Branes in Anti de Sitter Space-Time

An intense study of the relationship between certain quantum theories of gravity realized on curved backgrounds and suitable gauge theories, has been originated by a remarkable conjecture put forward by Maldacena almost one year ago. Among the possible curved vacua of superstring or M-theory, spaces having the form of an Anti-de Sitter space-time times a compact Einstein manifold, have been playing a special role in this correspondence, since the quantum theory realized on them, in the original formulation of the conjecture, was identified with the effective superconformal theory on the world volume of parallel p-branes set on the boundary of such a space (holography). An important step in order to verify such a conjecture and eventually generalize it, consists in a precise definition of the objects entering both sides of the holographic correspondence. In the most general case indeed it turns out that important features of the field theory on the boundary of the curved background, identified with the quantum theory of gravity in the bulk, are encoded in the dynamics of the coinciding parallel p-branes set on the boundary of the same space. The study of p-brane dynamics in curved space-times which are vacua of superstring of M-theory, turns out therefore to be a relevant issue in order to verify the existence of the holographic correspondence. In the present paper, besides providing a hopefully elementary introduction to Maldacena's duality, I shall deal in a tentatively self contained way with a particular aspect of the problem of p-brane dynamics in Anti-de Sitter space-time, discussing some recent results.Comment: Talk given at the XII Congress of General Relativity (SIGRAV), Bari 21-25 Sept. 1998, 1 LaTeX file, 16 page

N=8 BPS black holes preserving 1/8 supersymmetry

In the context of N=8 supergravity we consider BPS black-holes that preserve 1/8 supersymmetry. It was shown in a previous paper that, modulo U-duality transformations of E_{7(7)} the most general solution of this type can be reduced to a black-hole of the STU model. In this paper we analize this solution in detail, considering in particular its embedding in one of the possible Special K\"ahler manifold compatible with the consistent truncations to N=2 supergravity, this manifold being the moduli space of the T^6/Z^3 orbifold, that is: SU(3,3)/SU(3)*U(3). This construction requires a crucial use of the Solvable Lie Algebra formalism. Once the group-theoretical analisys is done, starting from a static, spherically symmetric ans\"atz, we find an exact solution for all the scalars (both dilaton and axion-like) and for gauge fields, together with their already known charge-dependent fixed values, which yield a U-duality invariant entropy. We give also a complete translation dictionary between the Solvable Lie Algebra and the Special K\"ahler formalisms in order to let comparison with other papers on similar issues being more immediate. Although the explicit solution is given in a simplified case where the equations turn out to be more manageable, it encodes all the features of the more general one, namely it has non-vanishing entropy and the scalar fields have a non-trivial radial dependence.Comment: 29+1 pages, 1 Latex file; a misprint in the entropy formula, eq.(5.14), correcte

Unusual gauged supergravities from type IIA and type IIB orientifolds

We analyse different N=4 supergravities coupled to six vector multiplets corresponding to low-energy descriptions of the bulk sector of T6/Z2 orientifolds with p-brane in IIB (p odd) and in IIA (p even) superstrings. When fluxes are turned on, a gauging emerges corresponding to some non-semisimple Lie algebra related to nilpotent algebras N_p inside so(6,6), with dimension 15 + (p-3)(9-p). The non-metric axions have Stueckelberg couplings that induce a spontaneous breaking of gauge symmetries. In four cases the gauge algebra is non-abelian with a non-commutative structure of the compactification torus, due to fluxes of NS-NS and R-R forms.Comment: 13 pages, LaTe

Evidence for a family of SO(8) gauged supergravity theories

In this note we discuss the classification of duality orbits of N = 8 gauged supergravity models. Using tensor classifiers, we show that there is a one-parameter family of inequivalent SO(8) gauged supergravity theories. We briefly discuss the couplings of such models and show that, although the maximally symmetric vacuum has the same quadratic spectrum, the supersymmetry transformations, the couplings and the scalar potential are parameter dependent. We also comment on the possible M-theory uplift and on the meaning of the parameter for the dual gauge theories.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. v2: improved presentation. References fixe

