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Searching for self-duality in non-maximally supersymmetric backgrounds
Fermionic T-duality is the generalisation to superspace of bosonic T-duality (i.e. to include fermionic degrees of freedom). Originally, T-duality described the equivalence relation between two physical theories, each living on a different background. However, this thesis is concerned with fermio...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics
2017
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| _version_ | 1867613225631088640 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Tarrant, Justine Alecia |
| author2 | Murugan, Jeffrey |
| author_browse | Murugan, Jeffrey Tarrant, Justine Alecia |
| author_facet | Murugan, Jeffrey Tarrant, Justine Alecia |
| author_sort | Tarrant, Justine Alecia |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Fermionic T-duality is the generalisation to superspace of bosonic T-duality (i.e. to include fermionic degrees of freedom). Originally, T-duality described the equivalence relation between two physical theories, each living on a different background. However, this thesis is concerned with fermionic T-duality and its role in self-duality. The goal is to determine whether AdS backgrounds with less than maximal supersymmetry are self-dual. A background is said to be self-dual if, after a specific sequence of bosonic and fermionic T-duality transformations, the original background is recovered. Self-dual backgrounds are of great interest due to their link to integrability. Fermionic T-duality has played a pivotal role in proving that the maximally supersymmetric background AdS₅ × S⁵ is self-dual. This background is also known to be integrable, therefore, when it was shown to be self-dual, the hypothesis that self-duality implied integrability, and vice-versa, was born. We investigate how far this hypothesis may be stretched for a number of AdS backgrounds, for which integrability has already been determined. The following backgrounds were considered: AdS₂ × S² × T⁶ and AdSd × Sᵈ XT(¹⁰⁻³ᵈ) (d = 2; 3). This question of self-duality was approached in two ways. In the first approach we show that these less supersymmetric backgrounds are self-dual by working with the supergravity fields and using the fermionic Buscher procedure derived by Berkovits and Maldacena. In the second approach, we verify the self-duality of Green-Schwarz supercoset σ-models on AdSd × Sᵈ (d = 2; 3) backgrounds. Furthermore, we prove the self-duality of AdS₅ × S⁵ without gauge fixing K-symmetry. We show that self-duality is a property which holds for the exceptional backgrounds, where the need to T-dualise along one of the spheres arises, again. Nature is not supersymmetric, therefore learning how to do physics in AdS₅ × S⁵ is not enough. In order to understand theories like Quantum Chromodynamics, we need to systematically break the supersymmetry present in our toy models. In this regard, it is easy to appreciate the significance of studying backgrounds with less than maximal supersymmetry. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/24482 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:32:45.765Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateRange | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics |
| publisherStr | Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/24482 Searching for self-duality in non-maximally supersymmetric backgrounds Tarrant, Justine Alecia Murugan, Jeffrey Applied Mathematics Fermionic T-duality is the generalisation to superspace of bosonic T-duality (i.e. to include fermionic degrees of freedom). Originally, T-duality described the equivalence relation between two physical theories, each living on a different background. However, this thesis is concerned with fermionic T-duality and its role in self-duality. The goal is to determine whether AdS backgrounds with less than maximal supersymmetry are self-dual. A background is said to be self-dual if, after a specific sequence of bosonic and fermionic T-duality transformations, the original background is recovered. Self-dual backgrounds are of great interest due to their link to integrability. Fermionic T-duality has played a pivotal role in proving that the maximally supersymmetric background AdS₅ × S⁵ is self-dual. This background is also known to be integrable, therefore, when it was shown to be self-dual, the hypothesis that self-duality implied integrability, and vice-versa, was born. We investigate how far this hypothesis may be stretched for a number of AdS backgrounds, for which integrability has already been determined. The following backgrounds were considered: AdS₂ × S² × T⁶ and AdSd × Sᵈ XT(¹⁰⁻³ᵈ) (d = 2; 3). This question of self-duality was approached in two ways. In the first approach we show that these less supersymmetric backgrounds are self-dual by working with the supergravity fields and using the fermionic Buscher procedure derived by Berkovits and Maldacena. In the second approach, we verify the self-duality of Green-Schwarz supercoset σ-models on AdSd × Sᵈ (d = 2; 3) backgrounds. Furthermore, we prove the self-duality of AdS₅ × S⁵ without gauge fixing K-symmetry. We show that self-duality is a property which holds for the exceptional backgrounds, where the need to T-dualise along one of the spheres arises, again. Nature is not supersymmetric, therefore learning how to do physics in AdS₅ × S⁵ is not enough. In order to understand theories like Quantum Chromodynamics, we need to systematically break the supersymmetry present in our toy models. In this regard, it is easy to appreciate the significance of studying backgrounds with less than maximal supersymmetry. 2017-06-06T09:35:27Z 2017-06-06T09:35:27Z 2017 Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/24482 eng application/pdf Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics Faculty of Science University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Applied Mathematics Tarrant, Justine Alecia Searching for self-duality in non-maximally supersymmetric backgrounds |
| thesis_degree_str | Doctoral |
| title | Searching for self-duality in non-maximally supersymmetric backgrounds |
| title_full | Searching for self-duality in non-maximally supersymmetric backgrounds |
| title_fullStr | Searching for self-duality in non-maximally supersymmetric backgrounds |
| title_full_unstemmed | Searching for self-duality in non-maximally supersymmetric backgrounds |
| title_short | Searching for self-duality in non-maximally supersymmetric backgrounds |
| title_sort | searching for self duality in non maximally supersymmetric backgrounds |
| topic | Applied Mathematics |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/24482 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tarrantjustinealecia searchingforselfdualityinnonmaximallysupersymmetricbackgrounds |