Supergravity at 40: Reflections and Perspectives

Abstract

The fortieth anniversary of the original construction of Supergravity provides an opportunity to combine some reminiscences of its early days with an assessment of its impact on the quest for a quantum theory of gravity.Dedicated to John H. Schwarz on the occasion of his 75-th birthday

Inflation with Scalar-Tensor Theory of Gravity

“…To study cosmological consequence of such a conserved current, let us turn our attention to the minisuperspace Model (1), in which the conserved current (11), reads as…”

“…However, GTR is not renormalizable and a renormalized theory requires to include higher-order curvature invariant terms in the gravitational action [7]. Despite serious and intense research over several decades and formulation of new high energy physical theories like superstring [8,9] and supergravity [10,11] theories, a viable quantum theory of gravity is still far from being realized. In connection with last problem, a host of research is in progress over last two decades [12].…”

Canonical equivalence in anisotropic models for higher order theory of gravity

“…Knowing exact form of all momenta and by putting x = ż , w = ẏ , z = A 2 , y = B 2 , we are now able to write the ( 0 0 ) equation of Einstein as presented in (9). Also, using the expressions λ = p z and τ = p y , from Lagrangian (15), we can find the other field equations, viz., A, B , and φ variation equations as presented in equations ( 6), (7) and (8).…”

“…General Theory of Relativity (GTR) being non-renormalizable, Einstein-Hilbert action is necessarily required to be supplemented by higher order curvature invariant terms [4]. Further, with the advent of superstring, heterotic string [5,6] and supergravity [7,8] theories, it is now quite apparent that under weak field approximation, these theories primarily reduce to effective actions containing higher-order curvature invariant terms in 4-dimensions. In the absence of a complete quantum theory of gravity, quantum cosmology renders certain insights near Planck's era.…”

Supergravity, α-attractors and primordial non-Gaussianity

“…In this vein, we want to make robust predictions for models that are expected to modify Einstein General Relativity at high energies that can be probed at the inflationary epoch. We focus on supergravity [39][40][41][42] models of inflation. They emerge in a low-energy limit of string theory which remains a most promising candidate to unify the laws of nature.…”