We present a method for introducing and analysing higher-derivative deformations of maximally supersymmetric field theories. Such terms are built in the pure spinor superfield framework, using a set of operators representing physical fields. The action for abelian Born-Infeld theory becomes polynomial in this language, and contains only a four-point interaction in addition to the free action. Simplifications also occur in the non-abelian case.
We consider certain supersymmetric Born-Infeld couplings to the D3 brane action and show that they give rise to massless and massive KK excitations of type IIB on $AdS_5\times S_5$, in terms of singleton Yang-Mills superfields.
We propose a systematic way of constructing $N=2, d=4$ superfield Born-Infeld action with a second nonlinearly realized N=2 supersymmetry. The latter, together with the manifest N=2 supersymmetry, form a central-charge extended $N=4, d=4$ supersymmetry. We embed the Goldstone-Maxwell N=2 multiplet into an infinite-dimensional off-shell supermultiplet of this N=4 supersymmetry and impose an infinite set of covariant constraints which eliminate all extra N=2 superfields through the Goldstone-Maxwell one. The Born-Infeld superfield Lagrangian density is one of these composite superfields. The con…
There is an evidence that the N=2 Born-Infeld theory with spontaneously broken N=4 supersymmetry exhibits self-duality. We perform a further check of this hypothesis by constructing a new representation for the N=2 Born-Infeld action through the auxiliary chiral superfield U. In such a formulation, self-duality is equivalent to U(1) invariance of the U interaction. We explicitly calculate the auxiliary interaction up to the 10th order and show its U(1) duality invariance, thus proving that the original action is self-dual to the same order. We also suggest a new method of recursive computation…
The supersymmetric Born-Infeld actions describing gauge-fixed D-5- and D-3-branes in ambient six-dimensional (6d) spacetime are constructed in superspace. A new 6d action is the (1,0) supersymmetric extension of the 6d Born-Infeld action. It is related via dimensional reduction to another remarkable 4d action describing the N=2 supersymmetric extension of the Born-Infeld-Nambu-Goto action with two real scalars. Both actions are the Goldstone actions associated with partial (1/2) spontaneous breaking of extended supersymmetry having 16 supercharges down to 8 supercharges. Both actions can be pu…
We discuss the higher superspin superfield formalism of Kuzenko et al from the basis of a unified treatment of an unconstrained spinorial superfield prepotential, its action and a restricted set of gauge transformations. We recover previous results as distinct limits of this unified treatment and give the first derivations of the complete set of Bianchi identities associated with these equations.
Although the chiral dotted spinor superfield should describe a Massive Superspin One Half multiplet, it has not been obvious how to derive this from an action. In this paper this is done by including a chiral undotted spinor superfield, finding the BRST transformations that govern both of these, and then finding the action as an invariant of the transformations. It turns out that both kinds of spinor superfields are needed. Moreover, the BRST transformations for the two kinds of chiral spinor superfields are generated from each other by a special involution that exchanges Grassmann odd (even) …
A manifestly N=2 supersymmetric completion of the four-dimensional Nambu-Goto-Born-Infeld action, which is self-dual with respect to electric-magnetic duality, is constructed in terms of the abelian N=2 superfield strength W in the conventional N=2 superspace. A relation to the known N=1 supersymmetric Born-Infeld action in N=1 superspace is established. The action found can be considered either as the Goldstone action associated with partial breaking of N=4 supersymmetry down to N=2, with the N=2 vector superfield being a Goldstone field, or, equivalently, as the gauge-fixed superfield action…
Four dimensional N=1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory action is written in terms of the spinor superfields in transverse gauge. This action is seemingly first order in space-time derivatives. Thus, it suggests that the generalized fields approach of obtaining Batalin-Vilkovisky quantization can be applicable. In fact, generalized fields which collect spinor superfields possessing different ghost numbers are introduced to obtain the minimal solution of its Batalin-Vilkovisky master equation in a compact form.
