AdS branes from partial breaking of superconformal symmetries

It is shown how the static-gauge world-volume superfield actions of diverse superbranes on the AdS_d+1 superbackgrounds can be systematically derived from nonlinear realizations of the appropriate AdS supersymmetries. The latter are treated as superconformal symmetries of flat Minkowski superspaces of the bosonic dimension d. Examples include the N = 1 AdS₄ supermembrane, which is associated with the 1/2 partial breaking of the OSp(1|4) supersymmetry down to the N = 1, d = 3 Poincaré supersymmetry, and the T-duality related L3-brane on AdS₅ and scalar 3-brane on AdS₅ × S¹, which are associated with two different patterns of 1/2 breaking of the SU(2, 2|1) supersymmetry. Another (closely related) topic is the AdS/CFT equivalence transformation. It maps the world-volume actions of the codimension-one AdS_d+1 (super)branes onto the actions of the appropriate Minkowski (super)conformal field theories in the dimension d.     

Pseudo-supersymmetry, consistent sphere reduction and Killing spinors for the bosonic string

Certain supergravity theories admit a remarkable consistent dimensional reduction in which the internal space is a sphere. Examples include type IIB supergravity reduced on S⁵, and eleven-dimensional supergravity reduced on S⁴ or S⁷. Consistency means that any solution of the dimensionally-reduced theory lifts to give a solution in the higher dimension. Although supersymmetry seems to play a role in the consistency of these reductions, it cannot be the whole story since consistent sphere reductions of non-supersymmetric theories are also known, such as the reduction of the effective action of the bosonic string in any dimension D on either a 3-sphere or a (D−3)-sphere, retaining the gauge bosons of SO(4) or SO(D−2) respectively. We show that although there is no supersymmetry, there is nevertheless a natural Killing spinor equation for the D-dimensional bosonic string. A projection of the full integrability condition for these Killing spinors gives rise to the bosonic equations of motion (just as happens in the supergravity examples). Thus it appears that by extending the notion of supersymmetry to “pseudo-supersymmetry” in this way, one may be able to obtain a broader understanding of a relation between Killing spinors and consistent sphere reductions.     

Supermembranes and the signature of spacetime

We consider extended objects with s space and t time world-volume dimensions moving in a spacetime with S⩾ s space and T⩾t time dimensions. The requirements of spacetime supersymmetry and world-volume fermionic gauge invariance severely restrict the possible values of S and T. If we furthermore insist that the transverse group SO(S − s, T−t) be compact to avoid ghosts, then t=T. The results may be interpreted as a set of superconformal field theories with s+t⩽6 and N⩽8 whose superconformal groups are in one-to-one correspondence with those in Nahm's classification. Although the choice t = T = 1 is not uniquely singled out, it does seem to play a preferred role.     

Quantum vortex strings: A review

The quantum worldsheet dynamics of vortex strings contains information about the 4d non-Abelian gauge theory in which the string lives. Here I tell this story. The string worldsheet theory is typically some variant of the CP^N-1 sigma-model, describing the orientation of the string in a U(N) gauge group. Qualitative parallels between 2d sigma-models and 4d non-Abelian gauge theories have been known since the 1970s. The vortex string provides a quantitative link between the two. In 4d theories with N=2 supersymmetry, the exact BPS spectrum of the worldsheet coincides with the bulk spectrum in 4d. Moreover, by tuning parameters, the CP^N-1 sigma-model can be coaxed to flow to an interacting conformal fixed point which is related to the 4d Argyres-Douglas fixed point. For theories with N=1 supersymmetry, the worldsheet theory suffers dynamical supersymmetry breaking and, more interestingly, supersymmetry restoration, in a way which captures the physics of Seiberg’s quantum deformed moduli space.     

