Decoupling limits in multi-sector supergravities

TL;DR

This paper investigates the decoupling limits of multiple sectors in supergravity theories, revealing the need for non-canonical scalings in superpotential couplings to achieve independent sectors as the Planck mass becomes infinite.

Contribution

It demonstrates that standard supergravity constructions require non-canonical scalings in superpotential couplings to properly decouple sectors in the infinite Planck mass limit.

Findings

Decoupling in supergravity is more subtle than in global SUSY.

Non-canonical scalings are necessary for sector independence.

The results clarify how to properly take decoupling limits in supergravity.

Abstract

Conventional approaches to cosmology in supergravity assume the existence of multiple sectors that only communicate gravitationally. In principle these sectors decouple in the limit Planck mass to infinity. In practice such a limit is delicate: for generic supergravities, where sectors are combined by adding their Kahler functions, the separate superpotentials must contain non-vanishing vacuum expectation values supplementing the naive global superpotential. We show that this requires non-canonical scaling in the naive supergravity superpotential couplings to recover independent sectors of globally supersymmetric field theory in the decoupling limit Planck Mass to infinity.