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# Vector and axial-vector mesons at finite temperature

## I Introduction

An important topic in strong interaction at non-zero temperature is the calculation of shifts in the masses and the couplings which hadrons suffer while moving through a heat bath. Apart from their immediate relevance in understanding the experimental data on heavy ion collisions, these shifts as functions of temperature provide an effective description of the thermal properties of strong interaction. Mention must be made here also of the condensates, which are related more directly to the condensed matter aspects of strong interaction, particularly to the possibility of phase transition with the rise of temperature.

At low energies processes involving strong interaction as described by QCD are best analysed in chiral perturbation theory . It has long been established phenomenologically that the symmetry group $`SU(3)_R\times SU(3)_L`$ of the QCD Lagrangian of three flavours of massless quarks is broken spontaneously to its diagonal subgroup $`SU(3)_V`$, giving rise to the octet of Goldstone bosons. Chiral perturbation theory realises this symmetry nonlinearly on the physical fields. This framework restricts considerably the interactions among hadrons involving the Goldstone bosons. It has led to a whole set of accurate analysis of low energy hadronic processes .

Chiral perturbation theory finds a natural application to problems of strong interaction at non-zero temperature $`T`$. At low temperature pions dominate the heat bath, the other hadrons being exponentially suppressed. One is thus led to consider the reduced chiral symmetry group $`G=SU(2)_R\times SU(2)_L`$, which breaks spontaneously to the isospin subgroup $`H=SU(2)_V`$. This symmetry implies that interactions involving low energy pions are weak. In calculating quantities at low temperature these interactions can therefore be treated as perturbation. A wide variety of problems has been treated in this way . In particular, it has been applied to the correlation function of nucleon currents to find the position of the nucleon pole and its residue at finite temperature . In this work we apply a similar procedure to the isotriplets of vector and axial-vector mesons.

Here we consider the correlation functions of vector and axial-vector currents defined in QCD. To calculate the pole parameters to $`O(T^2)`$, we draw all the one loop Feynman diagrams with vector and axial-vector mesons and pions, which contribute to these correlation functions. With the form of interaction vertices prescribed by chiral perturbation theory, it is simple to evaluate the finite temperature parts of these diagrams near the poles in the chiral limit. Although we begin with a large number of diagrams, only a few actually contribute to the meson poles to order $`T^2`$. We also argue that other particles not included in our scheme cannot change the results to this order.

In sec. II we summarise the chiral transformation rules of the relevant field variables to arrive at the chirally invariant Lagrangian of the spin one mesons and pions. In sec. III we obtain explicitly the interaction vertices needed to evaluate the Feynman diagrams. In sec. IV we find the shift in the masses and couplings of these mesons to $`O(T^2)`$. Finally in sec. V we summarise our results and comment on other attempts to determine these shifts. The Appendix discusses the $`2\times 2`$ matrix and the Lorentz tensor structures of the correlation functions in the real time thermal field theory.

## II Chiral Perturbation Theory

It is convenient to review in this section the definition of the appropriate field variables and their transformation properties, leading to the effective Lagrangian of chiral perturbation theory . The Goldstone fields $`\pi ^a(x)`$ reside in the coset space of $`G`$ with respect to $`H`$. A standard parametrization of this space allows one to collect these fields in the form of an unitary matrix,

$$u(x)=e^{i\pi (x)/2F_\pi },\pi (x)=\underset{a=1}{\overset{3}{}}\pi ^a(x)\tau ^a,$$
(2.1)
where the constant $`F_\pi `$ can be identified with the pion decay constant, $`F_\pi =93`$ MeV and $`\tau ^a`$ are the Pauli matrices. The matrix $`u`$ transforms under $`G`$ according to the rule,

$$ug_Ruh^{}=hug_L^{},$$
(2.2)
where $`g_{R,L}SU(2)_{R,L}`$ and $`h(\pi )SU(2)_V`$. The matrix $`U=u^2`$ then transforms as