Universidade Federal do Amapá（阿马帕联邦大学）；Universidade Federal da Paraíba（帕拉伊巴联邦大学）；Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC‐Universitat de València（瓦伦西亚大学-西班牙国家研究委员会粒子物理研究所）；Universidade Federal do Ceará（塞阿拉联邦大学）
Classical BRST invariance in the pure spinor formalism for the open superstring is shown to imply the supersymmetric Born-Infeld equations of motion for the background fields. These equations are obtained by requiring that the left and right-moving BRST currents are equal on the worldsheet boundary in the presence of the background. The Born-Infeld equations are expressed in N=1 D=10 superspace and include all abelian contributions to the low-energy equations of motion, as well as the leading non-abelian contributions.
Chiral superfields with multiple dotted Lorentz spinor indices (`dotspinors') are important in the analysis of supersymmetry breaking through the mechanisms of Cybersusy. This paper describes the actions for massive dotspinors coupled to supersymmetric gauge theory and to chiral matter. It analyzes the free equations of motion and mass spectra for the case of unbroken supersymmetry. The general form of the Cybersusy algebra for dotsupers with multiple indices is also discussed briefly.
Starting from nonlinear realizations of the partially broken central-charge extended N=4 and N=8 Poincaré supersymmetries in D=4, we derive the superfield equations of N=2 and N=4 Born-Infeld theories. The basic objects are the bosonic Goldstone N=2 and N=4 superfields associated with the central charge generators. By construction, the equations are manifestly N=2 and N=4 supersymmetric and enjoy covariance under another nonlinearly realized half of the original supersymmetries. They provide a manifestly worldvolume supersymmetric static-gauge description of D3-branes in D=6 and D=10. For the …
We study the duality of the supersymmetric self-dual and Maxwell-Chern-Simons theories coupled to a fermionic matter superfield, using a master action. This approach evades the difficulties inherent to the quartic couplings that appear when matter is represented by a scalar superfield. The price is that the spinorial matter superfield represents a unusual supersymmetric multiplet, whose main physical properties we also discuss.
We describe, on a few instructive examples, a systematic way of deducing the superfield equations of motion of superbranes in the approach of partial breaking of global supersymmetry (PBGS) from the nonlinear-realizations formalism. For D-branes these equations simultaneously represent the appropriate supersymmetric Born-Infeld theories. We also discuss how to construct an off-shell superfield action for the $N=2, d=4$ Dirac-Born-Infeld theory corresponding to the partial supersymmetry breaking $N=4 \to N=2$ in $d=4$.
This is the first installment of a series of three papers in which we describe a method to determine higher-point correlation functions in one-loop open-superstring amplitudes from first principles. In this first part, we exploit the synergy between the cohomological features of pure-spinor superspace and the pure-spinor zero-mode integration rules of the one-loop amplitude prescription. This leads to the study of a rich variety of multiparticle superfields which are local, have covariant BRST variations, and are compatible with the particularities of the pure-spinor amplitude prescription. Se…
Maximally supersymmetric theories do not allow off-shell superspace formulations with traditional superfields containing a finite set of auxiliary fields. It has become clear that off-shell supersymmetric action formulations of such models can be achieved by the introduction of pure spinors. In this talk, an overview of this formalism is given, with emphasis on D=10 super-Yang-Mills theory and D=11 supergravity. This a somewhat expanded version of a talk presented at the workshop "Breaking of supersymmetry and ultraviolet divergences in extended supergravity" (BUDS), Laboratori Nazionali di Fr…
We show that the connection between partial breaking of supersymmetry and nonlinear actions is not accidental and has to do with constraints that lead directly to nonlinear actions of the Born-Infeld type. We develop a constrained superfield approach that gives a universal way of deriving and using these actions. In particular, we find the manifestly supersymmetric form of the action of the 3-brane in 6-dimensional space in terms of N=1 superfields by using the tensor multiplet as a tool. We explain the relation between the Born-Infeld action and the model of partial N=2 supersymmetry breaking…
I review and discuss the construction of supersymmetry multiplets and manifestly supersymmetric Batalin-Vilkovisky actions using pure spinors, with emphasis on models with maximal supersymmetry. The special cases of D=3, N=8 (Bagger-Lambert-Gustavsson) and N=6 (Aharony-Bergman-Jafferis-Maldacena) conformal models are treated in detail. Most of the material is covered by the papers arXiv:0808.3242 and arXiv:0809.0318. This is the written version of a talk given at 4th Baltic-Nordic workshop "Algebra, Geometry and Mathematical Physics", Tartu, Estonia, October 9-11, 2008, to appear in the Procee…
Using non-minimal pure spinor superspace, Cederwall has constructed BRST-invariant actions for $D=10$ super-Born-Infeld and $D=11$ supergravity which are quartic in the superfields. But since the superfields have explicit dependence on the non-minimal pure spinor variables, it is non-trivial to show these actions correctly describe super-Born-Infeld and supergravity. In this paper, we expand solutions to the equations of motion from Cederwall's actions to leading order around the linearized solutions and show that they correctly describe the interactions of $D=10$ super-Born-Infeld and $D=11$ …
New non-abelian supersymmetric generalizations of the four-dimensional Born-Infeld action are constructed in N=1 and N=2 superspace, to all orders in the gauge superfield strength. The proposed actions are dictated by simple (manifestly supersymmetric and gauge-covariant) non-linear constraints.
