Four dimensional R^4 superinvariants through gauge completion

Abstract

We fully compute the N=1 supersymmetrization of the fourth power of the Weyl tensor in d=4 x-space with the auxiliary fields. In a previous paper, we showed that their elimination requires an infinite number of terms; we explicitely compute those terms to order κ^4 (three loop). We also write, in superspace notation, all the possible N=1 actions, in four dimensions, that contain pure R^4 terms (with coupling constants). We explicitely write these actions in terms of the θcomponents of the chiral density εand the supergravity superfields R, G_m, W_{ABC}. Using the method of gauge completion, we compute the necessary θcomponents which allow us to write these actions in x-space. We discuss under which circumstances can these extra R^4 correction terms be reabsorbed in the pure supergravity action, and their relevance to the quantum supergravity/string theory effective actions.