We generalize Cremmer-Julia 1st order action of $N=8$ supergravity with manifest $E_{7(7)}$ symmetry to cases of $N=6$ with manifest $SO^*(12)$ and $N=5$ with manifest $SU(1,5)$ duality symmetries. These U dualities belong to groups of type E7 which do not admit a symmetric bilinear invariant for vector fields. Therefore the 2d order classical action derived from the one with manifest E7 type duality has a ghost vector field which, under appropriate boundary conditions, decouples. We show that when classical $N\geq 5$ supergravities are deformed by a candidate UV divergence the ghost field does not decouple. Therefore we argue that U duality and supersymmetry suggest an explanation of the mysterious cancellation of UV infinities at $L=4$, $N=5$ in d=4. The same reasoning implies that, in absence of duality and supersymmetry anomalies, which still require a better understanding, $N\geq 5$ perturbative supergravities may be UV finite at higher-loops.
The usual methods for formulating and solving the quantum mechanics of a particle moving in a magnetic field respect neither locality nor any global symmetries which happen to be present. For example, Landau's solution for a particle moving in a uniform magnetic field in the plane involves choosing a gauge in which neither translation nor rotation invariance are manifest. We show that locality can be made manifest by passing to a redundant description in which the particle moves on a $U(1)$-principal bundle over the original configuration space and that symmetry can be made manifest by passing…
We propose a manifestly Lorentz covariant, non-commutative Dirac equation for charged particles interacting with an electromagnetic field. The equation is formulated on the operator level, but operators are not composed through the normal operator product, but a modified product that restores the Lorentz covariance. This equation is solved for the free particle and a particle moving in a constant magnetic field. An abstract action, constructed on the operator level, that yields this equation as equation of motion is also derived. To relate this formalism to current formulations of non-commutat…
We show that the 5D Nekrasov partition functions enjoy the enhanced global symmetry of the UV fixed point. The fiber-base duality is responsible for the global symmetry enhancement. For $SU(2)$ with $N_f\leq 7$ flavors the fiber-base symmetry together with the manifest flavor $SO(2N_f)$ symmetry generate the $E_{N_f+1}$ global symmetry, while in the higher rank case the manifest global symmetry of the two dual theories related by the fiber-base duality map generate the symmetry enhancement. The symmetry enhancement at the level of the partition function is manifest once we chose an appropriate…
We derive a manifestly duality-symmetric formulation of the action principle for conformal gravity linearized around Minkowski space-time. The analysis is performed in the Hamiltonian formulation, the fourth-order character of the equations of motion requiring the formal treatment of the three-dimensional metric perturbation and the extrinsic curvature as independent dynamical variables. The constraints are solved in terms of two symmetric potentials that are interpreted as a dual three-dimensional metric and a dual extrinsic curvature. The action principle can be written in terms of these fou…
We derive a manifestly duality-invariant formulation of the action principle for linearized gravity on anti de Sitter background. The analysis is based on the two-potential formalism, obtained upon resolution of the constraints in the Hamiltonian formulation. We discuss the relevance of our result in the context of holography.
We elaborate on the low-energy effective action of $6D,\,{\cal N}=(1,1)$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills (SYM) theory in the ${\cal N}=(1,0)$ harmonic superspace formulation. The theory is described in terms of analytic ${\cal N}=(1,0)$ gauge superfield $V^{++}$ and analytic $ω$-hypermultiplet, both in the adjoint representation of gauge group. The effective action is defined in the framework of the background superfield method ensuring the manifest gauge invariance along with manifest ${\cal N}=(1,0)$ supersymmetry. We calculate leading contribution to the one-loop effective action using the on-she…
The Tseytlin duality symmetric string makes manifest the $O(n,n)$ T-duality symmetry on the worldsheet at the expense of manifest Lorentz invariance. Here we consider the two-loop renormalisation of this model in the context of "cosmological" spacetimes consisting of an internal $n$-dimensional torus fibred over a one-dimensional base manifold. The lack of manifest Lorentz symmetry introduces a range of complexities in momenta loop integrals which we approach using different methods. Whilst the results do satisfy a number of key consistency criteria, we find however that the two-loop counter-t…
We present F-theories that reduce to 10D Type II Green-Schwarz superstrings. They vary in manifest U-duality according to division between spacetime and "internal" coordinates. They are defined by selfdual current superalgebras in higher worldvolume dimensions with manifest $\mathrm G\times \mathrm G'$ symmetry where the spacetime symmetry $\mathrm G=\mathrm E_{n(n)}$ ranges over the (split form of the) exceptional groups with ranks $n=\mathrm D+1 \leq 7$ and the internal symmetry $\mathrm {G'= GL(10-D)}$.
