Higher-Derivative Chiral Superfield Actions Coupled to N = 1 Supergravity

We construct N = 1 supergravity extensions of scalar field theories with higher-derivative kinetic terms. Special attention is paid to the auxiliary fields, whose elimination leads not only to corrections to the kinetic terms, but to new expressions for the potential energy as well. For example, a potential energy can be generated even in the absence of a superpotential. Our formalism allows one to write a supergravity extension of any higher-derivative scalar field theory and therefore has applications to both particle physics and cosmological model building. As an illustration, we couple the higher-derivative Dirac-Born-Infeld action describing a 3-brane in six dimensions to N = 1 supergravity. This displays a number of new features including the fact that in the regime where the higher-derivative kinetic terms become important, the potential tends to be everywhere negative. Disciplines Physical Sciences and Mathematics | Physics Comments Koehn, M., Lehners, J., & Ovrut, B. A. (2012). Higher-Derivative Chiral Superfield Actions Coupled to N = 1 Supergravity. Physical Review D, 86(8), 085019. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.86.085019 © 2012 American Physical Society This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/physics_papers/264 Higher-derivative chiral superfield actions coupled toN 1⁄4 1 supergravity Michael Koehn,* Jean-Luc Lehners, and Burt A. Ovrut Max-Planck-Institute for Gravitational Physics, Albert Einstein Institute, Golm 14476, Germany Department of Physics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6396, USA (Received 27 July 2012; published 8 October 2012) We construct N 1⁄4 1 supergravity extensions of scalar field theories with higher-derivative kinetic terms. Special attention is paid to the auxiliary fields, whose elimination leads not only to corrections to the kinetic terms, but to new expressions for the potential energy as well. For example, a potential energy can be generated even in the absence of a superpotential. Our formalism allows one to write a supergravity extension of any higher-derivative scalar field theory and therefore has applications to both particle physics and cosmological model building. As an illustration, we couple the higher-derivative Dirac-BornInfeld action describing a 3-brane in six dimensions to N 1⁄4 1 supergravity. This displays a number of new features including the fact that in the regime where the higher-derivative kinetic terms become important, the potential tends to be everywhere negative. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.86.085019 PACS numbers: 04.65.+e, 98.80.Cq