$$Ug_RUg_L^{}.$$
(2.3)
Any multiplet $`\psi (x)`$ of non-Goldstone fields transforms as

$$\psi h\psi ,$$
(2.4)
with $`h`$ in the appropriate representation. In particular, if they also belong to the adjoint (triplet) representation, such as the vector and the axial-vector mesons we are considering here, we may use the same $`h`$ as in (2.2): Denoting the triplet fields by $`R_\mu (x)`$,

$$R_\mu (x)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\underset{a=1}{\overset{3}{}}R_\mu ^a(x)\tau ^a,$$
(2.5)
it transforms as

$$R_\mu hR_\mu h^{}.$$
(2.6)
The singlet field $`S_\mu (x)`$, of course, remains unchanged,

$`S_\mu S_\mu .`$

As already stated we are concerned here with the evaluation of the two-point functions of vector and axial-vector currents of QCD,

$$V_\mu ^a(x)=\overline{q}(x)\gamma _\mu \frac{\tau ^a}{2}q(x),A_\mu ^a(x)=\overline{q}(x)\gamma _\mu \gamma _5\frac{\tau ^a}{2}q(x),$$
(2.7)
in the effective field theory. This is most conveniently carried out in the external field method, where one introduces external fields $`v_\mu ^a(x)`$ and $`a_\mu ^a(x)`$ coupled to the currents $`V_\mu ^a(x)`$ and $`A_\mu ^a(x)`$ . The original QCD Lagrangian $`_{QCD}^{(0)}`$ of massless quarks is then augmented to

$`_{QCD}^{(0)}+v_\mu ^a(x)V_a^\mu (x)+a_\mu ^a(x)A_a^\mu (x)`$ (2.8)
$`=`$ $`i\overline{q}_R\gamma ^\mu \{_\mu i(v_\mu +a_\mu )\}q_R+i\overline{q}_L\gamma ^\mu \{_\mu i(v_\mu a_\mu )\}q_L+\mathrm{}`$ (2.9)
where $`q_R(q_L)`$ is the right (left) handed component of $`q`$, $`q_{R,L}=\frac{1}{2}(1\pm \gamma _5)q`$. The ellipsis denote the (flavour neutral) gauge field term, and $`v_\mu (x)`$ and $`a_\mu (x)`$ are matrices in flavour space,

$$v_\mu (x)=v_\mu ^a(x)\frac{\tau ^a}{2},a_\mu (x)=a_\mu ^a(x)\frac{\tau ^a}{2}.$$
(2.10)
The global invariance of $`_{QCD}^{(0)}`$ is now raised to local invariance under the transformations

$`q_R^{}`$ $`=`$ $`g_Rq_R,q_L^{}=g_Lq_L,`$ (2.11)
$`v_\mu ^{}\pm a_\mu ^{}`$ $`=`$ $`g_{R,L}(v_\mu \pm a_\mu )g_{R,L}^{}+ig_{R,L}_\mu g_{R,L}^{},`$ (2.12)
where the group elements $`g_{R,L}`$ are now $`x`$-dependent.

The field strengths corresponding to the external potentials are given as usual by

$$F_{R,L}^{\mu \nu }=^\mu (v^\nu \pm a^\nu )^\nu (v^\mu \pm a^\mu )i[v^\mu \pm a^\mu ,v^\nu \pm a^\nu ].$$
(2.13)
The covariant derivatives of $`U`$ and $`R_\mu `$ are given by

$$D_\mu U=_\mu Ui(v_\mu +a_\mu )U+iU(v_\mu a_\mu ),$$
(2.14)
and

$$_\mu R_\nu =_\mu R_\nu +[\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mu ,R_\nu ]$$
(2.15)
with the connection

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mu =\frac{1}{2}\left(u^{}[_\mu i(v_\mu +a_\mu )]u+u[_\mu i(v_\mu a_\mu )]u^{}\frac{}{}\right)$$
(2.16)
Thus the building elements of the effective Lagrangian are $`U`$, $`D_\mu U`$, $`F_{R,L}^{\mu \nu }`$, $`R_\mu `$ and $`_\mu R_\nu `$.

