arXiv subjects

Daniel Butter

Publications and source records attributed to Daniel Butter.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Generalized Dualities and Supergroups

Using a recently developed formulation of double field theory in superspace, the graviton, $B$-field, gravitini, dilatini, and Ramond-Ramond bispinor are encoded in a single generalized supervielbein. Duality transformations are encoded as orthosymplectic transformations, extending the bosonic $O(D,D)$ duality group, and these act on all constituents of the supervielbein in an easily computable way. We first review conventional non-abelian T-duality in the Green-Schwarz superstring and describe the dual geometries in the language of double superspace. Since dualities are related to super-Killing vectors, this includes as special cases both abelian and non-abelian fermionic T-duality. We then extend this approach to include Poisson-Lie T-duality and its generalizations, including the generalized coset construction recently discussed in arXiv:1912.11036. As an application, we construct the supergeometries associated with the integrable $\lambda$ and $\eta$ deformations of the $AdS_5 \times S^5$ superstring. The deformation parameters $\lambda$ and $\eta$ are identified with the possible one-parameter embeddings of the supergravity frame within the doubled supergeometry. In this framework, the Ramond-Ramond bispinors are directly computable purely from the algebraic data of the supergroup.

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arXiv2022

Consistent Truncations and Dualities

Recent progress in generalised geometry and extended field theories suggests a deep connection between consistent truncations and dualities, which is not immediately obvious. A prime example is generalised Scherk-Schwarz reductions in double field theory, which have been shown to be in one-to-one correspondence with Poisson-Lie T-duality. Here we demonstrate that this relation is only the tip of the iceberg. Currently, the most general known classes of T-dualities (excluding mirror symmetry) are based on dressing cosets. But as we discuss, they can be further extended to the even larger class of generalised cosets. We prove that the latter give rise to consistent truncations for which the ansatz can be constructed systematically. Hence, we pave the way for many new examples of T-dualities and consistent truncations. The arising structures result in covariant tensors with more than two derivatives and we argue how they might be key to understand generalised T-dualities and consistent truncations beyond the leading two derivative level.

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arXiv2022

Type II Double Field Theory in Superspace

We explore type II supersymmetric double field theory in superspace. The double supervielbein is an element of the orthosymplectic group OSp(10,10|64), which also governs the structure of generalized superdiffeomorphisms. Unlike bosonic double field theory, the local tangent space must be enhanced from the double Lorentz group in order to eliminate unphysical components of the supervielbein and to define covariant torsion and curvature tensors. This leads to an infinite hierarchy of local tangent space symmetries, which are connected to the super-Maxwell$_\infty$ algebra. A novel feature of type II is the Ramond-Ramond sector, which can be encoded as an orthosymplectic spinor (encoding the complex of super p-forms in conventional superspace). Its covariant field strength bispinor itself appears as a piece of the supervielbein. We provide a concise discussion of the superspace Bianchi identities through dimension two and show how to recover the component supersymmetry transformations of type II DFT. In addition, we show how the democratic formulation of type II superspace may be recovered by gauge-fixing.

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arXiv2022

Notes on Ramond-Ramond spinors and bispinors in double field theory

The Ramond-Ramond sector of double field theory (DFT) can be described either as an O(D,D) spinor or an O(D-1,1) x O(1,D-1) bispinor. Both formulations may be related to the standard polyform expansion in terms of even or odd rank field strengths corresponding to IIA or IIB duality frames. The spinor approach is natural in a (bosonic) metric formulation of DFT, while the bispinor is indispensable for supersymmetric DFT. In these notes, we show how these two approaches may be covariantly connected using a spinorial version of the DFT vielbein, which flattens an O(D,D) spinor into a bispinor. We also elaborate on details of the bispinor formulation in both even and odd D and elaborate on the distinction between the IIA/IIB/IIA*/IIB* duality frames.

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arXiv2022

Linearized Off-shell 4+7 Supergeometry of 11D Supergravity

We describe the linearized supergeometry of eleven dimensional supergravity with four off-shell local supersymmetries. We start with a background Minkowski 11D, N=1 superspace, and an additional ingredient of a global, constant, $G_2$-structure which facilitates the definition of a $4|4+7$ background superspace. A bottom-up construction of linear fluctuations of the geometric constituents (such as supervielbein, spin connection, and the super 3-form of 11D supergravity) is given in terms of 4D, N=1 prepotential superfields. This is complemented by a top-down description of the linearized supergeometry of the $4|4+7$ superspace dealing directly with torsion, curvature, and Bianchi identities. Torsion constraints that (combined with the Bianchi identities) lead to the preceding prepotential expressions of the gauge fields are identified. All irreducible consequences of the torsion and 4-form Bianchi identities are systematically derived except for dimension 2 Bianchi identities of the 4-form, and dimension $\tfrac 52$ Bianchi identities of torsion, which set bosonic curls of components of one lower dimension to zero.

