Lorentz covariant spin two superspaces

Superalgebras including generators having spins up to two and realisable as tangent vector fields on Lorentz covariant generalised superspaces are considered. The latter have a representation content reminiscent of configuration spaces of (super)gravity theories. The most general canonical supercommutation relations for the corresponding phase space coordinates allowed by Lorentz covariance are discussed. By including generators transforming according to every Lorentz representation having spin up to two, we obtain, from the super Jacobi identities, the complete set of quadratic equations for the Lorentz covariant structure constants. These defining equations for spin two Heisenberg superalgebras are highly overdetermined. Nevertheless, non-trivial solutions can indeed be found. By making some simplifying assumptions, we explicitly construct several classes of these superalgebras.Comment: 20 pages, latex, typos correcte

Democratic Supersymmetry

We present generalisations of N-extended supersymmetry algebras in four dimensions, using Lorentz covariance and invariance under permutation of the N supercharges as selection criteria.Comment: 26 pages, latex fil

Self-duality in Generalized Lorentz Superspaces

We extend the notion of self-duality to spaces built from a set of representations of the Lorentz group with bosonic or fermionic behaviour, not having the traditional spin-one upper-bound of super Minkowski space. The generalized derivative vector fields on such superspaces are assumed to form a superalgebra. Introducing corresponding gauge potentials and hence covariant derivatives and curvatures, we define generalized self-duality as the Lorentz covariant vanishing of certain irreducible parts of the curvatures.Comment: 6 pages, Late

Extended Self-Dual Yang-Mills from the N=2 String

We show that the physical degrees of freedom of the critical open string with N=2 superconformal symmetry on the worldsheet are described by a self-dual Yang-Mills field on a hyperspace parametrised by the coordinates of the target space R^{2,2} together with a commuting chiral spinor. A prepotential for the self-dual connection in the hyperspace generates the infinite tower of physical fields corresponding to the inequivalent pictures or spinor ghost vacua of this string. An action is presented for this tower, which describes consistent interactions amongst fields of arbitrarily high spin. An interesting truncation to a theory of five fields is seen to have no graphs of two or more loops.Comment: 19 pages; typos corrected, note and reference added; published versio

Unravelling the On-shell Constraints of Self-dual Supergravity Theories

We review a construction, using the harmonic space method, of solutions to the superfield equations of motion for N-extended self-dual supergravity theories. A superspace gauge condition suitable for the performance of a component analysis is discussed.Comment: 5 pages, latex using espcrc2.sty, talk at the 29th International Ahreshoop Symposium, Buckow, August 199

Supersymmetric Lorentz-Covariant Hyperspaces and self-duality equations in dimensions greater than (4|4)

We generalise the notions of supersymmetry and superspace by allowing generators and coordinates transforming according to more general Lorentz representations than the spinorial and vectorial ones of standard lore. This yields novel SO(3,1)-covariant superspaces, which we call hyperspaces, having dimensionality greater than (4|4) of traditional super-Minkowski space. As an application, we consider gauge fields on complexifications of these superspaces; and extending the concept of self-duality, we obtain classes of completely solvable equations analogous to the four-dimensional self-duality equations.Comment: 29 pages, late

String-induced Yang-Mills coupling to self-dual gravity

By considering N=2 string amplitudes we determine the (2+2)-dimensional target space action for the physical degrees of freedom: self-dual gravity and self-dual Yang-Mills, together with their respective infinite towers of higher-spin inequivalent picture states. Novel `stringy' couplings amongst these fields are essential ingredients of an action principle for the effective target space field theory. We discuss the covariant description of this theory in terms of self-dual fields on a hyperspace parametrised by the target space coordinate and a commuting chiral spinor.Comment: 20 pages, no figure

Super self-duality for Yang-Mills fields in dimensions greater than four

Self-duality equations for Yang-Mills fields in d-dimensional Euclidean spaces consist of linear algebraic relations amongst the components of the curvature tensor which imply the Yang-Mills equations. For the extension to superspace gauge fields, the super self-duality equations are investigated, namely, systems of linear algebraic relations on the components of the supercurvature, which imply the self-duality equations on the even part of superspace. A group theory based algorithm for finding such systems is developed. Representative examples in various dimensions are provided, including the Spin(7) and G(2) invariant systems in d=8 and 7, respectively.Comment: 51 pages, late

Conserved currents for unconventional supersymmetric couplings of self-dual gauge fields

Self-dual gauge potentials admit supersymmetric couplings to higher-spin fields satisfying interacting forms of the first order Dirac--Fierz equation. The interactions are governed by conserved currents determined by supersymmetry. These super-self-dual Yang-Mills systems provide on-shell supermultiplets of arbitrarily extended super-Poincar\'e algebras; classical consistency not setting any limit on the extension N. We explicitly display equations of motion up to the $N=6$ extension. The stress tensor, which vanishes for the $N\le 3$ self-duality equations, not only gets resurrected when $N=4$, but is then a member of a conserved multiplet of gauge-invariant tensors.Comment: 6 pages, latex fil