Göttingen 2012 – scientific programme

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GR: Fachverband Gravitation und Relativitätstheorie

GR 11: Hauptvorträge Schwarze Löcher und Felder (gemeinsam mit MP)

GR 11.1: Invited Talk

Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 16:45–17:15, ZHG 002

On the Consistency of Classical and Quantum Supergravity Theories — •Thomas-Paul Hack¹, Mathias Makedonski², and Alexander Schenkel³ — ¹II Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Hamburg — ²Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Copenhagen — ³Department of Stochastics, University of Wuppertal

It is known that pure N=1 supergravity in d=4 spacetime dimensions is consistent at a classical and quantum level, i.e. that in a particular gauge the field equations assume a hyperbolic form - ensuring causal propagation of the degrees of freedom - and that the associated canonical quantum field theory satisfies unitarity. It seems, however, that it is yet unclear whether these properties persist if one considers the more general and realistic case of N=1, d=4 supergravity theories including arbitrary matter fields. We partially clarify the issue by introducing novel hyperbolic gauges for the gravitino field and proving that they commute with the resulting equations of motion. Moreover, we review recent partial results on the unitarity of these general supergravity theories and suggest first steps towards a comprehensive unitarity proof.