arXiv subjects

Henning Samtleben

Publications and source records attributed to Henning Samtleben.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Minimal Massive Gravity Coupled to Higher Spins

Among three-dimensional massive gravities, Minimal Massive Gravity (MMG) is distinguished by a parameter regime in which the AdS bulk theory and the dual conformal field theory can be simultaneously unitary. We couple MMG to a finite tower of higher-spins by promoting the fields of its first-order formulation to $\mathfrak{sl}(N)$-valued ones. We also present an extended formulation involving a group-valued St\"uckelberg scalar, which realizes the higher-spin translations broken by the massive deformation. We then construct AdS$_2\times$S$^1$ solutions carrying higher-spin hair specific to the massive theory. Finally, we analyse the mass spectrum of the higher-spin modes around AdS$_3$.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Kaluza-Klein Perturbation Theory from Exceptional Field Theory

We develop the perturbation theory of ten and eleven-dimensional supergravities on a large class of Kaluza-Klein backgrounds including familiar AdS examples such as AdS$_5\times S^5$, but also more general manifolds such as black hole geometries. Employing ${\rm E}_{6(6)}$ exceptional field theory with the backgrounds characterized by a generalized Scherk-Schwarz ansatz, we determine the first order field equations for the fluctuations that are gauge invariant under linearized generalized diffeomorphisms. We then present the details of the Higgs mechanism for all fields including spin-2 for the subset of backgrounds in which higher-form gauge fields vanish. We use a recently established machinery based on homotopy transfer that allows one to separate the fields into gauge invariant physical modes and pure gauge unphysical modes to all orders in perturbation theory. Finally, as a first application for backgrounds with higher-form gauge fields switched on, we analyze part of the spectrum of ten-dimensional Kaluza-Klein modes of type IIB supergravity around a Kerr-Newman AdS$_5$ black hole that in the near horizon limit becomes a fibered product of AdS$_2$ and a squashed three-sphere.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Diagonally gauged anomaly-free 6D supergravities and their vacua

We describe a bounded search for local and global anomaly-free six-dimensional $(1,0)$ models with tensor number $T=1$ and gauge group containing a diagonal abelian factor $U(1)_{R+}$. The abelian factor is the diagonal combination of the usual gauged $U(1)_R$ and a $U(1)\subset Sp(n_H)$ acting on hypermultiplets. We have searched for locally and globally anomaly-free $G_1\times U(1)_{R+}$ and $G_1\times G_2\times U(1)_{R+}$ models, subject to restrictions on the ranks of the simple factors and on the maximal charges carried by matter. We find that, unlike the case of $U(1)_R$ gauged models which are relatively rare, the diagonally gauged ones offer a rich landscape. We also study the 6D vacua of these models and find that they admit supersymmetric 6D Minkowski vacua, for which the diagonal nature of the R-symmetry gauging is necessary.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

The matrix edge of holography

The IKKT matrix model arises at the extremal $p= -1$ limit of holographic dualities based on D$p$-brane geometries. We review the one-dimensional maximal supergravity that governs bulk fluctuations dual to the lowest BPS multiplet of gauge-invariant operators in the IKKT model. We present the Killing spinor equations and discuss their general half-supersymmetric solutions within the $\rm{SO}(3)\times \rm{SO}(7)$-invariant subsector. The explicit uplift of these solutions to Euclidean IIB supergravity in ten dimensions is provided.

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arXiv2025

Homotopy transfer for massive Kaluza-Klein modes

We develop techniques to treat massive Kaluza-Klein modes to arbitrary order in perturbation theory. The Higgs mechanism that renders the higher Kaluza-Klein modes massive is displayed. To this end we give an algorithm in perturbation theory that yields new fields with the following characteristics: they are gauge invariant under all higher-mode gauge transformations, which are broken, but they transform covariantly under the zero-mode gauge transformations, which are unbroken. We employ the formulation of field theory in terms of $L_{\infty}$ algebras together with their homotopy transfer, which here maps the gauge redundant fields of gravity to gauge invariant fields. We illustrate these results, as a proof of concept, for Kaluza-Klein theory on a torus. In an accompanying paper these results will be applied to a large class of generalized Scherk-Schwarz backgrounds in exceptional field theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

A supergravity dual for IKKT holography

The IKKT matrix model, from the holographic perspective, arises at the p=-1 endpoint of the family of dualities relating type II supergravities on near-horizon Dp-brane geometries to (p+1)-dimensional super Yang-Mills theories with sixteen supercharges. In this work, we detail and expand results reported in a recent letter by establishing the holographic dictionary between gauge-invariant operators in the lowest BPS multiplet of the matrix model and the corresponding Kaluza-Klein fluctuations of Euclidean IIB supergravity compactified on the D(-1) instanton background. The full non-linear dynamics of these fluctuations can be encoded in a one-dimensional maximal gauged supergravity, which we construct explicitly. We provide its complete Lagrangian, up to second order in fermions, together with the corresponding supersymmetry transformations. We further discuss real forms of the theory for non-compact gauge groups and their embeddings into ten-dimensional supergravities with Lorentzian signature. From the analysis of the one-dimensional Killing spinor equations, we derive different classes of half-supersymmetric solutions, and discuss their uplifts as well as their relations to known solutions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Scale separation on AdS$_3\times S^3$ with and without supersymmetry

