Twisted supergravity and its quantization

Abstract

Twisted supergravity is supergravity in a background where the bosonic ghost field takes a non-zero value. This is the supergravity counterpart of the familiar concept of twisting supersymmetric field theories. In this paper, we give conjectural descriptions of type IIA and IIB supergravity in $10$ dimensions. Our conjectural descriptions are in terms of the closed-string field theories associated to certain topological string theories, and we conjecture that these topological string theories are twists of the physical string theories. For type IIB, the results of arXiv:1505.6703 show that our candidate twisted supergravity theory admits a unique quantization in perturbation theory. This is despite the fact that the theories, like the original physical theories, are non-renormalizable. Although we do not prove our conjectures, we amass considerable evidence. We find that our candidates for the twisted supergravity theories contain the residual supersymmetry one would expect. We also prove (using heavily a result of Baulieu arXiv:1009.3893) the open string version of our conjecture: the theory living on a brane in the topological string theory is a twist of the maximally supersymmetric gauge theory living on the brane in the physical string theory.

72 pages

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Cited by in corpus (24)

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• M-theory in the Omega-background and 5-dimensional non-commutative gauge theory
• Twisting and localization in supergravity: equivariant cohomology of BPS black holes
• Feynman diagrams and $\Omega$-deformed M-theory
• Holomorphic field theories and Calabi--Yau algebras
• Maximally twisted eleven-dimensional supergravity
• Twisted eleven-dimensional supergravity
• Giant gravitons in twisted holography
• Twisted String Theory in Anti-de Sitter Space
• Twisted holography of defect fusions
• Homotopy Algebras in Higher Spin Theory
• Evidence for an Algebra of ${\mathbf{G}}_2$ Instantons
• Twisted holography on AdS${}_3\times S^3\times K3$ & the planar chiral algebra
• Anomaly cancellation in the topological string
• Spontaneous symmetry breaking: a view from derived geometry
• A domain wall in twisted M-theory
• A String Dual for Partially Topological Chern-Simons-Matter Theories
• Local Operators from the Space of Vacua of Four Dimensional SUSY Gauge Theories
• Holomorphic boundary conditions for topological field theories via branes in twisted supergravity
• Twisted heterotic/type I duality
• Quantizing Derived Mapping Stacks
• Quantizing local holomorphic field theories on twistor space