Rigid 4D N=2 supersymmetric backgrounds and actions

We classify all N=2 rigid supersymmetric backgrounds in four dimensions with both Lorentzian and Euclidean signature that preserve eight real supercharges, up to discrete identifications. Among the backgrounds we find specific warpings of S^3 x R and AdS_3 x R, AdS_2 x S^2 and H^2 x S^2 with generic radii, and some more exotic geometries. We provide the generic two-derivative rigid vector and hypermultiplet actions and analyze the conditions imposed on the special Kahler and hyperkahler target spaces.Comment: 50 + 17 pages; v2: minor corrections, published versio

Non-renormalization theorems and N=2 supersymmetric backgrounds

The conditions for fully supersymmetric backgrounds of general N=2 locally supersymmetric theories are derived based on the off-shell superconformal multiplet calculus. This enables the derivation of a non-renormalization theorem for a large class of supersymmetric invariants with higher-derivative couplings. The theorem implies that the invariant and its first order variation must vanish in a fully supersymmetric background. The conjectured relation of one particular higher-derivative invariant with a specific five-dimensional invariant containing the mixed gauge-gravitational Chern-Simons term is confirmed.Comment: 30 pages; v2: minor correction

Het verband tussen publiek belang en ontwerp bij het internet der dingen

Het internet der dingen levert een schat aan gegevens (“big data”) op over persoonlijk gedrag. Bij de benutting van deze gegevens is sprake van verschillende vormen van publiek belang waarvoor de overheid borgingsmechanismen in werking dient te stellen. Daarbij gaat het enerzijds om goede beschikbaarheid van gegevens, om opheffen van informatieasymmetrie als vorm van marktfalen, en anderzijds om het bieden van rechtsbescherming ten aanzien van veiligheid en privacy. In dit artikel bespreken wij hoe vanuit de principaal/agent benadering van regelgeving ten aanzien van borging van de verschillende onderdelen van het publiek belang het ontwerpproces van applicaties en systemen in het internet der dingen het best kan worden vormgegeven. Het voorbeeld van de slimme thermostaat Toon® leert hoe de samenwerking tussen ontwerpers en software ingenieurs heeft bijgedragen aan zowel een goede bescherming van de gegevens als aan een mogelijke prikkel tot energiebesparing

Deep-learned Top Tagging with a Lorentz Layer

We introduce a new and highly efficient tagger for hadronically decaying top quarks, based on a deep neural network working with Lorentz vectors and the Minkowski metric. With its novel machine learning setup and architecture it allows us to identify boosted top quarks not only from calorimeter towers, but also including tracking information. We show how the performance of our tagger compares with QCD-inspired and image-recognition approaches and find that it significantly increases the performance for strongly boosted top quarks.Comment: v3: minor revisions following SciPost referee report

Nonlinear sigma models with AdS supersymmetry in three dimensions

In three-dimensional anti-de Sitter (AdS) space, there exist several realizations of N-extended supersymmetry, which are traditionally labelled by two non-negative integers p>=q such that p+q=N. Different choices of p and q, with N fixed, prove to lead to different restrictions on the target space geometry of supersymmetric nonlinear sigma-models. We classify all possible types of hyperkahler target spaces for the cases N=3 and N=4 by making use of two different realizations for the most general (p,q) supersymmetric sigma-models: (i) off-shell formulations in terms of N=3 and N=4 projective supermultiplets; and (ii) on-shell formulations in terms of covariantly chiral scalar superfields in (2,0) AdS superspace. Depending on the type of N=3,4 AdS supersymmetry, nonlinear sigma-models can support one of the following target space geometries: (i) hyperkahler cones; (ii) non-compact hyperkahler manifolds with a U(1) isometry group which acts non-trivially on the two-sphere of complex structures; (iii) arbitrary hyperkahler manifolds including compact ones. The option (iii) is realized only in the case of critical (4,0) AdS supersymmetry. As an application of the (4,0) AdS techniques developed, we also construct the most general nonlinear sigma-model in Minkowski space with a non-centrally extended N=4 Poincare supersymmetry. Its target space is a hyperkahler cone (which is characteristic of N=4 superconformal sigma-models), but the sigma-model is massive. The Lagrangian includes a positive potential constructed in terms of the homothetic conformal Killing vector the target space is endowed with. This mechanism of mass generation differs from the standard one which corresponds to a sigma-model with the ordinary N=4 Poincare supersymmetry and which makes use of a tri-holomorphic Killing vector.Comment: 109 pages; V2: comments adde

N=2N=2 dilaton Weyl multiplet in 4D supergravity

We construct the dilaton Weyl multiplet for $N=2$ conformal supergravity in four dimensions. Beginning from an on-shell vector multiplet coupled to the standard Weyl multiplet, the equations of motion can be used to eliminate the supergravity auxiliary fields, following a similar pattern as in five and six dimensions. The resulting 24+24 component multiplet includes two gauge vectors and a gauge two-form and provides a variant formulation of $N=2$ conformal supergravity. We also show how this dilaton Weyl multiplet is contained in the minimal 32+32 Poincare supergravity multiplet introduced by Muller in superspace.Comment: 15 page