Reviving 3D ${\cal N}=8$ superconformal field theories

TL;DR

This paper develops a Lagrangian framework for ${\cal N}=8$ superconformal field theories in three dimensions using Leibniz and L$_{\infty}$ algebras, extending known models to infinite-dimensional gauge symmetries.

Contribution

It introduces a novel Lagrangian formulation for ${\cal N}=8$ theories based on Leibniz algebras, encompassing infinite-dimensional gauge algebras beyond traditional Lie algebras.

Findings

Constructed a Lagrangian for ${\cal N}=8$ superconformal theories with Leibniz algebra structure.

Showed the theory on $S^3$ generalizes the Bagger-Lambert-Gustavsson model.

Connected the theories to Bandos-Townsend models and super-Yang-Mills via reductions.

Abstract

We present a Lagrangian formulation for ${\cal N}=8$ superconformal field theories in three spacetime dimensions that is general enough to encompass infinite-dimensional gauge algebras that generally go beyond Lie algebras. To this end we employ Chern-Simons theories based on Leibniz algebras, which give rise to L$_{\infty}$ algebras and are defined on the dual space $\frak{g}^*$ of a Lie algebra $\frak{g}$ by means of an embedding tensor map $\vartheta :\frak{g}^*\rightarrow \frak{g}$. We show that for the Lie algebra $\frak{sdiff}_3$ of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms on a 3-manifold there is a natural embedding tensor defining a Leibniz algebra on the space of one-forms. Specifically, we show that the cotangent bundle to any 3-manifold with a volume-form carries the structure of a (generalized) Courant algebroid. The resulting ${\cal N}=8$ superconformal field theories are shown to be equivalent to Bandos-Townsend theories. We show that the theory based on $S^3$ is an infinite-dimensional generalization of the Bagger-Lambert-Gustavsson model that in turn is a consistent truncation of the full theory. We also review a Scherk-Schwarz reduction on $S^2\times S^1$, which gives the super-Yang-Mills theory with gauge algebra $\frak{sdiff}_2$, and we construct massive deformations.