Duality rotations in supersymmetric nonlinear electrodynamics revisited

Abstract

We revisit the U(1) duality-invariant nonlinear models for N=1 and N=2 vector multiplets coupled to off-shell supergravities. For such theories we develop new formulations which make use of auxiliary chiral superfields (spinor in the N=1 case and scalar for N=2) and are characterized by the remarkable property that U(1) duality invariance is equivalent to the manifest U(1) invariance of the self-interaction. Our construction is inspired by the non-supersymmetric approach that was proposed by Ivanov and Zupnik a decade ago and recently re-discovered in the form of twisted self-duality.