Six-dimensional chiral gauged Einstein-Maxwell supergravity admits a two-parameter rotating dyonic string solution whose near horizon limit is the direct product of AdS$_3$ and a squashed three-sphere $S^3$. For a particular relation between the two parameters, the solution preserves $1/2$ supersymmetry. We determine the complete Kaluza-Klein spectrum of the theory around these AdS$_3$ backgrounds. For the supersymmetric backgrounds, the states organize into infinite towers of long and short multiplets of OSp(2|2). In a certain limit of parameters, both the supersymmetric and the non-supersymmetric spectra exhibit scale separation. In the latter case there are five topologically massive vectors and five scalars retaining finite masses with integer conformal dimensions, and in the supersymmetric case there are supersymmetric partners with half integer conformal dimensions, while all other masses diverge.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Exceptional field theories

We review exceptional field theories as the duality-covariant reformulation of maximal supergravity theories in ten and eleven dimensions, that make the underlying exceptional symmetries explicit. Beyond their structural role in unifying the various maximal supergravities, we illustrate how they also provide access to very efficient techniques for tackling concrete computational problems in supergravity.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Holographic deformations of matrix models

We study maximal supergravity in two dimensions, obtained from reduction of IIA supergravity on an $S^8$ sphere. The theory captures the low-lying fluctuations around the non-conformal D0-brane near-horizon geometry, dual to operators in the BFSS matrix model. Upon exciting some of the supergravity scalars, we construct half-supersymmetric domain wall solutions preserving $SO(p)\times SO(9-p)$ subgroups of the original $SO(9)$ symmetry. We determine their uplift to ten dimensions and the corresponding distributions of D0-branes. Finally, we compute the fluctuations around these domain wall backgrounds, corresponding to holographic two-point correlation functions in the Coulomb branch of the matrix model.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Holography for the IKKT matrix model

Holographic dualities that relate type II strings on near-horizon Dp brane geometries to super Yang-Mills theories with sixteen supercharges in p+1 dimensions provide non-conformal generalizations of the famous AdS/CFT correspondence. For the extremal case p=-1, this suggests a holographic duality for the IKKT matrix model - super Yang-Mills theory reduced to zero dimensions. Despite intriguing and highly non-trivial results in the IKKT model, this duality has remained largely unexplored so far. In this letter, we consider the lowest supermultiplet of gauge invariant operators of the model and identify its states with the lowest Kaluza-Klein fluctuations of (Euclidean) IIB supergravity on the D(-1) instanton background. We construct its holographic bulk realization as a one-dimensional maximal supergravity with 32 supercharges and local SO(10) invariance, capturing the full non-linear dynamics. Analyzing the bulk Killing spinor equations, we construct a general class of half-supersymmetric solutions, which typically break SO(10). We present their uplifts to IIB supergravity, and furthermore to pp-waves in twelve dimensions. These results provide the minimal setup for conducting precision tests of holography involving Einstein gravity.

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arXiv2024

Consistent truncations and G$_2$-invariant AdS$_4$ solutions of $D=11$ supergravity

Maximal supergravities in ten and eleven dimensions admit consistent truncations on particular spheres to maximal supergravities in lower dimensions. Concurrently, the truncation to singlets under any subgroup of the sphere isometry group leads to consistent truncations with less or no supersymmetry. We review the relation between these truncations in the framework of exceptional field theory. As an application, we derive three new G$_2$-invariant solutions of $D=11$ supergravity. Their geometry is of the form AdS$_4\times \Sigma_7$ where $\Sigma_7$ is a deformed seven-sphere, preserving SO(7) isometries.

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arXiv2024

The General Supersymmetric Solution of Minimal Massive Supergravity

Minimal massive supergravity is the supersymmetric extension of minimal massive gravity in three dimensions. The theory admits a supersymmetric anti-de Sitter vacuum around which the propagating modes of spin 2 and 3/2 combine into a supermultiplet. In this letter, we determine the most general supersymmetric solution of the theory by analyzing its Killing spinor equations. Just as for topologically massive supergravity, the general supersymmetric solution is a plane wave with a null Killing vector field. As a particular subclass we find null-warped AdS3 spaces and, with proper periodic identifications, null-warped AdS3 black holes.