Orientifolds, Brane Coordinates and Special Geometry

We report on the gauged supergravity analysis of Type IIB vacua on K3x T2/Z2 orientifold in the presence of D3-D7-branes and fluxes. We discuss supersymmetric critical points correspond to Minkowski vacua and the related fixing of moduli, finding agreement with previous analysis. An important role is played by the choice of the symplectic holomorphic sections of special geometry which enter the computation of the scalar potential. The related period matrix N is explicitly given. The relation between the special geometry and the Born--Infeld action for the brane moduli is elucidated.Comment: 24 pages, contribution to the proceedings of "DeserFest", Ann Arbor, Michigan, 3-6 April 200

Spontaneously broken supergravity: Old and new facts

We report on some recent investigations of the structure of the four dimensional gauged supergravity Lagrangian which emerges from flux and Scherk-Schwarz compactifications in higher dimensions. Special attention is given to the gauge structure of M-theory compactified on a seven torus with 4-form and geometrical (spin connection) fluxes turned on. A class of vacua, with flat space-time and described by ``no-scale'' supergravity models, is analyzed.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX file, imprecise statement correcte

The cc-map, Tits Satake subalgebras and the search for N=2\mathcal{N}=2 inflaton potentials

In this paper we address the general problem of including inflationary models exhibiting Starobinsky-like potentials into (symmetric) $\mathcal{N}=2$ supergravities. This is done by gauging suitable abelian isometries of the hypermultiplet sector and then truncating the resulting theory to a single scalar field. By using the characteristic properties of the global symmetry groups of the $\mathcal{N}=2$ supergravities we are able to make a general statement on the possible $\alpha$-attractor models which can obtained upon truncation. We find that in symmetric $\mathcal{N}=2$ models group theoretical constraints restrict the allowed values of the parameter $\alpha$ to be $\alpha=1,\,\frac{2}{3},\, \frac{1}{3}$. This confirms and generalizes results recently obtained in the literature. Our analysis heavily relies on the mathematical structure of symmetric $\mathcal{N}=2$ supergravities, in particular on the so called $c$-map connection between Quaternionic K\"ahler manifolds starting from Special K\"ahler ones. A general statement on the possible consistent truncations of the gauged models, leading to Starobinsky-like potentials, requires the essential help of Tits Satake universality classes. The paper is mathematically self-contained and aims at presenting the involved mathematical structures to a public not only of physicists but also of mathematicians. To this end the main mathematical structures and the general gauging procedure of $\mathcal{N}=2$ supergravities is reviewed in some detail.Comment: 101 pages, LaTeX sourc

Black hole solutions to the F4F_4-model and their orbits (I)

In this paper we continue the program of the classification of nilpotent orbits using the approach developed in arXiv:1107.5986, within the study of black hole solutions in D=4 supergravities. Our goal in this work is to classify static, single center black hole solutions to a specific N=2 four dimensional "magic" model, with special K\"ahler scalar manifold ${\rm Sp}(6,\mathbb{R})/{\rm U}(3)$, as orbits of geodesics on the pseudo-quaternionic manifold ${\rm F}_{4(4)}/[{\rm SL}(2,\mathbb{R})\times {\rm Sp}(6,\mathbb{R})]$ with respect to the action of the isometry group ${\rm F}_{4(4)}$. Our analysis amounts to the classification of the orbits of the geodesic "velocity" vector with respect to the isotropy group $H^*={\rm SL}(2,\mathbb{R})\times {\rm Sp}(6,\mathbb{R})$, which include a thorough classification of the \emph{nilpotent orbits} associated with extremal solutions and reveals a richer structure than the one predicted by the $\beta-\gamma$ labels alone, based on the Kostant Sekiguchi approach. We provide a general proof of the conjecture made in arXiv:0908.1742 which states that regular single center solutions belong to orbits with coinciding $\beta-\gamma$ labels. We also prove that the reverse is not true by finding distinct orbits with the same $\beta-\gamma$ labels, which are distinguished by suitably devised tensor classifiers. Only one of these is generated by regular solutions. Since regular static solutions only occur with nilpotent degree not exceeding 3, we only discuss representatives of these orbits in terms of black hole solutions. We prove that these representatives can be found in the form of a purely dilatonic four-charge solution (the generating solution in D=3) and this allows us to identify the orbit corresponding to the regular four-dimensional metrics.Comment: 81 pages, 24 tables, new section 4.4 about the fake superpotential added, typos corrected, references added, accepted in Nuclear Physics B.