Higher-Derivative Gravitation and a New Mechanism for Supersymmetry Breaking in Four-Dimensions

Abstract

A discussion of the number of degrees of freedom, and their dynamical properties, in higher derivative gravitational theories is presented. The complete non-linear sigma model for these degrees of freedom is exhibited using the method of auxiliary fields. As a by-product we present a consistent non-linear coupling of a spin-2 tensor to gravitation. It is shown that non-vanishing (C~""'"'13) 2 terms arise inN= 1, D = 4 superstring Lagrangians due to one-loop radiative corrections with light-field internal lines. We discuss the general form of quadratic (1, I) supergravity in two dimensions, and show that this theory is equivalent to two scalar supermultiplets coupled to the usual Einstein supergravity. It is demonstrated that the theory possesses stable vacua with vanishing cosmological constant which spontaneously break supersymmetry. We then generalize this result to N = 1 supergravity in four dimensions. Specifically, we demonstrate that a class of higher derivative supergravity theories is equivalent to two chiral supermultiplets coupled in a specific way to Einstein supergravity. These theories are shown to possess stable vacuum states with vanishing cosmological constant which spontaneously break the N = 1 supersymmetry. ( )2 £ = -2 R + aRb C 11 va,B + cGB.

Nonlinear multidimensional cosmological models with form fields: Stabilization of extra dimensions and the cosmological constant problem

“…where k = 0, ±1. The scale r i sets the characteristic size of M i (modulo the warp factor exp(β i )) and can be interpreted as an effective scale factor of the compact Einstein space M i with metric γ i and corresponding 5 For considerations on higher order corrections to the gravity sector of M/string theory we refer to [28,43]. 6 Obviously, the conformal transformation (2.13), (2.14) becomes singular when f ′ (R) vanishes.…”

A gravitational constant and a cosmological constant in a spin-connection gravitational gauge field theory

“…We shall discuss the gravitational action S g = S (1) g + S (2) g : (i) obviously, it is a higher derivative gravity of metric (but quadratic in both spin connection and curvature). In the literature, there were many references which considered the four-derivative gravity (where the dynamical variable is the metric, however) [16]. But in our Yang-Mills formulation of gravity, the dynamical variable is the spin connection instead; (ii) there is a third candidate that is also quadratic in curvature, i.e., g μν ϑ βt ( ˇ νβ ) tr ( ˇ μα ) rs ϑ α s , for constructing the Lagrangian and action.…”

The Superspace Geometry of Gravitational Chern–Simons Forms and Their Couplings to Linear Multiplets: A Self-Contained Presentation

“…C Supersymmetry and curvature-squared terms Supersymmetric curvature-squared terms arise naturally in conformal supergravity [44], [45] and in the study of supersymmetric extensions of anomalies and topological invariants [46], [47], as well as in attempts at new mechanism of supersymmetry breaking [48], [49], [50]. So far these structures have been investigated mostly [51], [52] in the absence of supersymmetric matter and gauge couplings.…”