A modification of the harmonic superfield formalism in $D=4, N=2$ supergravity using a subsidiary condition of covariance under the background supersymmetry with a central charge ($B$-covariance) is considered. Conservation of analyticity together with the $B$-covariance leads to the appearance of linear gravitational superfields. Analytic prepotentials arise in a decomposition of the background linear superfields in terms of spinor coordinates and transform in a nonstandard way under the background supersymmetry. The linear gravitational superfields can be written via spinor derivatives of no…
Using the natural curvature invariants as building blocks in a superfield construction, we show that the use of a symmetric trace is mandatory if one is to reproduce the square root structure of the non-Abelian Dirac-Born-Infeld Lagrangian in the bosonic sector. We also discuss the BPS relations in connection with our supersymmetry construction.
We outline, on a few instructive examples, the characteristic features of the approach to superbranes and super Born-Infeld theories based on the concept of partial spontaneous breaking of global supersymmetry (PBGS). The examples include the N=1, D=4 supermembrane and the ``space-filling'' D2- and D3-branes. Besides giving a short account of the available results for these systems, we present some new developments. For the supermembrane we prove the equivalence of the equation of motion following from the off-shell Goldstone superfield action and the one derived directly from the nonlinear re…
This is an overview of the method of pure spinor superfields, written for "Handbook of Quantum Gravity", eds. C. Bambi, L. Modesto and I. Shapiro. The main focus is on the use of the formalism in maximal supergravity on a flat background. The basics of pure spinor superfields, and their relation to standard superspace, is reviewed. The pure spinor superstring model of Berkovits is briefly discussed. Consequences for divergence properties of loop diagrams in maximal supergravity are restated. Some final remarks are made concerning desirable development of the theoretical framework.
A Batalin-Vilkovisky action for D=6, N=1 super-Yang--Mills theory, including coupling to hypermultiplets, is given. The formalism involves pure spinor superfields. The geometric properties of the D=6, N=1 pure spinors (which differ from Cartan pure spinors) are examined. Unlike the situation for maximally supersymmetric models, the fields and antifields (including ghosts) of the vector multiplet reside in separate superfields. The formalism provides an off-shell superspace formulation for matter hypermultiplets, which in a traditional treatment are on-shell.
We construct the Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) action of a real linear multiplet in 4D $\mathcal{N}=1$ supergravity. Based on conformal supergravity, we derive the general condition under which the DBI action can be realized, and show that it can be constructed in the new minimal supergravity. We also generalize it to the matter coupled system.
We examine the BRS invariance of the open pure spinor superstring in the presence of background superfields on a Dp-brane. It is shown that the BRS invariance leads not only to boundary conditions on the spacetime spinors, but also to supersymmetric DBI equations of motion for the background superfields on the Dp-brane. These DBI equations are consistent with the supersymmetric DBI equations for a D9-brane.
We present a supersymmetric version of Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) theory in noncommutative space-time, both for Abelian and non-Abelian gauge groups. We show, using the superfield formalism, that the definition of a certain ordering with respect to the * product leads naturally to a DBI action both in the U(1) as well as in the U(N) case. BPS equations are analysed in this context and properties of the resulting theory are discussed.