Radiative corrections in compactified superstring models

One-loop corrections to the effective potential in models obtained from compactification of ten-dimensional superstring theories are calculated. It is found that no masses are generated for gauge non-singlet scalars even in the presence of supersymmetry breaking terms induced by gauge and gaugino condensation, but that the gravitino mass is determined at one loop. The scales of grand unification, supersymmetry breaking and condensation are fixed by the gauge singlet scalars and are found to be close to Planck scale. Requiring M_GUT<M_Planck restricts the other parameters of the theory. The one-loop effective potential at scales between the condensate and compactification scales is also discussed, with possible implications for the allowed particle content of the effective theory.     

On the M5 and the AdS 7/CFT 6 correspondence

The chiral primary operators of the D=6 superconformal (2,0) theory corresponding to 14 scalars of N=4 D=7 supergravity are obtained by expanding the world volume action for the M5-brane around an AdS ₇×S ⁴ background. In the leading order, the operators take their values in the symmetric traceless representation of the SO(5) R-symmetry group in consistency with the early conjecture on their structure based on the superconformal symmetry and Matrix-like model arguments.     

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.     

Supersymmetries and BPS configurations on anti-de Sitter space

We study supersymmetry breaking due to the presence of branes on anti-de Sitter space and obtain conditions for brane orientations not to break too many supersymmetries. Using the conditions, we construct a brane configuration corresponding to a baryon in large N gauge theory, and it is shown that the baryon is a marginal bound state of quarks, as is expected from supersymmetry.     

Radiatively induced spontaneous symmetry breaking and phase transitions in curved spacetime

Local gauge symmetries which are spontaneously broken in flat spacetime are shown to be restored for large spacetime curvatures. The case of symmetry breaking due to radiative quantum corrections in gauge theories with elementary scalar fields is considered explicitly. In spacetimes with a positive Ricci curvature scalar R and a cosmological event horizon, the critical curvature R_C is of O(m_H²) or O(m_W²), depending on whether the theory is formulated with conformal or minimal scalar fields. In Ricci flat spacetimes with a conventional event horizon the symmetry is expected to be restored when the temperature of the Hawking thermal radiation is of O(m_W). This phenomenon is described in detail, using functional integral methods and dimensional renormalization, for massless scalar electro-dynamics in de-Sitter spacetime. For conformal scalars, the symmetry restoring phase transition is first order, the critical curvature being R_C = 0.910 m_H². For minimal scalars, an anomalous, curvature dependent mass counterterm is required. The phase transition in this case is second order, and occurs at R_C = 83.57 m_W². Symmetry restoration at finite temperature in flat spacetime is considered in an appendix. The critical temperature at which a first-order phase transition occurs in the Weinberg-Salam model is found to be T_C = 0.329 m_W.     

Ramond-Neveu-Schwarz string with new boundary conditions

For the Ramond-Neveu-Schwarz string in D space-time dimensions we seek boundary conditions which preserve Poincaré invariance in d dimensions, d<D. We obtain twisted closed and twisted open strings preserving Gervais-Sakita supersymmetry. Covariant BRST quantization yields D=10. For some boundary conditions, partition functions exhibit space-time supersymmetry.     

The light-cone gauge at two loops: The scalar anomalous dimension

We demonstrate that the light-cone gauge is a feasible tool for multi-loop computations by using it to evaluate the two-loop scalar anomalous dimension, γ⁽²⁾, in a general gauge theory. In the special case of supersymmetry we obtain agreement with previous results which were derived using non-light-cone techniques.     

The strong-coupling spectrum of the Seiberg-Witten theory

We carefully study the global structure of the solution of the N = 2 supersymmetric pure Yang-Mills theory with gauge group SU(2) obtained by Seiberg and Witten. We exploit itsZsymmetry and describe the curve in moduli space where BPS states can become unstable, separating the strong-coupling from the weak-coupling region. This allows us to obtain the spectrum of stable BPS states in the strong-coupling region: we prove that only the two particles responsible for the singularities of the solution (the magnetic monopole and the dyon of unit electric charge) are present in this region. Our method also permits us to very easily obtain the weak-coupling spectrum, without using semiclassical methods. We discuss how the BPS states disintegrate when crossing the border from the weak- to the strong-coupling region.     