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arXiv2021

Components of Eleven-dimensional Supergravity with Four Off-shell Supersymmetries

We derive the component structure of 11D, $N=1/8$ supergravity linearized around eleven-dimensional Minkowski space. This theory represents 4 local supersymmetries closing onto 4 of the 11 spacetime translations without the use of equations of motion. It may be interpreted as adding $201$ auxiliary bosons and $56$ auxiliary fermions to the physical supergravity multiplet for a total of $376+376$ components. These components and their transformations are organized into representations of $SL(2;\mathbf C)\times G_2$.

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arXiv2021

Exploring the geometry of supersymmetric double field theory

The geometry of N=1 supersymmetric double field theory is revisited in superspace. In order to maintain the constraints on the torsion tensor, the local tangent space group of O(D) x O(D) must be expanded to include a tower of higher dimension generators. These include a generator in the irreducible hook representation of the Lorentz group, which gauges the shift symmetry (or ambiguity) of the spin connection. This gauging is possible even in the purely bosonic theory, where it leads to a Lorentz curvature whose only non-vanishing pieces are the physical ones: the generalized Einstein tensor and the generalized scalar curvature. A relation to the super-Maxwell$_\infty$ algebra is proposed. The superspace Bianchi identities are solved up through dimension two, and the component supersymmetry transformations and equations of motion are explicitly (re)derived.

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arXiv2020

4D N=1 Kaluza-Klein superspace

Motivated by recent efforts to encode 11D supergravity in 4D N=1 superfields, we introduce a general covariant framework relevant for describing any higher dimensional supergravity theory in external 4D N=1 superspace with n additional internal coordinates. The superspace geometry admits both external and internal diffeomorphisms and provides the superfields necessary to encode the components of the higher dimensional vielbein, except for the purely internal sector, in a universal way that depends only on the internal dimension n. In contrast, the N=1 superfield content of the internal sector of the metric is expected to be highly case dependent and involve covariant matter superfields, with additional hidden higher dimensional Lorentz and supersymmetry transformations realized in a non-linear manner.

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arXiv2019

N=4 conformal supergravity: the complete actions

The most general class of 4D N=4 conformal supergravity actions depends on a holomorphic function of the scalar fields that parametrize an SU(1,1)/U(1) coset space. The bosonic sector of these actions was presented in a letter [arXiv:1609.09083]. Here we provide the complete actions to all orders in the fermion fields. They rely upon a new N=4 density formula, which permits a direct but involved construction. This density formula also recovers the on-shell action for vector multiplets coupled to conformal supergravity. Applications of these results in the context of Poincar\'e supergravity are briefly discussed.

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arXiv2019

Five-dimensional Supergravity in N = 1/2 Superspace

We construct 5D, N = 1 supergravity in a 4D, N = 1 superspace with an extra bosonic coordinate. This represents four of the supersymmetries and the associated Poincar\'e symmetries manifestly. The remaining four supersymmetries and the rest of the Poincar\'e symmetries are represented linearly but not manifestly. In the linearized approximation, the action reduces to the known superspace result. As an application of the formalism, we construct the $\int A\wedge R\wedge R$ invariant in this superspace.

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arXiv2018

E$_{7(7)}$ Exceptional Field Theory in Superspace

We formulate the locally supersymmetric E$_{7(7)}$ exceptional field theory in a $(4+56|32)$ dimensional superspace, corresponding to a 4D $N\!=\!8$ "external" superspace augmented with an "internal" 56-dimensional space. This entails the unification of external diffeomorphisms and local supersymmetry transformations into superdiffeomorphisms. The solutions to the superspace Bianchi identities lead to on-shell duality equations for the $p$-form field strengths for $p\leq 4$. The reduction to component fields provides a complete description of the on-shell supersymmetric theory. As an application of our results, we perform a generalized Scherk-Schwarz reduction and obtain the superspace formulation of maximal gauged supergravity in four dimensions parametrized by an embedding tensor.

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arXiv2018

Curvature squared invariants in six-dimensional ${\cal N} = (1,0)$ supergravity

We describe the supersymmetric completion of several curvature-squared invariants for ${\cal N}=(1,0)$ supergravity in six dimensions. The construction of the invariants is based on a close interplay between superconformal tensor calculus and recently developed superspace techniques to study general off-shell supergravity-matter couplings. In the case of minimal off-shell Poincar\'e supergravity based on the dilaton-Weyl multiplet coupled to a linear multiplet as a conformal compensator, we describe off-shell supersymmetric completions for all the three possible purely gravitational curvature-squared terms in six dimensions: Riemann, Ricci, and scalar curvature squared. A linear combination of these invariants describes the off-shell completion of the Gauss-Bonnet term, recently presented in arXiv:1706.09330. We study properties of the Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet supergravity, which plays a central role in the effective low-energy description of $\alpha^\prime$-corrected string theory compactified to six dimensions, including a detailed analysis of the spectrum about the ${\rm AdS}_3\times {\rm S}^3$ solution. We also present a novel locally superconformal invariant based on a higher-derivative action for the linear multiplet. This invariant, which includes gravitational curvature-squared terms, can be defined both coupled to the standard-Weyl or dilaton-Weyl multiplet for conformal supergravity. In the first case, we show how the addition of this invariant to the supersymmetric Einstein-Hilbert term leads to a dynamically generated cosmological constant and non-supersymmetric (A)dS$_6$ solutions. In the dilaton-Weyl multiplet, the new off-shell invariant includes Ricci and scalar curvature-squared terms and possesses a nontrivial dependence on the dilaton field.