We formulate the higher covariant derivative regularization for N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories in N=2 harmonic superspace. This regularization is constructed by adding the N=2 supersymmetric higher derivative term to the classical action and inserting the N=2 supersymmetric Pauli--Villars determinants into the generating functional for removing one-loop divergencies. Unlike all other regularization schemes in N=2 supersymmetric quantum field theory, this regularization preserves by construction the manifest N=2 supersymmetry at all steps of calculating loop corrections to the effective acti…
Supersymmetric field theories possess a rich structure in their supercurrent supermultiplets. Some symmetries are manifest in one supercurrent supermultiplet but not in the others; for instance, R-symmetry is manifest in the R-multiplet but not in the Ferrara-Zumino multiplet. Similarly, we argue that dilatation symmetry is manifest in the Virial multiplet (also known as a variant minimal supercurrent supermultiplet in the literature). It reveals that R-symmetry and dilatation symmetry are conceptually independent without further assumptions even though the superconformal symmetry connects the…
The aim of this work is to achieve a formulation of the bosonic string theory in which T-duality appears as a manifest symmetry. Two models exhibiting this property are discussed. The first is based on the stringy extension of the Floreanini-Jackiw Lagrangians for chiral fields and is characterized by the loss of manifest covariance on the world-sheet, recovered on mass-shell. The second model exhibits two-dimensional covariance while doubling a priori the string coordinates in the target space. They are shown to be equivalent.
Taking clues from the recent construction of the covariant action for type II and heterotic string field theories, we construct a manifestly Lorentz covariant action for type IIB supergravity, and discuss its gauge fixing maintaining manifest Lorentz invariance. The action contains a (non-gravitating) free 4-form field besides the usual fields of type IIB supergravity. This free field, being completely decoupled from the interacting sector, has no physical consequence.
We investigate how SL(2,Z) duality is realized in nonrelativistic type IIB superstring theory, which is a self-contained corner of relativistic string theory. Within this corner, we realize manifestly SL(2,Z)-invariant (p,q)-string actions. The construction of these actions imposes a branching between strings of opposite charges associated with the two-form fields. The branch point is determined by these charges and the axion background field. Both branches must be incorporated in order to realize the full SL(2,Z) group. Besides these string actions, we also construct D-instanton and D3-brane …
We review various superspace approaches to the description of the low-energy effective action in N=4 super Yang-Mills (SYM) theory. We consider the four-derivative part of the low-energy effective action in the Coulomb branch. The typical components of this effective action are the gauge field F^4/X^4 and the scalar field Wess-Zumino terms. We construct N=4 supersymmetric completions of these terms in the framework of different harmonic superspaces supporting N=2,3,4 supersymmetries. These approaches are complementary to each other in the sense that they make manifest different subgroups of th…
In this paper, we will investigate a manifestly $SL(2,R)$-invariant structure for the energy-momentum tensor of ModMax theory as a nonlinear modification of Maxwell electrodynamics which includes conformal invariance as well. In the context of this theory, we show that the energy-momentum tensor of the generalized Born-Infeld theory can also be written in the same invariant form. We will find manifestly self-dual invariant actions corresponding to the invariant couplings $λ$ and $γ$ in these theories. It can be shown that the resultant actions correspond to the irrelevant and marginal $T\bar{T…
F-theory attempts to include all U-dualities manifestly. Unlike its T-dual manifest partner, which is based on string current algebra, F-theory is based on higher dimensional brane current algebra. Like the T-dual manifest theory, which has $O(D-1,1)^2$ unbroken symmetry, the F-theory vacuum also enjoys certain symmetries ("$H$"). One of its important and exotic properties is that worldvolume indices are also spacetime indices. This makes the global brane current algebra incompatible with $H$ symmetry currents. The solution is to introduce worldvolume covariant derivatives, which depend on the…