Moduli Space of BPS Walls in Supersymmetric Gauge Theories

Existence and uniqueness of the solution are proved for the ‘master equation’ derived from the BPS equation for the vector multiplet scalar in the U(1) gauge theory with N _F charged matter hypermultiplets with eight supercharges. This proof establishes that the solutions of the BPS equations are completely characterized by the moduli matrices divided by the V-equivalence relation for the gauge theory at finite gauge couplings. Therefore the moduli space at finite gauge couplings is topologically the same manifold as that at infinite gauge coupling, where the gauged linear sigma model reduces to a nonlinear sigma model. The proof is extended to the U(N _C) gauge theory with N _F hypermultiplets in the fundamental representation, provided the moduli matrix of the domain wall solution is U(1)-factorizable. Thus the dimension of the moduli space of U(N _C) gauge theory is bounded from below by the dimension of the U(1)-factorizable part of the moduli space. We also obtain sharp estimates of the asymptotic exponential decay which depend on both the gauge coupling and the hypermultiplet mass differences.     

Duality symmetry group of two dimensional heterotic string theory

The equations of motion of the massless sector of the two dimensional string theory, obtained by compactifying the heterotic string theory on an eight dimensional torus, is known to have an affine o(8,24) symmetry algebra generating an O(8,24) loop group. In this paper we study how various known discrete S- and T- duality symmetries of the theory are embedded in this loop group. This allows us to identify the generators of the discrete duality symmetry group of the two dimensional string theory.     

Stability analysis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis>)-AdS black holes

We study the stability of the f(R)-AdS (Schwarzschild–AdS) black hole obtained from f(R) gravity. In order to resolve the difficulty of solving fourth-order linearized equations, we transform f(R) gravity into scalar–tensor theory by introducing two auxiliary scalars. In this case, the linearized curvature scalar becomes a dynamical scalaron, showing that all linearized equations are second order. Using the positivity of gravitational potentials and S-deformed technique allows us to guarantee the stability of f(R)-AdS black hole if the scalaron mass squared satisfies the Breitenlohner–Freedman bound. This is confirmed by computing quasinormal frequencies of the scalaron for the f(R)-AdS black hole.     

Algebraic approach to supergravity in superspace

The methods of algebraic geometry are used to construct supergravity theories in a homogeneous superspace OSp(N|4) with structure group Sl(2C) ? O_N and base supermanifold the coset space OSp(N|4)/(Sl(2C)? O_N). The nature and origin of the supersymmetry transformations is completely elucidated. The equations of motion for O₁ and O₂ supergravity are obtained, as the realization of this symmetry on the space-time components h_μ of the “supervierbein”.     

Supersymmetric renormalization group flows

The functional renormalization group equation for the quantum effective action is a powerful tool to investigate non-perturbative phenomena in quantum field theories. We discuss the application of manifest supersymmetric flow equations to the N = 1 Wess-Zumino model in two and three dimensions and the linear O(N) sigma model in three dimensions in the large-N limit. The former is a toy model for dynamical supersymmetry breaking, the latter for an exactly solvable field theory.     

Conversion of second class constraints by deformation of Lagrangian local symmetries

For a theory with first and second class constraints, we propose a procedure for conversion of second class constraints based on deformation the structure of local symmetries of the Lagrangian formulation. It does not require extension or reduction of configuration space of the theory. We give examples in which the initial formulation implies a nonlinear realization of some global symmetries, therefore is not convenient. The conversion reveals hidden symmetry presented in the theory. The extra gauge freedom of conversed version is used to search for a parameterization which linearizes the equations of motion. We apply the above procedure to membrane theory (in the formulation with world-volume metric). In the resulting version, all the metric components are gauge degrees of freedom. The above procedure works also in a theory with only second class constraints presented. As an examples, we discuss arbitrary dynamical system of classical mechanics subject to kinematic constraints, O(N)$O(N)$-invariant nonlinear sigma-model, and the theory of massive vector field with Maxwell–Proca Lagrangian.