Supersymmetric sigma models and the heterotic string
Authors:
C. M. Hull
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Joseph Henry Laboratories, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
Abstract:
We define the (1 + 1)-dimensional supersymmetry algebra of type (p, q) to be that generated by p right-handed Majorana-Weyl supercharges and q left-handed ones. We construct the non-linear sigma models with supersymmetry of type (1,0) and (2,0) and discuss their geometry and their relevance to compactifications of the heterotic superstring. The sigma-model anomalies can be cancelled by a mechanism closely related to that used by Green and Schwarz to cancel gravitational and Yang-Mills anomalies for the superstring.