'Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Architecture'
Abstract
Scherk-Schwarz reductions are a generalization of Kaluza-Klein reductions in which the higher dimensional fields are allowed to have a dependence on the compactiifed coordinates. This is possible only if the higher dimensional theory has a global symmetry and the dependence is dictated by this symmetry. In this thesis we consider generalised Scherk Schwarz reductions of supergravity and superstring theories with twists by electromagnetic dualities that are symmetries of the equations of motion but not of the action, such as the S-duality of ÞD=4, N=4Þ super-Yang-Mills coupled to supergravity. The reduction cannot be done on the action itself, but must be done either on the field equations or on a duality invariant form of the action, such as one in the doubled formalism in which potentials are introduced for both electric and magnetic fields. The resulting theory in odd dimensions has massive form fields satisfying a self-duality condition ÞdAPh.D. - Doctoral Progra