arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Fotis Farakos.
When supersymmetry is spontaneously broken it will be generically non-linearly realized. A method to describe the non-linear realization of supersymmetry is with constrained superfields. We discuss the basic features of this description and review some recent developments in supergravity.
We study $(2,2)$ and $(4,4)$ supersymmetric theories with superspace higher derivatives in two dimensions. A characteristic feature of these models is that they have several different vacua, some of which break supersymmetry. Depending on the vacuum, the equations of motion describe different propagating degrees of freedom. Various examples are presented which illustrate their generic properties. As a by-product we see that these new vacua give a dynamical way of generating non-linear realizations. In particular, our 2D $(4,4)$ example is the dimensional reduction of a 4D $N=2$ model, and gives a new way for the spontaneous breaking of extended supersymmetry.
We consider the minimal three-form ${\cal N}=1$ supergravity coupled to nilpotent three-form chiral superfields. The supersymmetry breaking is sourced by the three-forms of the chiral multiplets, while the value of the gravitino mass is controlled by the three-form of the supergravity multiplet. The three-forms can nucleate membranes which scan both the supersymmetry breaking scale and the gravitino mass. The peculiar supergravity feature that the cosmological constant is the sum of a positive contribution from the supersymmetry breaking scale and a negative contribution from the gravitino mass makes the cosmological constant jump. This can lead to a phenomenologically allowed small value of the cosmological constant even though the supersymmetry breaking scale and the gravitino mass are dynamically large.
We analyze constrained superfields in supergravity. We investigate the consistency and solve all known constraints, presenting a new class that may have interesting applications in the construction of inflationary models. We provide the superspace Lagrangians for minimal supergravity models based on them and write the corresponding theories in component form using a simplifying gauge for the goldstino couplings.
We discuss the initial conditions problem for inflation driven by the vacuum energy of a plateau potential, and in particular the Starobinsky inflation. We show that the supergravity embedding of the $R+R^2$ theory naturally decreases the size of the acausal homogeneity, required for the low-scale inflation to occur, thanks to the presence of the dynamical pure supergravitational "auxiliary" fields. We examine the evolution of the $R+R^2$ fields within a FLRW Universe. We also find a dependence of the initial conditions problem on the background spatial curvature.
We study supersymmetry breaking in theories with non-minimal multiplets (such as the complex linear or CNM multiplets), by using superspace higher derivative terms which give rise to new supersymmetry breaking vacuum solutions on top of the standard supersymmetric vacuum. We illustrate the decoupling of the additional massive sectors inside the complex linear and the CNM multiplets and show that only the Goldstino sector is left in the low energy limit. We also discuss the duality between non-minimal scalar multiplets and chiral multiplets in the presence of superspace higher derivatives. From the superspace Noether procedure we calculate the supercurrents, and we show that in the supersymmetry breaking vacuum the chiral superfield X which enters the Ferrara-Zumino supercurrent conservation equation does indeed flow in the IR to the chiral constrained Goldstino superfield. We also provide a description of the Goldstino sector in terms of the Samuel-Wess superfield for the supersymmetry breaking mechanism at hand.
In this article we motivate and review the embedding of the gravitationally enhanced friction mechanism in supergravity. The very interesting feature is that inflationary models which utilize this mechanism drive inflation for a wider range of parameter values and predict lower values for the tensor-to-scalar ratio.
In the new-minimal supergravity formulation we present the embedding of the $R+R^2$ Starobinsky model of inflation. Starting from the superspace action we perform the projection to component fields and identify the Starobinsky model in the bosonic sector. Since there exist no other scalar fields, this is by construction a single field model. This higher curvature supergravity also gives rise to a propagating massive vector. Finally we comment on the issues of higher order corrections and initial conditions.
In the framework of linearized non-minimal supergravity (20/20), we present the embedding of the $R + R^2$ model and we analyze its field spectrum. As usual, the auxiliary fields of the Einstein theory now become propagating, giving rise to additional degrees of freedom, which organize themselves into on-shell irreducible supermultiplets. By performing the analysis both in component and superspace formulations we identify the new supermultiplets. On top of the two massive chiral superfields reminiscent of the old-minimal supergravity embedding, the spectrum contains also a consistent physical, massive, vector supermultiplet and a tachyonic ghost, massive, vector supermultiplet.
We calculate the low energy effective action of massless and massive complex linear superfields coupled to a massive U(1) vector multiplet. Our calculations include superspace higher derivative corrections and therefore go beyond previous results. Among the superspace higher derivatives we find that terms which lead to a deformation of the auxiliary field potential and may break supersymmetry are also generated. We show that the supersymmetry breaking vacua can only be trusted if there exists a hierarchy between the higher order terms. A renormalization group analysis shows that generically a hierarchy is not generated by the quantum corrections.
In the light of the new observational results we discuss the status of the exponential potentials driving inflation. We depart form the minimal scenario and study an inflaton kinetically coupled to the Einstein tensor. We find that in this case the exponential potentials are well compatible with observations. Their predictions coincide with those of the chaotic type quadratic potential for an inflaton minimally coupled to gravity. We show that there exists a simple mapping between the two models. Moreover, a novel aspect of our model is that it features a natural exit from the inflationary phase even in the absence of a minimum. We also turn to supergravity and motivate these sort of potentials and the non-minimal kinetic coupling as possible effective dilaton theories.
