We review how the AdS 2 × S 2 , AdS 3 × S 3 and AdS 5 × S 5 superstring theories in the Pohlmeyer-reduced form exhibit hidden N = (2, 2) , N = (4, 4) and N = (8, 8) worldsheet supersymmetries, with emphasis on the last two cases. Their characteristic feature is the presence of non-local terms in the supersymmetry transformations.Keywords: Superstrings; supersymmetry, Pohlmeyer reduction.PACS numbers: 11.30. Pb, To the bright memory of Julius Wess
Pohlmeyer ReductionThe original idea of the Pohlmeyer reduction (PR) 1 (see also Refs. 2, 3) was to reformulate the given 2d sigma model in terms of currents, rather than the target space parameters, through a non-local change of variables. The following equivalences with 2d integrable models were revealed in this way:The PR procedure preserves 2d Lorentz symmetry and integrability. It deals with the minimal set of fields, one field being always eliminated by fixing the classical 2d conformal invariance of the original sigma model. These equivalences are broken at the quantum level, where classical 2d conformal invariance is plagued by UV-divergences. Nevertheless, the similar equivalences can