Vacua of M-theory and string theory

TL;DR

The paper demonstrates that certain maximally supersymmetric vacua in M-theory and string theory remain unaffected by higher-dimension operators, confirming their exactness due to unbroken supersymmetries.

Contribution

It proves that these vacua are exact solutions unaffected by supersymmetric higher-order corrections, based on superspace analysis and unbroken supersymmetries.

Findings

Maximally supersymmetric vacua are unaffected by higher-dimension operators.

All such vacua are described by supercovariantly constant supertorsion and supercurvature.

These vacua are proven to be exact solutions in M-theory and IIB string theory.

Abstract

We argue that supersymmetric higher-dimension operators in the effective actions of M-theory and IIB string theory do not affect the maximally supersymmetric vacua: $adS_4\times S^7$ and $adS_7\times S^4$ in M-theory and $adS_5\times S^5$ in IIB string theory. All these vacua are described in superspace by a fixed point with all components of supertorsion and supercurvature being supercovariantly constant. This follows from 32 unbroken supersymmetries and allows us to prove that such vacua are exact.