Non-Relativistic Limits of Bosonic and Heterotic Double Field Theory

Abstract

The known stringy non-relativistic (NR) limit of the universal NS-NS sector of supergravity has a finite Lagrangian due to non-trivial cancellations of divergent parts coming from the metric and the $B$-field. We demonstrate that in Double Field Theory (DFT) and generalised geometry these cancellations already happen at the level of the generalised metric, which is convergent in the limit $c\to \infty$, implying that the NR limit can be imposed before solving the strong constraint. We present the $c$-expansion of the generalised metric, which reproduces the Non-Riemannian formulation of DFT at the (finite) leading order, and the $c$-expansion of the generalised frame, which contains divergences. We also extend this approach to the non-Abelian gauge field of Heterotic DFT assuming a convergent expansion for the O$(D,D+n)$ generalised metric. From this proposal, we derive a novel $c$-expansion for the bosonic part of the heterotic supergravity which is, by construction, compatible with O$(D,D)$-symmetry.

V2: 21 pages + references, relation to known results on NR-limit of bosonic DFT in introduction and section 3 clarified, new section 3.4 added; V3: published version