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Supermoduli Space Is Not Projected

High Energy Physics - Theory 2023-07-21 v2 Algebraic Geometry

Abstract

We prove that for genus greater than or equal to 5, the moduli space of super Riemann surfaces is not projected (and in particular is not split): it cannot be holomorphically projected to its underlying reduced manifold. Physically, this means that certain approaches to superstring perturbation theory that are very powerful in low orders have no close analog in higher orders. Mathematically, it means that the moduli space of super Riemann surfaces cannot be constructed in an elementary way starting with the moduli space of ordinary Riemann surfaces. It has a life of its own.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1304.7798,
  title  = {Supermoduli Space Is Not Projected},
  author = {Ron Donagi and Edward Witten},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1304.7798},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

57 pp

R2 v1 2026-06-22T00:08:24.823Z