We study the embedding of the quadratic model of chaotic inflation into the 4D, N=1 minimal theories of supergravity by the use of massive vector multiplets and investigate its robustness against higher order corrections. In particular, we investigate the criterion of technical naturalness for the inflaton potential. In the framework of the new-minimal formulation the massive vector multiplet is built in terms of a real linear multiplet coupled to a vector multiplet via the 4D analog of the Green-Schwarz term. This theory gives rise to a single-field quadratic model of chaotic inflation, which is protected by an shift symmetry which naturally suppresses the higher order corrections. The embedding in the old-minimal formulation is again achieved in terms of a massive vector multiplet and also gives rise to single-field inflation. Nevertheless in this case there is no obvious symmetry to protect the model from higher order corrections.
We revisit the D-term inflation and amend it with ghost-free higher derivative couplings of chiral superfields to super-curvature. These couplings realize a more generic inflationary phase in supergravity. After pointing out that a consistent embedding of these specific higher derivatives is known to exist only in the new-minimal supergravity, we show how a potential for the scalar component may arise due to a Fayet-Iliopoulos D-term. We then turn to inflationary cosmology and explicitly discuss different types of potentials, which capture properties of the common scenarios. These models thanks to the derivative coupling: i) naturally evade the supergravity $η$-problem, ii) drive inflation for a wider range of parameter values, and iii) predict lower values for the tensor-to-scalar ratio.
We present consistent supersymmetric theories invariant under the generalization of the Galilean shift symmetry to ${\cal{N}}=1$ superspace. These theories are constructed via the decoupling limit of certain non-minimally derivative coupled supergravities, thus they correspond to the supersymmetrization of the so-called covariant Galileon. Specifically, these theories are constructed in the linearized ${\cal{N}}=1$ new-minimal supergravity set-up where the chiral supermultiplet is minimally coupled to gravity via the standard R-current contact term, and, at the same time, non-minimally derivatively coupled to the Einstein superfield.
We discuss a supersymmetry breaking mechanism for N = 1 theories triggered by higher dimensional op- erators. We consider such operators for real linear and chiral spinor superfields that break superymmetry and reduce to the Volkov-Akulov action. We also consider supersymmetry breaking induced by a higher dimensional operator of a nonminimal scalar (complex linear) multiplet. The latter differs from the stan- dard chiral multiplet in its auxiliary sector, which contains, in addition to the complex scalar auxiliary of a chiral superfield, a complex vector and two spinors auxiliaries. By adding an appropriate higher di- mension operator, the scalar auxiliary may acquire a nonzero vev triggering spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. We find that the spectrum of the theory in the supersymmetry breaking vacuum consists of a free chiral multiplet and a constraint chiral superfield describing the goldstino. Interestingly, the latter turns out to be one of the auxiliary fermions, which becomes dynamical in the supersymmetry breaking vacuum. In all cases we are considering here, there is no sgoldstino mode and thus the goldstino does not have a superpartner. The sgoldstino is decoupled since the goldstino is one of the auxiliaries, which is propagating only in the supersymmetry breaking vacuum. We also point out how higher dimension operators introduce a potential for the propagating scalar of the theory.
We study the decoupling limit of a superheavy sgoldstino field in spontaneously broken N=1 supergravity. Our approach is based on Kähler superspace, which, among others, allows direct formulation of N=1 supergravity in the Einstein frame and correct identifications of mass parameters. Allowing for a non-renormalizable Kähler potential in the hidden sector, the decoupling limit of a superheavy sgoldstino is identified with an infinite negative Kähler curvature. Constraints that lead to non-linear realizations of supersymmetry emerge as consequence of the equations of motion of the goldstino superfield when considering the decoupling limit. Finally, by employing superspace Bianchi identities, we identify the real chiral superfield, which will be the superconformal symmetry breaking chiral superfield that enters the conservation of the Ferrra-Zumino multiplet in the field theory limit of N=1 supergravity.
By employing consistent supersymmetric higher derivative terms, we show that the supersymmetric theories may have a sector where the scalar potential does no longer have the conventional form. The theories under consideration contain consistent higher-derivative terms which do not give rise to instabilities and ghost states. The chiral auxiliaries are still not propagating and can be integrated out. Their elimination gives rise to emerging potentials even when there is not a superpotential to start with. This novel feature of higher derivative supersymmetric chiral models is also extended to vector multiplets both in global and local supersymmetry. In particular, in supergravity, the emerging potentials give rise always to a de Sitter vacuum signaling supersymmetry breaking.
We present a new method to introduce scalar potentials to gauge-invariant chiral models coupled to supergravity. The theories under consideration contain consistent higher-derivative terms which do not give rise to instabilities and ghost states. The chiral auxiliaries are not propagating and can be integrated out. Their elimination gives rise to emerging potentials even when there is not a superpotential to start with. We present the case of a single chiral multiplet with and without a superpotential and, in the gauged theory, up to two chiral multiplets coupled to supergravity with no superpotential. A general feature of the emergent potential is that it is negative defined leading to anti-de Sitter vacua. In the gauge models, competing D-terms may lift the potential leading to stable and metastable de Sitter and Minkowski vacua as well with spontaneously broken supersymmetry.