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arXiv2018

N=1 Supercurrents of Eleven-dimensional Supergravity

Eleven-dimensional supergravity can be formulated in superspaces locally of the form $\mathbf X\times Y$ where $\mathbf X$ is 4D $N=1$ conformal superspace and $Y$ is an arbitrary 7-manifold admitting a $G_2$-structure. The eleven-dimensional 3-form and the stable 3-form on $Y$ define the lowest component of a gauge superfield on $\mathbf X \times Y$ that is chiral as a superfield on $\mathbf X$. This chiral field is part of a tensor hierarchy giving rise to a superspace Chern-Simons action and its real field strength defines a lifting of the Hitchin functional on $Y$ to the $G_2$ superspace $\mathbf X\times Y$. These terms are those of lowest order in a superspace Noether expansion in seven $N=1$ conformal gravitino superfields $\Psi$. In this paper, we compute the $O(\Psi)$ action to all orders in the remaining fields. The eleven-dimensional origin of the resulting non-linear structures is parameterized by the choice of a complex spinor on $Y$ encoding the off-shell 4D $N=1$ subalgebra of the eleven-dimensional super-Poincare algebra.

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arXiv2017

$N=2$ dilaton Weyl multiplet in 4D supergravity

We construct the dilaton Weyl multiplet for $N=2$ conformal supergravity in four dimensions. Beginning from an on-shell vector multiplet coupled to the standard Weyl multiplet, the equations of motion can be used to eliminate the supergravity auxiliary fields, following a similar pattern as in five and six dimensions. The resulting 24+24 component multiplet includes two gauge vectors and a gauge two-form and provides a variant formulation of $N=2$ conformal supergravity. We also show how this dilaton Weyl multiplet is contained in the minimal 32+32 Poincare supergravity multiplet introduced by Muller in superspace.

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arXiv2017

Eleven-Dimensional Supergravity in 4D, $N=1$ Superspace

We give a formulation of linearized 11D supergravity in 4D, $N=1$ superspace keeping all eleven bosonic coordinates. The fields are fluctuations around $\mathbf M=\mathbf R^{4|4}\times Y$, where $Y$ is a background Riemannian 7-manifold admitting a $G_2$ structure. We embed the 11D fields into superfield representations of the 4D, $N=1$ superconformal algebra. These consist of the conformal graviton superfield, seven conformal gravitino superfields, a tensor hierarchy of superfields describing the 11D 3-form, and a non-abelian Kaluza-Klein vector multiplet gauging the tensor hierarchy by diffeomorphisms on $Y$. The quadratic action consists of the linearization of a superspace volume term and a Chern-Simons action for the gauged hierarchy coupled to the supergravity and gravitino superfields, and the full structure is fixed by superconformal and gauge invariance. When this action is projected to components, we recover the full linearized action of 11D supergravity.

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arXiv2017

The component structure of conformal supergravity invariants in six dimensions

In the recent paper arXiv:1606.02921, the two invariant actions for 6D $N=(1,0)$ conformal supergravity were constructed in superspace, corresponding to the supersymmetrization of $C^3$ and $C\Box C$. In this paper, we provide the translation from superspace to the component formulation of superconformal tensor calculus, and we give the full component actions of these two invariants. As a second application, we build the component form for the supersymmetric $F\Box F$ action coupled to conformal supergravity. Exploiting the fact that the $N=(2,0)$ Weyl multiplet has a consistent truncation to $N=(1,0)$, we then verify that there is indeed only a single $N=(2,0)$ conformal supergravity invariant and reconstruct most of its bosonic terms by uplifting a certain linear combination of $N=(1,0)$ invariants.

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arXiv2016

Construction of all N=4 conformal supergravities

All N=4 conformal supergravities in four space-time dimensions are constructed. These are the only N=4 supergravity theories whose actions are invariant under off-shell supersymmetry. They are encoded in terms of a holomorphic function that is homogeneous of zeroth degree in scalar fields that parametrize an SU(1,1)/U(1) coset space. When this function equals a constant the Lagrangian is invariant under continuous SU(1,1) transformations. The construction of these higher-derivative invariants also opens the door to various applications for non-conformal theories.

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arXiv2016

Invariants for minimal conformal supergravity in six dimensions

We develop a new off-shell formulation for six-dimensional conformal supergravity obtained by gauging the 6D ${\cal N} = (1, 0)$ superconformal algebra in superspace. This formulation is employed to construct two invariants for 6D ${\cal N} = (1, 0)$ conformal supergravity, which contain $C^3$ and $C\Box C$ terms at the component level. Using a conformal supercurrent analysis, we prove that these exhaust all such invariants in minimal conformal supergravity. Finally, we show how to construct the supersymmetric $F \Box F$ invariant in curved superspace.

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