Using the harmonic superspace approach we study the problem of low-energy effective action in N=3 SYM theory. The candidate effective action is a scale and γ_5-invariant functional in full N=3 superspace built out of N=3 off-shell superfield strengths. This action is constructed as N=3 superfield generalization of F^4/ϕ^4 component term which is leading in the low-energy effective action and is simultaneously the first nontrivial term in scale invariant Born-Infeld action. All higher-order terms in the scale invariant Born-Infeld action are also shown to admit an off-shell superfield completio…
The manifestly supersymmetric pure spinor formulations of the Bagger-Lambert-Gustavsson models with N=8 supersymmetry and the Aharony-Bergman-Jafferis-Maldacena models with N=6 supersymmetry are given. The structures of the pure spinors are investigated in both cases, and non-degenerate measures are formed using non-minimal sets of variables, allowing for the formulation of an action principle.
An earlier paper introduced an action for a new kind of irreducible massive superspin one half multiplet, using BRST cohomological techniques including `BRST Recycling'. A mass term was introduced in the earlier paper. A second mass term is discussed in this paper. This new mass invariant is an `Extraordinary Invariant'--it has Zinn sources in it. The natural treatment for this situation is to `Complete the Action' so that the new action yields zero for the BRST Poisson Bracket. In the present case, this Completion meets a BRST Obstruction. Setting the coefficient of this `Completion Obstructi…
D$p$-branes acquire effective nonlinear descriptions whose bosonic part is related to the Born-Infeld action. This nonlinearity has been proven to be a consequence of the partial ${\cal N}=2\to{\cal N}=1$ supersymmetry breaking, originating from the solitonic nature of the branes. In this work, we focus on the effective descriptions of D2-branes. Using the Goldstone multiplet interpretation of the action and the method of nilpotent ${\cal N}=2$ superfields, we construct the 3D, ${\cal N}=1$ superspace effective action which makes the first supersymmetry manifest and realizes the second, sponta…
D=4, N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory has an off-shell superspace formulation in terms of pure spinor superfields, which is directly inherited from the D=10 theory. That superspace, in particular the choice of pure spinor variables, is less suitable for dealing with fields that are inherently 4-dimensional, such as the superfields based on the scalars, which are gauge-covariant, and traces of powers of scalars, which are gauge-invariant. We give a reformulation of D=4, N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory in N=4 superspace, using inherently 4-dimensional pure spinors. All local degrees of freedom reside in …
In this talk, we review how the superspace formulation of maximally supersymmetric field theories (including supergravity) naturally leads to introduction of pure spinors and pure spinor superfields, and why the formalism provides off-shell formulations. This approach to pure spinor superfields thus stresses field-theoretic aspects rather than the first-quantised ones normally used e.g. in superstring theory. We discuss how the BRST operator arises and the principles behind constructions of actions, as well as the general Batalin-Vilkovisky framework. D=11 supergravity and its recently constru…
A variant for the superspin one-half massive superparticle in $ 4D $, $ \mathcal{N}=1 $, based on Dirac superfields, is offered. As opposed to the current known models that use spinor chiral superfields, the propagating fields of the supermultiplet are those of the lowest mass dimensions possible: scalar, Dirac and vector fields. Besides the supersymmetric chiral condition, the Dirac superfields are not further constrained, allowing a very straightforward implementation of the path-integral method. The corresponding superpropagators are presented. In addition, an interaction super Yukawa poten…
Using the formalism of nonlinear realizations we construct the component on-shell action of the N=4,d=3 Born-Infeld theory, which is the action of N=2, d=3 vector supermultiplet, fixed by invariance with respect to the additional spontaneously broken N=2, d=3 supersymmetry. Our construction shows that dealing with the systems with partial breaking of supersymmetry with vector fields in the multiplet, it is preferrable to use their formulation in terms of fermionic superfields only.
We reformulate the Bagger-Lambert-Gustavsson model using an N=8 superspace, thus making the full supersymmetry manifest. The formulation is based on appropriate "pure spinor wave functions" for the Chern-Simons and matter multiplets. The Lagrangian has an extremely simple structure, essentially containing a Chern-Simons-like term for the gauge field wave function and a minimally coupled matter wave function. No higher order interactions than cubic are present. The consistency of the setup relies on an interplay between the algebraic structures of the 3-algebra and of the pure spinors.
