The Vector-Tensor Supermultiplet with Gauged Central Charge

TL;DR

This paper constructs a vector-tensor supermultiplet with a gauged central charge in N=2 supersymmetry, incorporating nonlinear actions, Chern-Simons terms, and duality transformations aligned with special geometry.

Contribution

It introduces a novel off-shell coupling of the vector-tensor multiplet to an N=2 vector multiplet with a gauged central charge, including nonlinear actions and duality features.

Findings

The action includes a Chern-Simons term.

Duality transformation leads to a holomorphic function consistent with special geometry.

Gauged central charge enables coupling to supergravity.

Abstract

The vector-tensor multiplet is coupled off-shell to an N=2 vector multiplet such that its central charge transformations are realized locally. A gauged central charge is a necessary prerequisite for a coupling to supergravity and the strategy underlying our construction uses the potential for such a coupling as a guiding principle. The results for the action and transformation rules take a nonlinear form and necessarily include a Chern-Simons term. After a duality transformation the action is encoded in a homogeneous holomorphic function consistent with special geometry.