The $\beta$-symmetry of supergravity

Abstract

Continuous O$(d,d)$ global symmetries emerge in Kaluza-Klein reductions of $D$-dimensional string supergravities to $D-d$ dimensions. We show that the non-geometric elements of this group effectively act in the $D$-dimensional parent theory as a hidden bosonic symmetry that fixes its couplings: the $\beta$-symmetry. We give the explicit $\beta$-transformations to first order in $\alpha'$ and verify the invariance of the action as well as the closure of the transformation rules.