# Supergravity, De Sitter

• A
Dear all
I am studying formulating supergravity under De Sitter group can anyone suggest me a reference
Thank you

jedishrfu
Mentor
I don't have a direct answer for a book, but for those here that may it would help alot if you told us your level of education. Are you an undergrad or a graduate student in Physics?

What other physics/math courses have you taken related to Supergravity?

Lastly, you might find some references to investigate at the end of this wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supergravity

in particular this book on Supergravity by Freedman:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521194016/?tag=pfamazon01-20

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shereen1
haushofer
You mean the fact that supergravity doesnt' allow for dS-vacua unless you turn on vevs?

shereen1
No
You mean the fact that supergravity doesnt' allow for dS-vacua unless you turn on vevs?
i just want tto know how can i contract from de sitter to poincare

I don't have a direct answer for a book, but for those here that may it would help alot if you told us your level of education. Are you an undergrad or a graduate student in Physics?

What other physics/math courses have you taken related to Supergravity?

Lastly, you might find some references to investigate at the end of this wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supergravity

in particular this book on Supergravity by Freedman:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521194016/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Hello
I took a course on supersymmetry and supergravity in addition to a graduate course on mathematical physics.

haushofer
No

i just want tto know how can i contract from de sitter to poincare
You mean a Inönü-Wigner contraction in the underlying algebra? You take the radius of curvature R and send it to infinity, R --> oo. I'm not sure if you also can do this contraction straight away in the transformation rules and the curvatures; one has to be careful with this, but you can check that immediately for yourself.

You are aware of the 'problematic' relation between deSitter and SUGRA? E.g., have you tried (and failed :P ) to write down pure D=4,N=1 SUGRA on an AdS background?

shereen1
haushofer
in particular this book on Supergravity by Freedman:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521194016/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Yes, that book is great. Van Proeyen also has a lot of online notes, on which this book is based.

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shereen1
haushofer
Shereen1, if you want serious answers with content here you should formule questions with content; at least some background. I responded to your question about torsion in SUGRA earlier, but it's not very stimulating if you don't reply to your questions or give no context. 'Contraction" can mean a lot of things. And what kind of SUGRA are you studying? What references did you find so far? Which textbook? Etc.

shereen1
Shereen1, if you want serious answers with content here you should formule questions with content; at least some background. I responded to your question about torsion in SUGRA earlier, but it's not very stimulating if you don't reply to your questions or give no context. 'Contraction" can mean a lot of things. And what kind of SUGRA are you studying? What references did you find so far? Which textbook? Etc.
Dear Haushofer
In fact i am using notes written by my professor. In addition to P. van Nieuwenhuizen book (Supergravity).
I will have a look on Freedman and Van Proyen book
Thank you

You mean a Inönü-Wigner contraction in the underlying algebra? You take the radius of curvature R and send it to infinity, R --> oo. I'm not sure if you also can do this contraction straight away in the transformation rules and the curvatures; one has to be careful with this, but you can check that immediately for yourself.

You are aware of the 'problematic' relation between deSitter and SUGRA? E.g., have you tried (and failed :P ) to write down pure D=4,N=1 SUGRA on an AdS background?
I will start doing the contraction. In fact i didnt start yet dealing with AdS Backgrounds.

haushofer
Ok. I'm not sure how well-suited Van Nieuwenhuizen's book is for a first exposure, but that's up to you to decide :P I really like Henning Samtleben's notes; they are (afaik) by far the most approachable first exposure to SUGRA you can think of.

The contraction in the algebra is quite easy; if you rewrite the (A)dS algebra in terms of translations P and Lorentz transformations M, then schematically, the radius of curvature R appears in the commutator

$$[P_a, P_b ] \sim \pm\frac{1}{R^2} M_{ab}$$

where the plus/minus depends on your convention, giving dS or AdS. Sending R to infinity simply gives

$$[P_a,P_b ] = 0$$

which is the well-known result of the Poincare algebra that translations commute because spacetime is flat.

shereen1