A Canticle on (4,0) Supergravity-Scalar Multiplet Systems for a ``Cognoscente''

We elaborate on the off-shell superspace construction of curvature-squared invariants in minimal five-dimensional supergravity. This is described by the standard Weyl multiplet of conformal supergravity coupled to two compensators being a vector multiplet and a linear multiplet. In this set-up, we review the definition of the off-shell two-derivative gauged supergravity together with the three independent four-derivative superspace invariants defined in arXiv:1410.8682. We pr...

This article contains an overview of some recent attempts at understanding supergravity and string duals of four dimensional gauge theories using the AdS/CFT correspondence. We discuss the general philosophy underlying the various ways to realize Super Yang-Mills theories in terms of systems of branes. We then review some of the existing duals for N=2 and N=1 theories. We also discuss differences and similarities with realistic theories.

We present a new method of deriving the off-shell spectrum of supergravity and massless $4D,~\mathcal{N}=1$ higher spin multiplets without the need of an action and based on a set of natural requirements: (a.) existence of an underlying superspace description, (b.) an economical description of free, massless, higher spins and (c.) equal numbers of bosonic and fermionic degrees of freedom. We prove that for any theory that respects the above, the fermionic auxiliary components...

We formulate a theory for N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills multiplet in a non-adjoint representation R of SO(N) as an important application of our recently-proposed model for N=1 supersymmetry. This system is obtained by dimensional reduction from an N=1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills multiplet in non-adjoint representation in ten dimensions. The consistency with supersymmetry requires that the non-adjoint representation R with the indices i, j, ... satisfy the three conditions \eta^...

We propose a unified superfield formulation of N=4 off-shell supermultiplets in one spacetime dimension using the standard N=4 superspace. The main idea of our approach is a "gluing" together of two linear supermultiplets along their fermions. The functions defining such a gluing obey a system of equations. Each solution of this system provides a new supermultiplet, linear or nonlinear, modulo equivalence transformations. In such a way we reproduce all known linear and nonlin...

We present an N=2 multiplet including a three-index antisymmetric tensor gauge potential, and describe it as a solution to the Bianchi identities for the associated fieldstrength superform, subject to some covariant constraints, in extended central charge superspace. We find that this solution is given in terms of an 8+8 tensor multiplet subject to an additional constraint. We give the transformation laws for the multiplet as well as invariant superfield and component field l...

In this paper we review the appearance and utility of a nilpotent chiral multiplet in the context of supergravity, string theory and cosmology. Coupling a nilpotent chiral superfield to supergravity, one obtains what is called pure dS supergravity, a supergravity theory without scalar degrees of freedom that naturally has de Sitter (dS) solutions, and in which supersymmetry is non-linearly realized. We extend previous results that couple this dS supergravity to chiral and vec...

Using the superconformal framework, we construct a new off-shell model for $\cal N=4$ topologically massive supergravity which is minimal in the sense that it makes use of a single compensating vector multiplet and involves no free parameter. As such, it provides a counterexample to the common lore that two compensating multiplets are required within the conformal approach to supergravity with eight supercharges in diverse dimensions. This theory is an off-shell $\cal N=4$ su...

The fortieth anniversary of the original construction of Supergravity provides an opportunity to combine some reminiscences of its early days with an assessment of its impact on the quest for a quantum theory of gravity.

Considering a class of (2,0)-super-Yang-Mills multiplets that accommodate a pair of independent gauge potentials in connection with a single symmetry group, we present here their coupling to ordinary matter and to non-linear $\sigma$-models in (2,0)-superspace. The dynamics and the couplings of the gauge potentials are discussed and the interesting feature that comes out is a sort of ``chirality'' for one of the gauge potentials once light-cone coordinates are chosen.