Supersymmetric structure of the induced W gravities

Abstract

We derive the supersymmetric structure present in W-gravities which has been already observed in various contexts as Yang-Mills theory, topological field theories, bosonic string and chiral W_{3}-gravity. This derivation which is made in the geometrical framework of Zucchini, necessitates the introduction of an appropriate new basis of variables which replace the canonical fields and their derivatives. This construction is used, in the W_{2}-case, to deduce from the Chern-Simons action the Wess-Zumino-Polyakov action.