Supersymmetry breaking in M-theory

Abstract

We describe the breaking of supersymmetry in M-theory by coordinate dependent (Scherk-Schwarz) compactification of the eleventh dimension. Supersymmetry is spontaneously broken in the gravitational and moduli sector and communicated to the observable sector, living at the end-point of the semicircle, by radiative gravitational interactions. This mechanism shares the generic features of non-perturbative supersymmetry breaking by gaugino condensation, in the presence of a constant antisymmetric field strength, in the weakly coupled regime of the heterotic string, which suggests that both mechanisms could be related by duality. In particular an analysis of supersymmetric transformations in the infinite-radius limit reveals the presence of a discontinuity in the spinorial parameter, which coincides with the result found in the presence of gaugino condensation, while the condensate is identified with the quantized parameter entering the boundary conditions