Related papers: Bimetric, Conformal Supergravity and its Superstri…
The loop representation of quantum gravity has many formal resemblances to a background-free string theory. In fact, its origins lie in attempts to treat the string theory of hadrons as an approximation to QCD, in which the strings…
We use conformal, but ghostful, Weyl gravity to study its ghost-free, second derivative, partially massless (PM) spin 2 component in presence of Einstein gravity with positive cosmological constant. Specifically, we consider both…
Exploring the role of conformal theories of gravity in string theory, we show that the minimal (N=2) gauged supergravities in five dimensions induce the multiplets and transformations of N=1 four dimensional conformal supergravity on the…
We use holography and four-dimensional $\,\mathcal{N}=4\,$ gauged supergravity to collect evidence for a large class of interconnected three-dimensional $\,\mathcal{N}=2\,$ conformal field theories. On the gravity side, we construct a…
A strong coupling limit of theories whose low-energy effective field theory is 5-dimensional N=8 supergravity is proposed in which the gravitational coupling becomes large. It is argued that, if this limit exists, it should be a…
A unitary gravitational action up to third order of curvature in which respects to the holographic $a-$theorem has been constructed in \cite{myers}. In particular, its third order term is just the Weyl-cubed term in four dimensions. In this…
For a classical superconformal gauge theory in a conformal supergravity background, its chiral R-symmetry anomaly, Weyl anomaly and super-Weyl anomaly constitute a supermultiplet. We review how these anomalies arise from the…
A two-dimensional Sp($2N$) vector model with small $\mathcal{N}=4$ superconformal symmetry is formulated, and its chiral algebra is shown to be generated by superprimary fields of even conformal weight. This vector model is the large level…
We present the N=4 superspace constraints for the two-dimensional (2d) off-shell (4,4) supergravity with the superfield strengths expressed in terms of a (4,4) twisted (scalar) multiplet TM-I, as well as the corresponding component results,…
The $\cal{N}=4$ supersymmetric spinning particle admits several consistent quantizations, related to the gauging of different subgroups of the $SO(4)$ $R$-symmetry on the worldline. We construct the background independent BRST quantization…
We construct the dilaton Weyl multiplet for $N=2$ conformal supergravity in four dimensions. Beginning from an on-shell vector multiplet coupled to the standard Weyl multiplet, the equations of motion can be used to eliminate the…
We present a new formulation for the canonical approach to conformal (Weyl-squared) gravity and its extension by the Einstein-Hilbert term and a nonminimally coupled scalar field. For this purpose we use a unimodular decomposition of the…
We develop off-shell formulations for ${\cal N}=1$ and ${\cal N}=2$ anti-de Sitter supergravity theories in three spacetime dimensions that contain gauge two-forms in the auxiliary field sector. These formulations are shown to allow…
In this paper we revisit the motivation and construction of a unified theory of gravity and electromagnetism, following Weyl's insights regarding the appealing potential connection between the gauge invariance of electromagnetism and the…
In this paper we construct a $(2,2)$ dimensional string theory with manifest $N=1$ spacetime supersymmetry. We use Berkovits' approach of augmenting the spacetime supercoordinates by the conjugate momenta for the fermionic variables. The…
In this paper we pursue further a programme initiated in a previous work and aimed at the construction, classification and property investigation of time dependent solutions of supergravity (superstring backgrounds) through a systematic…
The properties of Dirac gamma matrices in a four-dimensional space-time with the $(2,2)$ signature are studied. The basic spinors are classified, and the existence of Majorana-Weyl spinors is noted. Supersymmetry in $2 + 2$ dimensions is…
Recently, it has been pointed out that dimensionless actions in four dimensional curved spacetime possess a symmetry which goes beyond scale invariance but is smaller than full Weyl invariance. This symmetry was dubbed {\it restricted Weyl…
Four dimensional supergravities may be the right framework to describe particle physics at low energies. Its connection to the underlying string theory can be implemented through higher dimensional supergravities which bear special…
Conformal supergravity arises in presently known formulations of twistor-string theory either via closed strings or via gauge-singlet open strings. We explore this sector of twistor-string theory, relating the relevant string modes to the…