The N>2 supersymmetric AdS vacua in maximal supergravity

TL;DR

This paper systematically searches for and characterizes N>2 supersymmetric AdS vacua in maximal supergravity, discovering new classes of N=3 and N=4 vacua embedded in specific gauged models, and proving their non-existence for 4<N<8.

Contribution

It identifies the first known N>2 supersymmetric AdS vacua in maximal supergravity and analyzes their properties, including mass spectra and supermultiplet structures.

Findings

Found two classes of N=3 and N=4 vacua in maximal supergravity.

Determined the mass spectra and supermultiplet structures of these vacua.

Proved that no N>2 vacua exist for 4<N<8.

Abstract

We perform a systematic search for anti-de Sitter vacua of maximal supergravity with N>2 residual supersymmetries. We find that maximal supergravity admits two 1-parameter classes of N=3 and N=4 vacua, respectively. They are embedded, for the different values of an angular parameter, in the $\omega$-rotated SO(8) (N=3) and SO(1,7) (N=4 and 3) gauged models. All vacua disappear in the limit when $\omega$ tends to zero. We determine the mass spectra and the AdS-supermultiplet structure. These appear to be the first and only N>2 supersymmetric AdS vacua in maximal supergravity, aside from the N=8 vacua of the SO(8)-gauged models. We also prove on general grounds that no such vacua can exist for 4<N<8.