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Gravitational Topological Quantum Field Theory Versus N = 2 D = 8 Supergravity and its lift to N = 1 D = 11 Supergravity

Laurent Baulieu

hep-tharXiv:hep-th/0304221

Abstract

In a previous work, it was shown that the 8-dimensional topological quantum field theory for a metric and a Kalb-Ramond 2-form gauge field determines N = 1 D = 8 supergravity. It is shown here that, the combination of this TQFT with that of a 3-form determines N = 2 D = 8 supergravity, that is, an untruncated dimensional reduction of N = 1 D = 11 supergravity. Our construction holds for 8-dimensional manifolds with Spin(7) ⊂ SO(8) holonomy. We suggest that the origin of local Poincare supersymmetry is the gravitational topological symmetry. We indicate a mechanism for the lift of the TQFT in higher dimensions, which generates Chern-Simons couplings.

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