An introduction to supersymmetric field theories in curved space

Abstract

In this review, we give a pedagogical introduction to a systematic framework for constructing and analyzing supersymmetric field theories on curved spacetime manifolds. The framework is based on the use of off-shell supergravity background fields. We present the general principles, which broadly apply to theories with different amounts of supersymmetry in diverse dimensions, as well as specific applications to N=1 theories in four dimensions and their three-dimensional cousins with N=2 supersymmetry.