On The Stability Of Non-Supersymmetric AdS Vacua

We consider two infinite families of Non-Supersymmetric $AdS_4$ vacua, called Type 2) and Type 3) vacua, that arise in massive IIA supergravity with flux. We show that both families are perturbatively stable. We then examine non-perturbative decays of these vacua to other supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric $AdS_4$ vacua mediated by instantons in the thin wall approximation. We find that many decays are ruled out since the tension of the interpolating domain wall is too big compared to the energy difference in AdS units. In fact, within our approximations no decays of Type 2) vacua are allowed, although some decays are only marginally forbidden. This can be understood in terms of a "pairing symmetry" in the landscape which relate Type 2) vacua with supersymmetric ones of the same energy.Comment: 50 pages, Minor changes in section 2.2.

IIA/IIB Supergravity and Ten-forms

We perform a careful investigation of which p-form fields can be introduced consistently with the supersymmetry algebra of IIA and/or IIB ten-dimensional supergravity. In particular the ten-forms, also known as "top-forms", require a careful analysis since in this case, as we will show, closure of the supersymmetry algebra at the linear level does not imply closure at the non-linear level. Consequently, some of the (IIA and IIB) ten-form potentials introduced in earlier work of some of us are discarded. At the same time we show that new ten-form potentials, consistent with the full non-linear supersymmetry algebra can be introduced. We give a superspace explanation of our work. All of our results are precisely in line with the predictions of the E(11) algebra.Comment: 17 page

Generalized gaugings and the field-antifield formalism

We discuss the algebra of general gauge theories that are described by the embedding tensor formalism. We compare the gauge transformations dependent and independent of an invariant action, and argue that the generic transformations lead to an infinitely reducible algebra. We connect the embedding tensor formalism to the field-antifield (or Batalin-Vilkovisky) formalism, which is the most general formulation known for general gauge theories and their quantization. The structure equations of the embedding tensor formalism are included in the master equation of the field-antifield formalism.Comment: 42 pages; v2: some clarifications and 1 reference added; version to be published in JHE

Non-supersymmetric Extremal RN-AdS Black Holes in N=2 Gauged Supergravity

We investigate extremal Reissner-Nordstrom-AdS black holes in four-dimensional N=2 abelian gauged supergravity. We find a new attractor equation which is not reduced to the one in the asymptotically flat spacetime. Focusing on so-called the T^3-model with a single neutral vector multiplet, we obtain non-supersymmetric extremal Reissner-Nordstrom-AdS black hole solutions with regular event horizon in the D0-D4 and the D2-D6 charge configurations. The negative cosmological constant emerges even without the Fayet-Iliopoulos parameters. Furthermore, we also argue the formal description of the non-supersymmetric black hole solutions of the T^3-model and the STU-model in generic configurations.Comment: 23 pages, accepted version in JHE

Absence of a Fermi surface in classical minimal four-dimensional gauged supergravity

We demonstrate that the two point function of the supercurrent dual to the gravitino in the four-dimensional extremal anti-de Sitter Reissner-Nordstrom black hole does not exhibit a Fermi surface singularity. In our analysis, we utilize the ingoing Eddington-Finkelstein coordinate system, which enables us to bypass certain complications in the determination of the allowed near horizon behavior of the gravitino field at zero frequency. We check that our method agrees with previous results for the massless charged Dirac field.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur

Black Hole Hair Removal: Non-linear Analysis

BMPV black holes in flat transverse space and in Taub-NUT space have identical near horizon geometries but different microscopic degeneracies. It has been proposed that this difference can be accounted for by different contribution to the degeneracies of these black holes from hair modes, -- degrees of freedom living outside the horizon. In this paper we explicitly construct the hair modes of these two black holes as finite bosonic and fermionic deformations of the black hole solution satisfying the full non-linear equations of motion of supergravity and preserving the supersymmetry of the original solutions. Special care is taken to ensure that these solutions do not have any curvature singularity at the future horizon when viewed as the full ten dimensional geometry. We show that after removing the contribution due to the hair degrees of freedom from the microscopic partition function, the partition functions of the two black holes agree.Comment: 40 pages, LaTe

Supersymmetric geometries of IIA supergravity I

IIA supergravity backgrounds preserving one supersymmetry locally admit four types of Killing spinors distinguished by the orbits of $Spin(9,1)$ on the space of spinors. We solve the Killing spinor equations of IIA supergravity with and without cosmological constant for Killing spinors representing two of these orbits, with isotropy groups $Spin(7)$ and $Spin(7)\ltimes\mathbb{R}^8$. In both cases, we identify the geometry of spacetime and express the fluxes in terms of the geometry. We find that the geometric constraints of backgrounds with a $Spin(7)\ltimes\mathbb{R}^8$ invariant Killing spinor are identical to those found for heterotic backgrounds preserving one supersymmetry.Comment: 21 page

The Tensor Hierarchies of Pure N=2,d=4,5,6 Supergravities

We study the supersymmetric tensor hierarchy of pure (gauged) N=2,d=4,5,6 supergravity and compare them with those of the pure, ungauged, theories (worked out by Gomis and Roest for d=5) and the predictions of the Kac-Moody approach made by Kleinschmidt and Roest. We find complete agreement in the ungauged case but we also find that, after gauging, new Stueckelberg symmetries reduce the number of independent "physical" top-forms. The analysis has to be performed to all orders in fermion fields. We discuss the construction of the worldvolume effective actions for the p-branes which are charged with respect to the (p+1)-form potentials and the relations between the tensor hierarchies and p-branes upon dimensional reduction.Comment: LaTeX2e file, 20 pages, 1 figure Results refined by extension of the analysis to all orders in fermion

Spacetime Noncommutativity in Models with Warped Extradimensions

We construct consistent noncommutative (NC) deformations of the Randall-Sundrum spacetime that solve the NC Einstein equations with a non-trivial Poisson tensor depending on the fifth coordinate. In a class of these deformations where the Poisson tensor is exponentially localized on one of the branes (the NC-brane), we study the effects on bulk particles in terms of Lorentz-violating operators induced by NC-brane interactions. We sketch two models in which massive bulk particles mediate NC effects to an almost-commutative SM-brane, such that observables at high energy colliders are enhanced with respect to low energy and astrophysical observables.Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX, pdf figures included, to appear in JHE

Rotating BPS black holes in matter-coupled AdS(4) supergravity

Using the general recipe given in arXiv:0804.0009, where all timelike supersymmetric solutions of N=2, D=4 gauged supergravity coupled to abelian vector multiplets were classified, we construct genuine rotating supersymmetric black holes in AdS(4) with nonconstant scalar fields. This is done for the SU(1,1)/U(1) model with prepotential F=-iX^0X^1. In the static case, the black holes are uplifted to eleven dimensions, and generalize the solution found in hep-th/0105250 corresponding to membranes wrapping holomorphic curves in a Calabi-Yau five-fold. The constructed rotating black holes preserve one quarter of the supersymmetry, whereas their near-horizon geometry is one half BPS. Moreover, for constant scalars, we generalize (a supersymmetric subclass of) the Plebanski-Demianski solution of cosmological Einstein-Maxwell theory to an arbitrary number of vector multiplets. Remarkably, the latter turns out to be related to the dimensionally reduced gravitational Chern-Simons action.Comment: 23 pages, uses JHEP3.cl