Superbranes and superembeddings
TL;DR: In this article, a geometrical approach to the description of the dynamics of superparticles, superstrings and, in general, of super-p -branes, Dirichlet branes and the M5-brane is presented.
About: This article is published in Physics Reports.The article was published on 2000-05-01 and is currently open access. It has received 223 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Brane & Superspace.
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TL;DR: In this paper, a super-Poincare covariant prescription was defined for computing tree amplitudes and was shown to coincide with the standard RNS prescription, which was used to define functional integration over the pure spinor ghosts and to construct a suitable $b$ ghost.
Abstract: A ten-dimensional super-Poincare covariant formalism for the superstring was recently developed which involves a BRST operator constructed from superspace matter variables and a pure spinor ghost variable. A super-Poincare covariant prescription was defined for computing tree amplitudes and was shown to coincide with the standard RNS prescription.
In this paper, picture-changing operators are used to define functional integration over the pure spinor ghosts and to construct a suitable $b$ ghost. A super-Poincare covariant prescription is then given for the computation of N-point multiloop amplitudes. One can easily prove that massless N-point multiloop amplitudes vanish for N<4, confirming the perturbative finiteness of superstring theory. One can also prove the Type IIB S-duality conjecture that $R^4$ terms in the effective action receive no perturbative contributions above one loop.
312 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors determine the constraints imposed on the 10d target superspace geometry by the requirement of classical kappa-symmetry of the Green-Schwarz superstring.
Abstract: We determine the constraints imposed on the 10d target superspace geometry by the requirement of classical kappa-symmetry of the Green-Schwarz superstring. In the type I case we find that the background must satisfy a generalization of type I supergravity equations. These equations depend on an arbitrary vector X
a
and imply the one-loop scale invariance of the GS sigma model. In the special case when X
a
is the gradient of a scalar ϕ (dilaton) one recovers the standard type I equations equivalent to the 2d Weyl invariance conditions of the superstring sigma model. In the type II case we find a generalized version of the 10d supergravity equations the bosonic part of which was introduced in arXiv:1511.05795
. These equations depend on two vectors X
a
and K
a
subject to 1st order differential relations (with the equations in the NS-NS sector depending only on the combination X
a
= X
a
+ K
a
). In the special case of K
a
= 0 one finds that X
a
= ∂
a
ϕ and thus obtains the standard type II supergravity equations. New generalized solutions are found if K
a
is chosen to be a Killing vector (and thus they exist only if the metric admits an isometry). Non-trivial solutions of the generalized equations describe K-isometric backgrounds that can be mapped by T-duality to type II supergravity solutions with dilaton containing a linear isometry-breaking term. Examples of such backgrounds appeared recently in the context of integrable η-deformations of AdS
n
× S
n
sigma models. The classical kappa-symmetry thus does not, in general, imply the 2d Weyl invariance conditions for the GS sigma model (equivalent to type II supergravity equations) but only weaker scale invariance type conditions.
192 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a point of view about what M Theory is and how it is related to the real world that departs in certain crucial respects from conventional wisdom.
Abstract: I present a point of view about what M Theory is and how it is related to the real world that departs in certain crucial respects from conventional wisdom. I argue against the possibility of a background independent formulation of the theory, or of a Poincare invariant, Supersymmetry violating vacuum state. A fundamental assumption is black hole dominance of high energy physics.Much of this paper is a compilation of things I have said elsewhere. I review a crude argument for the critical exponent connecting the gravitino mass and the cosmological constant, and propose a framework for the finding a quantum theory of de Sitter space.
161 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review developments in the theory of multiple, parallel membranes in M-theory and introduce 3-algebras, leading to distinct classes of 2+1 dimensional theories with varying degrees of supersymmetry.
129 citations
TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that the pure spinor formalism proposed by Berkovits to covariantly quantize superstrings is a gauge fixed, twisted version of the complexified n=2 superembedding formulation of the superstring.
125 citations
References
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TL;DR: It is shown that D-branes, extended objects defined by mixed Dirichlet-Neumann boundary conditions, break half the supersymmetries of the type II superstring and carry a complete set of electric and magnetic Ramond-Ramond charges.
Abstract: We show that D-branes, extended objects defined by mixed Dirichlet-Neumann boundary conditions, break half the supersymmetries of the type II superstring and carry a complete set of electric and magnetic Ramond-Ramond charges. The product of the electric and magnetic charges is a single Dirac unit, and the quantum of charge is that required by string duality. This is strong evidence that D-branes are intrinsic to type II string theory and are the Ramond-Ramond sources needed for string duality. Also, we find in the IIa string a 9-form potential, which gives an effective cosmological constant.
3,151 citations
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TL;DR: The standard model of particle physics is valid to distances as small as 10−16 cm, and there is some evidence (such as that obtained by extrapolating the strengths of the four forces to determine the distance scale at which they might become indistinguishable) that the next level of structure will be detected only at a distance scale of roughly 10−32 cm as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Particle physicists have spent much of this century grappling with one basic question in various forms: what are the fundamental degrees of freedom needed to describe nature, and what are the laws that govern their dynamics? First molecules, then atoms, then “elementary particles” such as protons and neutrons all have been revealed to be composite objects whose constituents could be studied as more fundamental degrees of freedom. The current “standard model” of particle physics—which is nearly 25 years old, has much experimental evidence in its favor and is comprised of six quarks, six leptons, four forces, and the as yet unobserved Higgs boson—contains internal indications that it, too, may be just another step along the path toward uncovering the truly fundamental degrees of freedom. The standard model is valid to distances as small as 10−16 cm, and there is some evidence (such as that obtained by extrapolating the strengths of the four forces to determine the distance scale at which they might become indistinguishable) that the next level of structure will be detected only at a distance scale of roughly 10−32 cm, far beyond our abilities to measure in the laboratory.
The study of motion and gravity also has undergone several revisions during this century. Reconciling the Newtonian theory of motion with the experimentally observed constancy of the speed of light required the introduction of special relativity, which quite remarkably insists that space and time are intimately related, much as different faces of the same …
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TL;DR: In this article, the action and transformation laws of supergravity in 11 dimensions were presented, which is expected to be closely related to the O(8) theory in 4 dimensions after dimensional reduction.
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TL;DR: In this paper, a phenomenological Lagrangian is constructed to describe an interaction of the neutrino with itself and with other particles, based on the hypothesis that neutrinos are goldstone particles.
1,365 citations