163 research outputs found
Ectoplasm with an Edge
The construction of supersymmetric invariant actions on a spacetime manifold
with a boundary is carried out using the "ectoplasm" formalism for the
construction of closed forms in superspace. Non-trivial actions are obtained
from the pull-backs to the bosonic bodies of closed but non-exact forms in
superspace; finding supersymmetric invariants thus becomes a cohomology
problem. For a spacetime with a boundary, the appropriate mathematical language
changes to relative cohomology, which we use to give a general formulation of
off-shell supersymmetric invariants in the presence of boundaries. We also
relate this construction to the superembedding formalism for the construction
of brane actions, and we give examples with bulk spacetimes of dimension 3, 4
and 5. The closed superform in the 5D example needs to be constructed as a
Chern-Simons type of invariant, obtained from a closed 6-form displaying Weil
triviality.Comment: 25 page
Evidence for the classical integrability of the complete AdS(4) x CP(3) superstring
We construct a zero-curvature Lax connection in a sub-sector of the
superstring theory on AdS(4) x CP(3) which is not described by the
OSp(6|4)/U(3) x SO(1,3) supercoset sigma-model. In this sub-sector worldsheet
fermions associated to eight broken supersymmetries of the type IIA background
are physical fields. As such, the prescription for the construction of the Lax
connection based on the Z_4-automorphism of the isometry superalgebra OSp(6|4)
does not do the job. So, to construct the Lax connection we have used an
alternative method which nevertheless relies on the isometry of the target
superspace and kappa-symmetry of the Green-Schwarz superstring.Comment: 1+26 pages; v2: minor typos corrected, acknowledgements adde
Maximally Supersymmetric Yang-Mills in five dimensions in light-cone superspace
We formulate maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in five dimensions in
light-cone superspace. The light-cone Hamiltonian is of the quadratic form and
the theory can be understood as an oxidation of the N=4 Super Yang-Mills Theory
in four dimensions. We specifically study three-point counterterms and show how
these counterterms vanish on-shell. This study is a preliminary to set up the
technique in order to study possible four-point counterterms.Comment: 25 pages, typos corrected, references adde
Ten-Dimensional Super-Twistors and Super-Yang-Mills
Four-dimensional super-twistors provide a compact covariant description of
on-shell N=4 d=4 super-Yang-Mills. In this paper, ten-dimensional
super-twistors are introduced which similarly provide a compact covariant
description of on-shell d=10 super-Yang-Mills. The super-twistor variables are
Z=(lambda^alpha, mu_alpha, Gamma^m) where lambda^alpha and mu_alpha are
constrained bosonic d=10 spinors and Gamma^m is a constrained fermionic d=10
vector. The Penrose map relates the twistor superfield Phi(Z) with the d=10
super-Yang-Mills vertex operator lambda^alpha A_alpha(x,theta) which appears in
the pure spinor formalism of the superstring, and the cubic super-Yang-Mills
amplitude is proportional to the super-twistor integral \int dZ Phi_1 Phi_2
Phi_3.Comment: 14 pages harvmac, added short clarificatio
Gauge and Supersymmetric Invariance of a Boundary Bagger-Lambert-Gustavsson Theory
In this paper we will discuss the effect of a having a boundary on the
supersymmetric invariance and gauge invariance of the Bagger-Lambert-Gustavsson
(BLG) Theory. We will show that even though the supersymmetry and gauge
invariance of the original BLG theory is broken due to the presence of a
boundary, it restored by the addition of suitable boundary terms. In fact, to
achieve the gauge invariance of this theory, we will have to introduce new
boundary degrees of freedom. The boundary theory obeyed by these new boundary
degrees of freedom will be shown to be a generalization of the gauged
Wess-Zumino-Witten model, with the generators of the Lie algebra replaced by
the generators of the Lie 3-algebra. The gauge and supersymmetry variations of
the boundary theory will exactly cancel the boundary terms generated by the
gauge and supersymmetric variations of the bulk theory.Comment: 15 pages, 0 figures, accepted for publication in JHE
Understanding plant invasions: An example of working with citizen scientists to collect environmental data
Citizen science programs are useful tools for collecting important environmental science data. To ensure data quality, however, it must be shown that data collected by volunteers can produce reliable results. We engaged 143 volunteers over four years to map and estimate abundance of invasive plants in New York and New Jersey parklands. We found that off trail abundance of only a few of our targeted invasive species were positively correlated with on trail abundance. Our results support that citizen science programs can be a useful and sometimes a much needed addition to environmental science protocols
Bi-harmonic superspace for N=4 d=4 super Yang-Mills
We develop N=4 d=4 bi-harmonic superspace and use it to derive a novel form
for the low-energy effective action in N=4 super Yang-Mills theory. We solve
the N=4 supergauge constraints in this superspace in terms of analytic
superfields. Using these superfields, we construct a simple functional that
respects N=4 supersymmetry and scale invariance. In components, it reproduces
all on-shell terms in the four-derivative part of the N=4 SYM effective action;
in particular, the F^4/X^4 and Wess-Zumino terms. The latter comes out in a
novel SO(3) x SO(3)-invariant form.Comment: 1+19 pages; minor corrections, references adde
D=7 / D=6 Heterotic Supergravity with Gauged R-Symmetry
We construct a family of chiral anomaly-free supergravity theories in D=6
starting from D=7 supergravity with a gauged noncompact R-symmetry, employing a
Horava-Witten bulk-plus-boundary construction. The gauged noncompact R-symmetry
yields a positive (de Sitter sign) D=6 scalar field potential. Classical
anomaly inflow which is needed to cancel boundary-field loop anomalies requires
careful consideration of the gravitational, gauge, mixed and local
supersymmetry anomalies. Coupling of boundary hypermultiplets requires care
with the Sp(1) gauge connection required to obtain quaternionic Kahler target
manifolds in D=6. This class of gauged R-symmetry models may be of use as
starting points for further compactifications to D=4 that take advantage of the
positive scalar potential, such as those proposed in the scenario of
supersymmetry in large extra dimensions.Comment: 43 pages, plain Latex; Clarification of discussion and references
adde
The Worldvolume Action of Kink Solitons in AdS Spacetime
A formalism is presented for computing the higher-order corrections to the
worldvolume action of co-dimension one solitons. By modifying its potential, an
explicit "kink" solution of a real scalar field in AdS spacetime is found. The
formalism is then applied to explicitly compute the kink worldvolume action to
quadratic order in two expansion parameters--associated with the hypersurface
fluctuation length and the radius of AdS spacetime respectively. Two
alternative methods are given for doing this. The results are expressed in
terms of the trace of the extrinsic curvature and the intrinsic scalar
curvature. In addition to conformal Galileon interactions, we find a
non-Galileon term which is never sub-dominant. This method can be extended to
any conformally flat bulk spacetime.Comment: 32 pages, 3 figures, typos corrected and additional comments adde
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