0000000000774993
AUTHOR
Paul K. Townsend
showing 2 related works from this author
Kaluza-Klein origin for the superstring tension
1992
The natural configuration space of a string in a background antisymmetric tensor potential is not loop space, but a principal U(1) bundle over loop space. This allows a Kaluza-Klein--like interpretation of the string tension as momentum along the U(1) fiber, and a similar interpretation is possible for a {ital p}-dimensional object. The higher-dimensional'' action incorporating this momentum as a dynamical variable is given for a {ital p}-dimensional supersymmetric extended object, in a general supergravity background. Its relevance, for a flat background, to classical anomalies'' in the supersymmetry algebra is explained.
Superconformal mechanics, black holes, and non-linear realizations
1998
The OSp(2|2)-invariant planar dynamics of a D=4 superparticle near the horizon of a large mass extreme black hole is described by an N=2 superconformal mechanics, with the SO(2) charge being the superparticle's angular momentum. The {\it non-manifest} superconformal invariance of the superpotential term is shown to lead to a shift in the SO(2) charge by the value of its coefficient, which we identify as the orbital angular momentum. The full SU(1,1|2)-invariant dynamics is found from an extension to N=4 superconformal mechanics.