The Super-Stuckelberg procedure and dS in Pure Supergravity

TL;DR

This paper introduces a superspace Stuckelberg procedure in minimal N=1 supergravity, enabling de Sitter solutions without matter and linking the cosmological constant and gravitino mass to a super-unimodularity condition.

Contribution

It generalizes unimodular gravity to supergravity, restoring invariance and naturally incorporating the goldstino, providing a new framework for de Sitter solutions in supergravity.

Findings

De Sitter solutions achieved without matter.

Restoration of diffeomorphism and supersymmetry invariance.

Relation between cosmological constant, gravitino mass, and super-unimodularity.

Abstract

Understanding de Sitter space in supergravity - and string theory - has lead to an intense amount of work for more than two decades, largely motivated by the discovery of the accelerated expansion of the universe in 1998. In this paper, we consider a non-trivial generalisation of unimodular gravity to minimal N = 1 supergravity, which allows for de Sitter solutions without the need of introducing any matter. We formulate a superspace version of the Stuckelberg procedure, which restores diffeomorphism and local supersymmetry invariance. This introduces the goldstino associated to spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry in a natural way. The cosmological constant and gravitino mass are related to the vacuum expectation value of the components of a Lagrange multiplier imposing a super-unimodularity condition.