arXiv subjects

Alasdair J. Routh

Publications and source records attributed to Alasdair J. Routh.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2015

Twistors and the massive spinning particle

Gauge-invariant twistor variables are found for the massive spinning particle with N-extended local worldline supersymmetry, in spacetime dimensions D=3,4,6. The twistor action is manifestly Lorentz invariant but the anticommuting spin variables appear exactly as in the non-relativistic limit. This allows a simple confirmation that the quantum N=2 spinning particle has either spin one or spin zero, and that N>2 is quantum inconsistent for D=4,6.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Twistor form of massive 6D superparticle

The massive six-dimensional (6D) superparticle with manifest (n,0) supersymmetry is shown to have a supertwistor formulation in which its "hidden" (0,n) supersymmetry is also manifest. The mass-shell constraint is replaced by Spin(5) spin-shell constraints which imply that the quantum superparticle has zero superspin, for n=1 it propagates the 6D Proca supermultiplet.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

The Third Way to 3D Gravity

Consistency of Einstein's gravitational field equation $G_{μν} \propto T_{μν}$ imposes a "conservation condition" on the $T$-tensor that is satisfied by (i) matter stress tensors, as a consequence of the matter equations of motion, and (ii) identically by certain other tensors, such as the metric tensor. However, there is a third way, overlooked until now because it implies a "non-geometrical" action: one {\it not} constructed from the metric and its derivatives alone. The new possibility is exemplified by the 3D "minimal massive gravity" model, which resolves the "bulk vs. boundary" unitarity problem of topologically massive gravity with anti-de Sitter asymptotics. Although all known examples of the third way are in three spacetime dimensions, the idea is general and could, in principle, apply to higher-dimensional theories.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Chern-Simons-like Gravity Theories

A wide class of three-dimensional gravity models can be put into "Chern-Simons-like" form. We perform a Hamiltonian analysis of the general model and then specialise to Einstein-Cartan Gravity, General Massive Gravity, the recently proposed Zwei-Dreibein Gravity and a further parity violating generalisation combining the latter two.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Matter coupling in 3D "Minimal Massive Gravity"

The "Minimal Massive Gravity" (MMG) model of massive gravity in three spacetime dimensions (which has the same anti-de Sitter (AdS) bulk properties as "Topologically Massive Gravity" but improved boundary properties) is coupled to matter. Consistency requires a particular matter source tensor, which is quadratic in the stress tensor. The consequences are explored for an ideal fluid in the context of asymptotically de-Sitter (dS) cosmological solutions, which bounce smoothly from contraction to expansion. Various vacuum solutions are also found, including warped-(A)dS, and (for special values of parameters) static black holes and an (A)dS2 x S1 vacuum.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Minimal Massive 3D Gravity

We present an alternative to Topologically Massive Gravity (TMG) with the same "minimal" bulk properties; i.e. a single local degree of freedom that is realized as a massive graviton in linearization about an anti-de Sitter (AdS) vacuum. However, in contrast to TMG, the new "minimal massive gravity" has both a positive energy graviton and positive central charges for the asymptotic AdS-boundary conformal algebra.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Supertwistors and massive particles

In the (super)twistor formulation of massless (super)particle mechanics, the mass-shell constraint is replaced by a "spin-shell" constraint from which the spin content can be read off. We extend this formalism to massive (super)particles (with N-extended spacetime supersymmetry) in three and four space-time dimensions, explaining how the spin-shell constraints are related to spin, and we use it to prove equivalence of the massive N=1 and BPS-saturated N=2 superparticle actions. We also find the supertwistor form of the action for "spinning particles" with N-extended worldline supersymmetry, massless in four dimensions and massive in three dimensions, and we show how this simplifies special features of the N=2 case.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

An O(D,D) Invariant Hamiltonian Action for the Superstring

We construct O(D,D) invariant actions for the bosonic string and RNS superstring, using Hamiltonian methods and ideas from double field theory. In this framework the doubled coordinates of double field theory appear as coordinates on phase space and T-duality becomes a canonical transformation. Requiring the algebra of constraints to close leads to the section condition, which splits the phase space coordinates into spacetime coordinates and momenta.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

All Superparticles are BPS

The generic action for an N-extended superparticle in D-dimensional Minkowski spacetime is shown to have "hidden" supersymmetries (related by "dualities" to the manifest supersymmetries) such that the full supersymmetry algebra is BPS-saturated; the exceptions (which include, trivially, the massless case) are those for which the manifest supersymmetry algebra is already BPS-saturated. Moreover, it is shown that any "non-BPS" superparticle action is a gauge-fixed version of the "BPS" superparticle action for which all supersymmetries are manifest. An example is the N=1 massive D=10 superparticle, which actually has N=2 supersymmetry and is equivalent to the action for a D0-brane of IIA superstring theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

Equivalence of 3D Spinning String and Superstring

We perform a light-cone gauge quantization of the Ramond closed spinning string in three spacetime dimensions (3D). The spectrum is Lorentz invariant and identical to that of the 3D Green-Schwarz closed superstring with ${\cal N}=2$ space-time supersymmetry, quantized in light-cone gauge.

hep-th↗