In this paper a multiparticle generalization of linearized ten-dimensional super Yang--Mills superfields is proposed. Their equations of motions are shown to take the same form as in the single-particle case, supplemented by contact terms. A recursive construction of these superfields is inspired by the iterated OPEs among massless vertex operators in the pure spinor formalism. An enlarged set of BRST-covariant pure spinor blocks is then defined in a streamlined fashion and combined to multiparticle vertex operators. The latter can be used to universally describe tree-level subdiagrams in the …
We employ the non-linear realization techniques to relate the N=1 chiral, and the N=2 vector multiplets to the Goldstone spin 1/2 superfield arising from partial supersymmetry breaking of N=2 and N=3 respectively. In both cases, we obtain a family of non-linear transformation laws realizing an extra supersymmetry. In the N=2 case, we find an invariant action which is the low energy limit of the supersymmetric Born-Infeld theory expected to describe a D3-brane in six dimensions.
We provide the covariant superspace equations that are sufficient to determine the complete $θ$ expansion of the vertex operator of the open string massive states with $(mass)^2=1/α'$ in pure spinor formalism of superstring theory. These equations get rid of the redundant degrees of freedom in superfields and are consistent with the BRST conditions derived in [1]. Further, we give the explicit $θ$ expansion of the superfields appearing in the unintegrated vertex to $O(θ^3)$. Finally, we compute the contribution to a 3-point tree amplitude with the resulting vertex operator upto $O(θ^3)$ and fi…
We describe a pure spinor BRST cohomology framework to compactly represent ten-dimensional one-loop amplitudes involving any number of massless open- and closed-string states. The method of previous work to construct scalar and vectorial BRST invariants in pure spinor superspace signals the appearance of the hexagon gauge anomaly when applied to tensors. We study the systematics of the underlying BRST anomaly by defining the notion of pseudo-cohomology. This leads to a rich network of pseudo-invariant superfields of arbitrary tensor rank whose behavior under traces and contractions with extern…
In the framework of N=2 conformal supergravity in four dimensions, we introduce a nilpotent chiral superfield suitable for the description of partial supersymmetry breaking in maximally supersymmetric spacetimes. As an application, we construct Maxwell-Goldstone multiplet actions for partial N=2 --> N=1 supersymmetry breaking on R x S^3, AdS_3 x S^1 (or its covering AdS_3 x R), and a pp-wave spacetime. In each of these cases, the action coincides with a unique curved-superspace extension of the N=1 supersymmetric Born-Infeld action, which is singled out by the requirement of U(1) duality invar…
The pure spinor formalism for the superstring can be formulated as a twisted N=2 worldsheet theory with fermionic generators $j_{BRST}$ and composite $b$ ghost. After untwisting the formalism to an N=1 worldsheet theory with fermionic stress tensor $j_{BRST}+b$, the worldsheet variables combine into N=1 worldsheet superfields $X^m$ and $Θ^α$ together with a superfield constraint relating $DX^m$ and $DΘ^α$. The constraint implies that the worldsheet superpartner of $θ^α$ is a bosonic twistor variable, and different solutions of the constraint give rise to the pure spinor or extended RNS formali…
We analyze the exact perturbative solution of N=2 Born-Infeld theory which is believed to be defined by Ketov's equation. This equation can be considered as a truncation of an infinite system of coupled differential equations defining Born-Infeld action with one manifest N=2 and one hidden N=2 supersymmetries. We explicitly demonstrate that infinitely many new structures appear in the higher orders of the perturbative solution to Ketov's equation. Thus, the full solution cannot be represented as a function depending on {\it a finite number} of its arguments. We propose a mechanism for generati…
In this note, we study, formalize, and generalize the pure spinor superfield formalism from a rather nontraditional perspective. To set the stage, we review the notion of a multiplet for a general super Lie algebra, working in the context of the BV and BRST formalisms. Building on this, we explain how the pure spinor superfield formalism can be viewed as constructing a supermultiplet out of the input datum of an equivariant graded module over the ring of functions on the nilpotence variety. We use the homotopy transfer theorem and other computational techniques from homological algebra to rela…
A FORM program which is used to efficiently expand in components pure spinor superfield expressions of kinematic factors is presented and comments on how it works are made. It is highly customizable using the standard features of FORM and can be used to help obtaining superstring effective actions from the scattering amplitudes computed with the pure spinor formalism.