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arXiv2024

Gauge-fixing local H symmetry in supergravities

We discuss known maximal D-dimensional supergravities of two types: type I with G/H coset spaces and type II derived by compactification from higher dimensions without dualization, these have less manifest symmetries. In 4D and 6D in type I models we perform explicit gauge-fixing of local H symmetries in unitary gauges: symmetric, Iwasawa, and partial Iwasawa. In 4D supergravity I in symmetric gauge global H-invariance and nonlinearly realized G-symmetry are valid on shell, classically. The global H-symmetry and G-symmetry in Iwasawa-type gauges in type I and type II supergravities are not manifest, if at all present. This fact raises the issue of the gauge equivalence of the S-matrix of various gauge-fixed D-dimensional supergravities and its relation to the ones computable using superamplitude methods.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Singletons in supersymmetric field theories and in supergravity

We consider $N=1$ supergravity coupled to a Wess-Zumino multiplet with a potential such that the resulting AdS energies saturate the unitarity and Breitenlohner-Freedman bounds, respectively. Imposing regular boundary conditions that preserve supersymmetry and support finite norms, the spectrum forms an $OSp(1,4)$ supermultiplet in which the singleton representation is absent. We study the case in which this boundary condition is relaxed such that the singleton and its superpartners survive and form an indecomposable representation of $OSp(1,4)$. Focusing on the global limit of the model, we carry out its holographic renormalization, in which a singletonic action makes appearance in the boundary action.

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arXiv2023

Minimal massive supergravity and new theories of massive gravity

We present an action for minimal massive gravity (MMG) in three dimensions in terms of a dreibein and an independent spin connection. Furthermore, the construction provides an action principle for an infinite family of so-called third-way consistent generalizations of the three-dimensional Einstein field equations, including exotic massive gravity and new higher-order generalizations. It allows to systematically construct the matter couplings for these models, including the couplings to fermions, depending on the spin connection. In particular, we construct different supersymmetric extensions of MMG, and derive their second order fermionic field equations. This establishes a new class of three-dimensional supergravity theories and we discuss their limit to topological massive supergravity. Finally, we identify the landscape of (A)dS vacua of the supersymmetric models. We analyze the spectrum and the unitarity properties of these vacua. We recover the known AdS vacua of MMG which are bulk and boundary unitary.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Integrability and Einstein's Equations

Integrable structures arise in general relativity when the spacetime possesses a pair of commuting Killing vectors admitting 2-spaces orthogonal to the group orbits. The physical interpretation of such spacetimes depends on the norm of the Killing vectors. They include stationary axisymmetric spacetimes, Einstein-Rosen waves with two polarizations, Gowdy models, and colliding plane gravitational waves. We review the general formalism of linear systems with variable spectral parameter, solution generating techniques, and various classes of exact solutions. In the case of the Einstein-Rosen waves, we also discuss the Poisson algebra of charges and its quantization. This is an invited contribution to the 2nd edition of the Encyclopedia of Mathematical Physics.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Cubic and higher-order supergravity couplings for AdS vacua using Exceptional Field Theory

We show how to use Exceptional Field Theory to efficiently compute $n$-point couplings of all Kaluza-Klein modes for vacua that can be uplifted from maximal gauged supergravities to 10/11 dimensions via a consistent truncation. Via the AdS/CFT correspondence, these couplings encode the $n$-point functions of holographic conformal fields theories. Our methods show that these $n$-point couplings are controlled by the $n$-point invariant of scalar harmonics of the maximally symmetric point of the truncation, allowing us to show that infinitely-many $n$-point couplings vanish for any vacua of the truncation, even though they may be allowed by the remnant symmetry group of the vacua. This gives new results even for the maximally supersymmetric AdS$_5 \times S^5$, AdS$_4 \times S^7$ and AdS$_7 \times S^4$ vacua of string and M-theory, where we prove old conjectures about the vanishing of $n$-point extremal and near-extremal couplings. Focusing in particular on cubic couplings for vacua of 5-dimensional gauged supergravity, we derive explicit universal formulae encoding these couplings for any vacuum within a consistent truncation. We use this to compute known and new couplings involving spin-0, spin-1, spin-2 for the AdS$_5 \times S^5$ vacuum of IIB string theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Consistent sphere reductions of gravity to two dimensions

Consistent reductions of higher-dimensional (matter-coupled) gravity theories on spheres have been constructed and classified in an important paper by Cveti\v{c}, L\"u and Pope. We close a gap in the classification and study the case when the resulting lower-dimensional theory is two-dimensional. We construct the consistent reduction of Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton gravity on a $d$-sphere $S^d$ to two-dimensional dilaton-gravity coupled to a gauged sigma model with target space ${\rm SL}(d+1)/{\rm SO}(d+1)$. The truncation contains solutions of type AdS$_2\times \Sigma_d$ where the internal space $\Sigma_d$ is a deformed sphere. In particular, the construction includes the consistent truncation around the near-horizon geometry of the boosted Kerr string. In turn, we find that an AdS$_2\times S^d$ background with the round $S^d$ within a consistent truncation requires $d>3$ and an additional cosmological term in the higher-dimensional theory.

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