7,830 research outputs found
The supermembrane revisited
The M2-brane is studied from the perspective of superembeddings. We review
the derivation of the M2-brane dynamics and the supergravity constraints from
the standard superembedding constraint and we discuss explicitly the induced
d=3, N=8 superconformal geometry on the worldvolume. We show that the gauged
supermembrane, for a target space with a U(1) isometry, is the standard
D2-brane in a type IIA supergravity background. In particular, the D2-brane
action, complete with the Dirac-Born-Infeld term, arises from the gauged
Wess-Zumino worldvolume 4-form via the brane action principle. The discussion
is extended to the massive D2-brane considered as a gauged supermembrane in a
massive D=11 superspace background. Type IIA supergeometry is derived using
Kaluza-Klein techniques in superspace.Comment: Latex, 46 pages, clarifying remarks and references adde
On Brane Actions and Superembeddings
Actions for branes, with or without worldsurface gauge fields, are discussed
in a unified framework. A simple algorithm is given for constructing the
component Green-Schwarz actions. Superspace actions are also discussed. Three
examples are given to illustrate the general procedure: the membrane in D=11
and the D2-brane, which both have on-shell worldsurface supermultiplets, and
the membrane in D=4, which has an off-shell multiplet.Comment: 19 pages, late
Codimension One Branes
We study codimension one branes, i.e. p-branes in (p+2)-dimensions, in the
superembedding approach for the cases where the worldvolume superspace is
embedded in a minimal target superspace with half supersymmetry breaking. This
singles out the cases p=1,2,3,5,9. For p=3,5,9 the superembedding geometry
naturally involves a fundamental super 2-form potential on the worldvolume
whose generalised field strength obeys a constraint deducible from considering
an open supermembrane ending on the p-brane. This constraint, together with the
embedding constraint, puts the system on-shell for p=5 but overconstrains the
9-brane in D=11 such that the Goldstone superfield is frozen. For p=3 these two
constraints give rise to an off-shell linear multiplet on the worldvolume. An
alternative formulation of this case is given in which the linear multiplet is
dualised to an off-shell scalar multiplet. Actions are constructed for both
cases and are shown to give equivalent equations of motion. After gauge fixing
a local Sp(1) symmetry associated with shifts in the Sp(1)_R Goldstone modes,
we find that the auxiliary fields in the scalar multiplet parametrise a
two-sphere. For completeness we also discuss briefly the cases p=1,2 where the
equations of motion (for off-shell multiplets) are obtained from an action
principle.Comment: 38 pages, latex, cover page correcte
L-branes
The superembedding approach to -branes is used to study a class of
-branes which have linear multiplets on the worldvolume. We refer to these
branes as L-branes. Although linear multiplets are related to scalar multiplets
(with 4 or 8 supersymmetries) by dualising one of the scalars of the latter to
a -form field strength, in many geometrical situations it is the linear
multiplet version which arises naturally. Furthermore, in the case of 8
supersymmetries, the linear multiplet is off-shell in contrast to the scalar
multiplet. The dynamics of the L-branes are obtained by using a systematic
procedure for constructing the Green-Schwarz action from the superembedding
formalism. This action has a Dirac-Born-Infeld type structure for the -form.
In addition, a set of equations of motion is postulated directly in superspace,
and is shown to agree with the Green-Schwarz equations of motion.Comment: revised version, minor changes, references added, 22 pages, no
figures, LaTe
Fibre Bundles and Generalised Dimensional Reduction
We study some geometrical and topological aspects of the generalised
dimensional reduction of supergravities in D=11 and D=10 dimensions, which give
rise to massive theories in lower dimensions. In these reductions, a global
symmetry is used in order to allow some of the fields to have a non-trivial
dependence on the compactifying coordinates. Global consistency in the internal
space imposes topological restrictions on the parameters of the
compactification as well as the structure of the space itself. Examples that we
consider include the generalised reduction of the type IIA and type IIB
theories on a circle, and also the massive ten-dimensional theory obtained by
the generalised reduction of D=11 supergravity.Comment: 23 pages, Late
AdS/SCFT in Superspace
A discussion of the AdS/CFT correspondence in IIB is given in a superspace
context. The main emphasis is on the properties of SCFT correlators on the
boundary which are studied using harmonic superspace techniques. These
techniques provide the easiest way of implementing the superconformal Ward
identities. The Ward identities, together with analyticity, can be used to give
a compelling argument in support of the non-renormalisation theorems for two-
and three-point functions, and to establish the triviality of extremal and
next-to-extremal correlation functions. The OPE in is also briefly discussed.Comment: 10 pages; talk given by PSH at 2nd Gursey Memorial Conference, June
200
Einstein-Weyl structures and Bianchi metrics
We analyse in a systematic way the (non-)compact four dimensional
Einstein-Weyl spaces equipped with a Bianchi metric. We show that Einstein-Weyl
structures with a Class A Bianchi metric have a conformal scalar curvature of
constant sign on the manifold. Moreover, we prove that most of them are
conformally Einstein or conformally K\"ahler ; in the non-exact Einstein-Weyl
case with a Bianchi metric of the type or , we show that the
distance may be taken in a diagonal form and we obtain its explicit
4-parameters expression. This extends our previous analysis, limited to the
diagonal, K\"ahler Bianchi case.Comment: Latex file, 12 pages, a minor modification, accepted for publication
in Class. Quant. Gra
BPS Solitons in M5-Brane Worldvolume Theory with Constant Three-Form Field
We study BPS solutions for a self-dual string and a neutral string in
M5-brane worldvolume theory with constant three-form field. We further
generalize such solitons to superpose with a calibrated surface. We also study
a traveling wave on a calibrated surface in the constant three-form field
background.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX, minor correction, added referenc
Lorentz harmonics and superfield action. D=10, N=1 superstring
We propose a new version of the superfield action for a closed D=10, N=1
superstring where the Lorentz harmonics are used as auxiliary superfields. The
incorporation of Lorentz harmonics into the superfield action makes possible to
obtain superfield constraints of the induced worldsheet supergravity as
equations of motion. Moreover, it becomes evident that a so-called 'Wess-Zumino
part' of the superfield action is basically a Lagrangian form of the
generalized action principle. We propose to use the second Noether theorem to
handle the essential terms in the transformation lows of hidden gauge
symmetries, which remove dynamical degrees of freedom from the Lagrange
multiplier superfield.Comment: 23 pages, latex, no figures. V.2, minor corrections, a reference
adde
Maximal supergravity in D=10: forms, Borcherds algebras and superspace cohomology
We give a very simple derivation of the forms of supergravity from
supersymmetry and SL(2,\bbR) (for IIB). Using superspace cohomology we show
that, if the Bianchi identities for the physical fields are satisfied, the
(consistent) Bianchi identities for all of the higher-rank forms must be
identically satisfied, and that there are no possible gauge-trivial Bianchi
identities () except for exact eleven-forms. We also show that the
degrees of the forms can be extended beyond the spacetime limit, and that the
representations they fall into agree with those predicted from Borcherds
algebras. In IIA there are even-rank RR forms, including a non-zero
twelve-form, while in IIB there are non-trivial Bianchi identities for
thirteen-forms even though these forms are identically zero in supergravity. It
is speculated that these higher-rank forms could be non-zero when higher-order
string corrections are included.Comment: 15 pages. Published version. Some clarification of the tex
- …