Related papers: Derivations, holonomy groups and heterotic geometr…
In this expository article we discuss the relations between Sasakian geometry, reduced holonomy and supersymmetry. It is well known that the Riemannian manifolds other than the round spheres that admit real Killing spinors are precisely…
We show how the Killing spinors of some maximally supersymmetric supergravity solutions whose metrics describe symmetric spacetimes (including $AdS,AdS\times S$ and H$pp$-waves) can be easily constructed using purely geometrical and…
We consider supersymmetric near-horizon geometries in heterotic supergravity up to two loop order in sigma model perturbation theory. We identify the conditions for the horizons to admit enhancement of supersymmetry. We show that solutions…
Killing spinor identities relate components of equations of motion to each other for supersymmetric backgrounds. The only input required is the field content and the supersymmetry transformations of the fields, as long as an on-shell…
The notion of {\it generalised structure groups} and {\it generalised holonomy groups} has been introduced in supergravity, in order to discuss the spinor rotations generated by commutators of supercovariant derivatives when non-vanishing…
We solve the Killing spinor equations and determine the near horizon geometries of M-theory that preserve at least one supersymmetry. The M-horizon spatial sections are 9-dimensional manifolds with a Spin(7) structure restricted by…
The symmetries of two-dimensional supersymmetric sigma models on target spaces with covariantly constant forms associated to special holonomy groups are analysed. It is shown that each pair of such forms gives rise to a new one, called a…
We study the holonomy that is associated to a sub-Riemannian structure defined on the kernel of a global contact form. This includes the holonomy of Schouten's horizontal connection as well as of the adapted connection, both canonical…
We calculate the relevant Spencer cohomology of the minimal Poincar\'e superalgebra in 5 spacetime dimensions and use it to define Killing spinors via a connection on the spinor bundle of a 5-dimensional lorentzian spin manifold. We give a…
We study geometric structures of $\mathcal{W}_4$-type in the sense of A. Gray on a Riemannian manifold. If the structure group $\mathrm{G} \subset \SO(n)$ preserves a spinor or a non-degenerate differential form, its intrinsic torsion…
We study constrained generalized Killing spinors over the metric cone and cylinder of a (pseudo-)Riemannian manifold, developing a toolkit which can be used to investigate certain problems arising in supersymmetric flux compactifications of…
This paper focuses on the derivations and automorphism groups of certain finite-dimensional associative algebras over the field of complex numbers. Using classification results for algebras of dimensions two, three, and four, along with…
We determine the Killing superalgebras underpinning field theories with rigid unextended supersymmetry on Lorentzian four-manifolds by re-interpreting them as filtered deformations of $\mathbb{Z}$-graded subalgebras with maximum odd…
We review the map between hypercomplex manifolds that admit a closed homothetic Killing vector (i.e. `conformal hypercomplex' manifolds) and quaternionic manifolds of 1 dimension less. This map is related to a method for constructing…
A new symmetry of $(1,0)$ supersymmetric non-linear $\sigma$-models in two dimensions with Fermi and mass sectors is introduced. It is a generalisation of the so-called special holonomy $W$-symmetry of Howe and Papadopoulos associated with…
We extend the link between Einstein Sasakian manifolds and Killing spinors to a class of $\eta$-Einstein Sasakian manifolds, both in Riemannian and Lorentzian settings, characterising them in terms of generalised Killing spinors. We propose…
A supermanifold M is canonically associated to any pseudo Riemannian spin manifold (M_0,g_0). Extending the metric g_0 to a field g of bilinear forms g(p) on T_p M, p\in M_0, the pseudo Riemannian supergeometry of (M,g) is formulated as…
We study the local Killing Lie algebra of meromorphic almost rigid geometric structures on complex manifolds. This leads to classification results for compact complex manifolds bearing holomorphic rigid geometric structures.
The relationship between spinors and Clifford (or geometric) algebra has long been studied, but little consistency may be found between the various approaches. However, when spinors are defined to be elements of the even subalgebra of some…
In these lectures the relations between symmetries, Lie algebras, Killing vectors and Noether's theorem are reviewed. A generalisation of the basic ideas to include velocity-dependend co-ordinate transformations naturally leads to the…