abandoned. New minimal supergravity is worked out in detail; it is the gauge theory based on a free differential algebra which includes the auxiliary fields.     

N = 1 superspace formulation of N = 2 and N = 4 super-Yang-Mills models with central charge

The component models of N = 2 and N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories of Sohnius, Stelle and West are reformulated in terms of N = 1 superfields. The non-supersymmetric constraints are supersymmetrized generalizing the linear multiplet in the presence of the non-abelian gauge superfield and (in the N = 4 case) a doublet of chiral superfields. The extended supersymmetry transformations preserving constraints are explicitly given in terms of N = 1 superfields. We are able to introduce the constraints back into the lagrangian using superfield Lagrange multipliers. The on-shell equivalence of this formulation with the formulation of Fayet with one (for N = 2) and three (for N = 4) chiral superfields is shown. The abelian N = 2 model is worked out to show the connection between full superspace treatment and the N = 1 superfield formulation.