supergravity

supergravity
Name	Supergravity
Field	Theoretical physics
Introduced	1976
Contributors	Sergio Ferrara, Daniel Z. Freedman, Peter van Nieuwenhuizen, Stanley Deser, John Schwarz, Michael Green, Edward Witten, John H. Schwarz, Lionel Mason, Nathan Seiberg

supergravity is a framework in theoretical physics combining principles from Albert Einstein's General relativity with ideas from Paul Dirac and Satyendra Nath Bose-inspired approaches to symmetry embodied by Yakov Zel'dovich-era developments in supersymmetry research. It emerged in the 1970s during interactions among researchers at institutions such as Princeton University, CERN, Caltech, and Institute for Advanced Study, and influenced programs pursued at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and Rutgers University.

History

The inception of the subject involved collaborations among Sergio Ferrara, Daniel Z. Freedman, and Peter van Nieuwenhuizen at Stony Brook University and Brandeis University, and independently by Stanley Deser and Bruno Zumino at UCLA and MIT. Early announcements were presented at conferences like International Conference on High Energy Physics and workshops at CERN and Erice that also attracted figures such as John H. Schwarz and Michael Green who later connected supergravity to string theory. Subsequent developments were shaped by contributions from Edward Witten, Nathan Seiberg, Pierre Ramond, Joël Scherk, John Schwarz (physicist), and experimental motivations discussed at meetings in Brookhaven National Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and DESY. The research spurred programs at establishments including Max Planck Institute for Physics, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and academic groups in Princeton, Cambridge, and Oxford.

Formalism and Lagrangian

The formal structure was formalized via variational principles akin to those used by Albert Einstein in General relativity and by Paul Dirac in relativistic quantum mechanics, yielding Lagrangians that couple a spin-2 field with spin-3/2 Rarita–Schwinger fields introduced by William Rarita and Julian Schwinger. Key formulations used techniques from Élie Cartan's differential geometry, connections developed in Élie Cartan (mathematician)-inspired work, and tensor calculus popularized by Marcel Grossmann collaborators. The minimal N=1 constructions employed field content and gauge symmetries influenced by lectures at Les Houches Summer School and textbooks by Steven Weinberg, Mark Srednicki, and Michael Peskin. Extended actions and auxiliary-field formulations were refined by groups at CERN and University of California, Berkeley using methods from Noether's theorem and path integral insights credited to Richard Feynman and Julian Schwinger.

Supersymmetry and Local Superspace

Local supersymmetry arises from gauging global supersymmetry transformations developed in work citing Julius Wess, Bruno Zumino, and Salam and Strathdee frameworks. Superspace techniques trace to seminars at Imperial College London and to mathematical formalisms advanced by Igor Batalin and Grigori Vilkovisky in BRST contexts discussed at IHEP Protvino and Budker Institute. Constructing off-shell multiplets engaged researchers at Niels Bohr Institute, University of Tokyo, and Institute for Nuclear Theory, while superconformal methods were advanced by scholars linked to Caltech and Yale University. Applications of local superspace used algebraic approaches influenced by Évariste Galois-type symmetry classification introduced in works disseminated through Annals of Physics and conference proceedings of SUSY Conferences.

Extended and Higher-Dimensional Supergravities

Extended theories with larger N were developed by teams at CERN, University of Cambridge (UK), and Harvard University building on classifications by Hermann Nicolai, Bernard de Wit, and Christoph Schellekens. Eleven-dimensional supergravity, first written down in seminars at Tel Aviv University and formalized by researchers including Eugene Cremmer, Bernard Julia, and Joel Scherk with relations to Peter Freund, linked to later developments in M-theory advanced by Edward Witten and Paul Townsend. Compactifications involving spaces studied by Élie Cartan-inspired geometers and institutions like Institute for Advanced Study tied to dualities explored by Ashoke Sen, Cumrun Vafa, Juan Maldacena, and Andrew Strominger. Work on gauged supergravities engaged groups at Queen Mary University of London, University of Bonn, and California Institute of Technology, with connections to constructions by Maxwell Garnett-style analogues in mathematical physics.

Solutions and Physical Applications

Classical solutions include black hole and black brane configurations studied by researchers at University of Cambridge (UK), Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, and CERN, with entropy results linked to the spectroscopy analyzed by Andrew Strominger and Cumrun Vafa. Cosmological solutions influenced inflationary model building pursued at Princeton University, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and SISSA, while domain wall and soliton constructions were developed in collaboration with groups at University of Chicago and University of California, Santa Barbara. Holographic correspondences connecting gravity and gauge theory exploited insights from Juan Maldacena's work and were discussed at Institute for Advanced Study and Harvard University, with phenomenological applications considered by faculty at Stanford University and Rutgers University.

Quantization and Ultraviolet Behavior

Perturbative quantization efforts were carried out by collaborations involving Zvi Bern, Lance Dixon, and David Kosower using modern unitarity methods presented at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and CERN. Studies of ultraviolet divergences and finiteness involved contributions from Michael Green, John H. Schwarz, Renata Kallosh, and Hermann Nicolai and debates at workshops hosted by KITP and IPMU. Nonperturbative approaches connected to Edward Witten's work on anomalies and topological sectors, while lattice-inspired and effective field theory analyses were topics at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and Institute for Advanced Study. Current research programs are active at Princeton University, Harvard University, Caltech, and Stanford University exploring potential ultraviolet cancellations and links to string theory and M-theory.

Category:Theoretical physics