Domain Walls on the Brane

We show that all branes admit worldvolume domain wall solutions. We find one class of solutions for which the tension of the brane changes discontinuously along the domain wall. These solutions are not supersymmetric. We argue that there is another class of domain wall solutions which is supersymmetric. A particular case concerns supersymmetric domain wall solutions on IIB D-5- and NS-5-branes.Comment: 18 pages, Tex, uses phyzz

Q7-branes and their coupling to IIB supergravity

We show how, by making use of a new basis of the IIB supergravity axion-dilaton coset, SL(2,R)/SO(2), 7-branes that belong to different conjugacy classes of the duality group SL(2,R) naturally couple to IIB supergravity with appropriate source terms characterized by an SL(2,R) charge matrix Q. The conjugacy classes are determined by the value of the determinant of Q. The (p,q) 7-branes are the branes in the conjugacy class detQ = 0. The 7-branes in the conjugacy class detQ > 0 are labelled by three numbers (p,q,r) which parameterize the matrix Q and will be called Q7-branes. We construct the full bosonic Wess--Zumino term for the Q7-branes. In order to realize a gauge invariant coupling of the Q7-brane to the gauge fields of IIB supergravity it is necessary to introduce an SL(2,R) doublet of two distinct Born--Infeld fields on the Q7-brane world-volume.Comment: 31 pages, Latex fil

Kappa-symmetric SL(2,R) covariant D-brane actions

A superspace formulation of IIB supergravity which includes the field strengths of the duals of the usual physical one, three and five-form field strengths as well as the eleven-form field strength is given. The superembedding formalism is used to construct kappa-symmetric SL(2,R) covariant D-brane actions in an arbitrary supergravity background.Comment: 20 pages. Minor clarification in text. References adde

Duality of Type II 7-branes and 8-branes

We present a version of ten-dimensional IIA supergravity containing a 9-form potential for which the field equations are equivalent to those of the standard, massless, IIA theory for vanishing 10-form field strength, $F_{10}$, and to those of the `massive' IIA theory for non-vanishing $F_{10}$. We present a multi 8-brane solution of these equations that generalizes the 8-brane of Polchinski and Witten. We show that this solution is T-dual to a new multi 7-brane solution of $S^1$ compactified IIB supergravity, and that the latter is T-dual to the IIA 6-brane. When combined with the $Sl(2;\Z)$ U-duality of the type IIB superstring, the T-duality between type II 7-branes and 8-branes implies a quantization of the cosmological constant of type IIA superstring theory. These results are made possible by the construction of a new {\it massive} N=2 D=9 supergravity theory. We also discuss the 11-dimensional interpretation of these type II p-branes.Comment: Includes corrections to last section that will appear in the version to be published in Nuclear Physics B. 36 pp. Phyzz

IIA/IIB Supergravity and Ten-forms

We perform a careful investigation of which p-form fields can be introduced consistently with the supersymmetry algebra of IIA and/or IIB ten-dimensional supergravity. In particular the ten-forms, also known as "top-forms", require a careful analysis since in this case, as we will show, closure of the supersymmetry algebra at the linear level does not imply closure at the non-linear level. Consequently, some of the (IIA and IIB) ten-form potentials introduced in earlier work of some of us are discarded. At the same time we show that new ten-form potentials, consistent with the full non-linear supersymmetry algebra can be introduced. We give a superspace explanation of our work. All of our results are precisely in line with the predictions of the E(11) algebra.Comment: 17 page

Higher Derivative Extension of 6D Chiral Gauged Supergravity

Six-dimensional (1,0) supersymmetric gauged Einstein-Maxwell supergravity is extended by the inclusion of a supersymmetric Riemann tensor squared invariant. Both the original model as well as the Riemann tensor squared invariant are formulated off-shell and consequently the total action is off-shell invariant without modification of the supersymmetry transformation rules. In this formulation, superconformal techniques, in which the dilaton Weyl multiplet plays a crucial role, are used. It is found that the gauging of the U(1) R-symmetry in the presence of the higher-order derivative terms does not modify the positive exponential in the dilaton potential. Moreover, the supersymmetric Minkowski(4) x S^2 compactification of the original model, without the higher-order derivatives, is remarkably left intact. It is shown that the model also admits non-supersymmetric vacuum solutions that are direct product spaces involving de Sitter spacetimes and negative curvature internal spaces.Comment: 32 pages; typos corrected, footnote in conclusions section adde

The identification of conformal hypercomplex and quaternionic manifolds

We review the map between hypercomplex manifolds that admit a closed homothetic Killing vector (i.e. `conformal hypercomplex' manifolds) and quaternionic manifolds of 1 dimension less. This map is related to a method for constructing supergravity theories using superconformal techniques. An explicit relation between the structure of these manifolds is presented, including curvatures and symmetries. An important role is played by `\xi transformations', relating connections on quaternionic manifolds, and a new type `\hat\xi transformations' relating complex structures on conformal hypercomplex manifolds. In this map, the subclass of conformal hyper-Kaehler manifolds is mapped to quaternionic-Kaehler manifolds.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures, Contribution to the proceedings volume for the Conference "Symmetry in Geometry and Physics" in honour of Dmitri Alekseevsky, September 200

Spectrum of Higher Derivative 6D Chiral Supergravity

Gauged off-shell Maxwell-Einstein supergravity in six dimensions with N=(1,0) supersymmetry has a higher derivative extension afforded by a supersymmetrized Riemann squared term. This theory admits a supersymmetric Minkowski x S^2 compactification with a U(1) monopole of unit charge on S^2. We determine the full spectrum of the theory on this background. We also determine the spectrum on a non-supersymmetric version of this compactification in which the monopole charge is different from unity, and we find the peculiar feature that there are massless gravitini in a representation of the S^2 isometry group determined by the monopole charge.Comment: typos correcte

Classical resolution of singularities in dilaton cosmologies

For models of dilaton-gravity with a possible exponential potential, such as the tensor-scalar sector of IIA supergravity, we show how cosmological solutions correspond to trajectories in a 2D Milne space (parametrized by the dilaton and the scale factor). Cosmological singularities correspond to points at which a trajectory meets the Milne horizon, but the trajectories can be smoothly continued through the horizon to an instanton solution of the Euclidean theory. We find some exact cosmology/instanton solutions that lift to black holes in one higher dimension. For one such solution, the singularities of a big crunch to big bang transition mediated by an instanton phase lift to the black hole and cosmological horizons of de Sitter Schwarzschild spacetimes.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figure

Domain walls and instantons in N=1, d=4 supergravity

We study the supersymmetric sources of (multi-) domain-wall and (multi-) instanton solutions of generic N=1, d=4 supergravities, that is: the worldvolume effective actions for said supersymmetric topological defects. The domain-wall solutions naturally couple to the two 3-forms recently found as part of the N=1, d=4 tensor hierarchy (i.e. they have two charges in general) and their tension is the absolute value of the superpotential section L. The introduction of sources (we study sources with finite and vanishing thickness) is equivalent to the introduction of local coupling constants and results in dramatic changes of the solutions. Our results call for a democratic reformulation of N=1,d=4 supergravity in which coupling constants are, off-shell, scalar fields. The effective actions for the instantons are always proportional to the coordinate orthogonal to the twist-free embedding of the null-geodesic (in the Wick-rotated scalar manifold) describing the instanton. We show their supersymmetry and find the associated supersymmetric (multi-) instanton solutions.Comment: 34 pages, 4 figures, references adde