Gravitational Topological Quantum Field TheoryVersus N = 2 D = 8 Supergravity and its lift to N = 1 D = 11 Supergravity

Laurent Baulieu (1)

1 LPTHE - Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Hautes Energies

In a previous work, it was shown that the 8-dimensional topologicalquantum field theory for a metric and a Kalb-Ramond 2-form gauge fielddetermines N = 1 D = 8 supergravity. It is shown here that, the combinationof this TQFT with that of a 3-form determines N = 2 D = 8 supergravity,that is, an untruncated dimensional reduction of N = 1 D = 11 supergravity.Our construction holds for 8-dimensional manifolds with Spin(7) \subset SO(8)holonomy. We suggest that the origin of local Poincaré supersymmetry is thegravitational topological symmetry. We indicate a mechanism for the lift ofthe TQFT in higher dimensions, which generates Chern-Simons couplings.

Domaines: Physique des Hautes Energies - Théorie [hep-th]

Laurent Baulieu. Gravitational Topological Quantum Field TheoryVersus N = 2 D = 8 Supergravity and its lift to N = 1 D = 11 Supergravity. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2004, 04, pp.044. ⟨hal-00000331v3⟩