Consistent boundary conditions for supergravity

TL;DR

This paper systematically derives boundary conditions for supergravity that preserve all local symmetries, highlighting the impact of Gibbons-Hawking conditions on supersymmetry and exploring nonlocal options.

Contribution

It provides a complete classification of boundary conditions in supergravity models that are consistent with all local symmetries, including supersymmetry and BRST.

Findings

Gibbons-Hawking boundary conditions break local supersymmetry with local boundary conditions.

Nonlocal boundary conditions are compatible with supersymmetry.

The analysis extends to BRST symmetry and Hamiltonian formulation.

Abstract

We derive the complete orbit of boundary conditions for supergravity models which is closed under the action of all local symmetries of these models, and which eliminates spurious field equations on the boundary. We show that the Gibbons-Hawking boundary conditions break local supersymmetry if one imposes local boundary conditions on all fields. Nonlocal boundary conditions are not ruled out. We extend our analysis to BRST symmetry and to the Hamiltonian formulation of these models.