Super-Geometry Seminar

Super-Cartan geometry and 11d Supergravity

In this session we first review the classical concept of torsion of a G-structure and its interpretation as the identification of infinitesimal neighbourhoods with those of the local model space, due to (Guillemin 65). Then we consider torsion in supergeometry (supertorsion), following (Lott 01), and we explain the torsion constraints in supergravity using the rheonomy principle of (CDF, III.3). Finally we discuss that for 11-dimensional supergravity the vanishing of the supertorsion is already equivaent to the Einstein equations (Candiello-Lechner 93, Howe 97).
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