In this paper we investigate the perturbations by a massless Dirac spinor of a Born-Infeld black hole. The decay rates of the spinor field which is given by the quasinormal mode frequencies are computed using the sixth order WKB approximation. The behavior of the quasi normal modes with the non-linear parameter, temperature and charge of the black hole are analyzed in detail. We also compare the decay rates of the Born-Infeld black hole with its linear counter-part Reissner-Nordstrom black hole.
The $b$ ghost, or $b$ operator, used for fixing Siegel gauge in the pure spinor superfield formalism, is a composite operator of negative ghost number, satisfying $\{q,b\}=\square$, where $q$ is the pure spinor differential (BRST operator). It is traditionally constructed using non-minimal variables. However, since all cohomology has minimal representatives, it seems likely that there should be versions of physically meaningful operators, also with negative ghost number, using only minimal variables. The purpose of this letter is to demonstrate that this statement holds by providing a concrete…
We show that a certain superfield formalism can be used to find an off-shell supersymmetric description for some supersymmetric field theories where conventional superfield formalism does not work. This "new" formalism contains even auxiliary variables in addition to conventional odd super-coordinates. The idea of this construction is similar to the pure spinor formalism developed by N.Berkovits. It is demonstrated that using this formalism it is possible to prove that the certain Chern-Simons-like (Witten's OSFT-like) theory can be considered as an off-shell version for some on-shell supersym…
Using the pure spinor formalism, we compute the tree-level correlation functions for three strings, one closed and two open, in N=1 D=10 superspace. Expanding the superfields in components, the respective terms of the effective action for the type I supergravity are obtained. All terms found agree with the effective action known in the literature. This result gives one more consistency test for the pure spinor formalism.
In [arXiv:0808.1677] 3 dimensional field theories are proposed to on-shell represent N=8 SUSY algebra and SO(7) or SO(4)xSO(4) subgroups of full SO(8) automorphism. They are theories of 8 scalar and 8 spinor matrix fields with Yukawa, quartic and sextic self-interactions. This note is devoted to superfield and off-shell formulation of the theory. Scalar superfields are proposed to represent scalar supermultiplets. A renormalizable action with quadratic and quartic self-interactions is proposed to govern their dynamics.
Clifford number formalism for Maxwell equations is considered. The Clifford imaginary unit for space-time is introduced as coordinate independent form of fully antisymmetric fourth-rank tensor. The representation of Maxwell equations in massless Dirac equation form is considered; we also consider two approaches to the invariance of Dirac equation in respect of the Lorentz transformations. According to the first approach, the unknown column is invariant and according to the second approach it has the transformation properties known as spinorial ones. Clifford number representation for nonlinear…
We construct the integrated vertex operator for the first massive states of open superstrings with $(mass)^2=1/α'$ in the pure spinor formalism of the superstring theory. This vertex operator is expressed in terms of the ten dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ superfields describing the massive supermultiplet which appear in the unintegrated vertex operator of the same states.
The formalism of nonlinear realizations is used to construct a theory with $1/2$ partial breaking of global supersymmetry with the $N=(1,0)$, $d=6$ abelian vector multiplet as a Goldstone superfield. Much like the case of the $N=2$, $d=4$ Born-Infeld theory, proper irreducibility conditions of the multiplet are selected by the invariance with respect to the external automorphisms of the Poincaré superalgebra. They are found in the lowest nontrivial order in the auxiliary field. The fermionic contributions to the Bianchi identity are restored by assuming its covariance with respect to broken su…
In this work, a DDF-like construction within the pure spinor formalism is presented. Starting with the light-cone massless vertices, the creation/annihilation algebra is derived in a simple manner, enabling a systematic construction of the physical vertex operators at any mass level in terms of $SO\left(8\right)$ superfields, in both integrated and unintegrated forms.
