Related papers: Supersymmetric Backgrounds and Generalised Special…
The main topic of this thesis are flux compactifications. Firstly, we study dimensional reductions of type II and eleven-dimensional supergravities using exceptional generalised geometry. We start by presenting the needed mathematical…
In the context of generalised geometry we investigate reductions to $SU(m)\times SU(m)$ together with an integrability condition which in dimension 6 describes the geometry of type II supergravity compactifications.
Using exceptional generalised geometry, we classify which five-dimensional ${\cal N}=2$ gauged supergravities can arise as a consistent truncation of 10-/11-dimensional supergravity. Exceptional generalised geometry turns the classification…
We study conditions on general fluxes of massive Type IIA supergravity that lead to four-dimensional backgrounds with N = 1 supersymmetry. We derive these conditions in the case of SU(3)- as well as SU(2)-structures. SU(3)-structures imply…
In M-theory vacua with vanishing 4-form F, one can invoke the ordinary Riemannian holonomy H \subset SO(1,10) to account for unbroken supersymmetries n=1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32. However, the generalized holonomy conjecture, valid for…
Generalized parallelizable spaces allow a unified treatment of consistent maximally supersymmetric truncations of ten- and eleven-dimensional supergravity in generalized geometry. Known examples are spheres, twisted tori and hyperboloides.…
The main results presented in this dissertation are the following - We have shown that in $d=4$ weak hyperkahler torsion structures are the same that hypercomplex structures and the same that the Plebanski-Finley conformally invariant…
We review the superspace technique to determine supersymmetric spacetimes in the framework of off-shell formulations for supergravity in diverse dimensions using the case of 3D N=2 supergravity theories as an illustrative example. This…
We derive formulas for the mean curvature of associative 3-folds, coassociative 4-folds, and Cayley 4-folds in the general case where the ambient space has intrinsic torsion. Consequently, we are able to characterize those G2-structures…
We study stratified G-structures in ${\cal N}=2$ compactifications of M-theory on eight-manifolds $M$ using the uplift to the auxiliary nine-manifold ${\hat M}=M\times S^1$. We show that the cosmooth generalized distribution ${\hat {\cal…
Supersymmetric bosonic backgrounds governed by first-order BPS equations, can be realised in a much broader setting by relaxing the requirement of closure of the superalgebra beyond the level of quadratic fermion terms. The resulting…
We construct and analyse holographic duals to a class of four-dimensional N = 1 SU($N_c$) SQCD-like theories compactified on a circle with an R-symmetry twist. The setup originates from type IIB backgrounds previously proposed as duals to…
We identify the fractions of supersymmetry preserved by the most general warped flux AdS and flat backgrounds in both massive and standard IIA supergravities. We find that $AdS_n\times_w M^{10-n}$ preserve $2^{[{n\over2}]} k$ for $n\leq 4$…
We construct novel $7d$ supersymmetric gauge theories which include a Chern-Simons-like term on curved spaces. In order to so, we examine the supersymmetry constraints for E7-branes in type IIA$^*$ theory, rather than making use of an…
The requirement of ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetry for M-theory backgrounds of the form of a warped product ${\cal M}\times_{w}X$, where $X$ is an eight-manifold and ${\cal M}$ is three-dimensional Minkowski or AdS space, implies the existence…
Euclidean supersymmetric theories are obtained from Minkowskian theories by performing a reduction in the time direction. This procedure elucidates certain mysterious features of Zumino's N=2 model in four dimensions, provides manifestly…
We consider rigid supersymmetric theories in four-dimensional Riemannian spin manifolds. We build the Lagrangian directly in Euclidean signature from the outset, keeping track of potential boundary terms. We reformulate the conditions for…
We present a short review of the group-geometric approach to supergravity theories, from the point of view of recent developments. The central idea is the unification of usual diffeomorphisms, gauge symmetries and supersymmetries into…
The formalism to determine (conformal) isometries of a given curved superspace was elaborated almost two decades ago in the context of the old minimal formulation for N=1 supergravity in four dimensions (4D). This formalism is universal,…
Understanding supersymmetric flux vacua is essential in order to connect string theory to observable physics. In this thesis, flux vacua are studied by making use of two mathematical frameworks: SU(n)-structures and generalised complex…