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Domain walls and instantons in N = 1, d = 4 supergravity

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Abstract

We study the supersymmetric sources of (multi-) domain-wall and (multi-) instanton solutions of generic N = 1, d = 4 supergravities, i.e. the worldvolume effective actions for these supersymmetric topological defects.

The domain-wall solutions naturally couple to the two 3-forms recently found as part of the N = 1, d = 4 tensor hierarchy (i.e. they have two charges in general) and their tension is the absolute value of the superpotential section \( \mathcal{L} \). The introduction of sources (we study sources with finite and vanishing thickness) is equivalent to the introduction of local coupling constants and results in dramatic changes of the solutions. Our results call for a democratic reformulation of N = 1, d = 4 supergravity in which coupling constants are, off-shell, scalar fields.

The effective actions for the instantons are always proportional to a null coordinate (in the Wick-rotated scalar manifold) which is constant over the whole space in the instanton solution. We show their supersymmetry and find the associated supersymmetric (multi-) instanton solutions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Física Teórica UAM/CSIC, Facultad de Ciencias C-XVI, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, C.U. Cantoblanco, E-28049, Madrid, Spain

    Mechthild Hübscher, Patrick Meessen & Tomás Ortín

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  1. Mechthild Hübscher
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  2. Patrick Meessen
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  3. Tomás Ortín
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Correspondence to Patrick Meessen.

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ArXiv ePrint: 0912.3672

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Hübscher, M., Meessen, P. & Ortín, T. Domain walls and instantons in N = 1, d = 4 supergravity. J. High Energ. Phys. 2010, 1 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP06(2010)001

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