Note that while some of the above variables ($`U`$, $`D_\mu U`$, $`F_{R,L}^{\mu \nu }`$) transform under the full group $`G`$, others ($`R_\mu `$ and $`_\mu R_\nu `$) transform under the unbroken subgroup $`H`$. One may take advantage of the mixed transformation rule of $`u`$ to redefine the former variables so as to transform under $`H`$ only. Thus one introduces the field variables ,

$$u_\mu =iu^{}D_\mu Uu^{}=u_\mu ^{}$$
(2.17)
and

$$f_\pm ^{\mu \nu }=\pm u^{}F_R^{\mu \nu }u+uF_L^{\mu \nu }u^{}$$
(2.18)
We now use these variables to write down the leading terms of the different pieces of the Lagrangian density, which are invariant under $`H`$ and hence also under $`G`$. To calculate the correlation functions of isotriplets of vector and axial-vector currents, we need the Lagrangian for the interacting system of both the isotriplets and isosinglets of vector and axial-vector mesons and pions in presence of the external fields. (We shall see later that other particles cannot contribute to the pole terms to order $`T^2`$.) For the pions we have the familiar term,

$$(\pi )=\frac{F_\pi ^2}{4}u_\mu u^\mu .$$
(2.19)
Here and below the symbol $`A`$ stands for the trace of the 2$`\times `$2 matrix $`A`$. For the spin-1 meson isotriplet and isosinglet fields, let

$$R_{\mu \nu }=_\mu R_\nu _\nu R_\mu ,S_{\mu \nu }=_\mu S_\nu _\nu S_\mu .$$
(2.20)
Then the kinetic terms take the form

$$_{kin}(R,S)=\left(\frac{1}{4}R_{\mu \nu }R^{\mu \nu }+\frac{1}{2}m_R^2R_\mu R^\mu \right)+\left(\frac{1}{4}S_{\mu \nu }S^{\mu \nu }+\frac{1}{2}m_S^2S_\mu S^\mu \right),$$
(2.21)
where the two sums run over the isotriplets and the isosinglets respectively.

The leading coupling terms linear in the octets of the vector and the axial-vector fields have been obtained in Ref. for the symmetry group $`SU(3)\times SU(3)`$. As mentioned already, the symmetry reduces to $`SU(2)\times SU(2)`$ at finite temperature. In effecting this reduction, we keep the masses of the physical particles in each of the octets to be the same but consider the interaction separately for the isotriplets $`[\rho (770),a_1(1230)]`$ and isosinglets $`[\omega (782),f_1(1282)]`$. Restricting to terms relevant to one loop calculations, we get for the vector meson couplings,

$$_{int}(V)=\frac{1}{2\sqrt{2}m_V}(F_\rho \rho _{\mu \nu }f_+^{\mu \nu }+iG_\rho \rho _{\mu \nu }[u^\mu ,u^\nu ]+iH_\rho \rho _\mu [u_\nu ,f_{}^{\mu \nu }]+H_\omega ϵ_{\mu \nu \lambda \sigma }\omega ^\mu u^\nu f_+^{\lambda \sigma }),$$
(2.22)
while for the axial vector meson such couplings are

$$_{int}(A)=\frac{1}{2\sqrt{2}m_A}(F_{a_1}a_{1\mu \nu }f_{}^{\mu \nu }+iH_{a_1}a_{1\mu }[u_\nu ,f_+^{\mu \nu }]+H_{f_1}ϵ_{\mu \nu \lambda \sigma }f_1^\mu u^\nu f_{}^{\lambda \sigma }).$$
(2.23)
Finally we write down the quadratic couplings of the triplets with the singlets and between themselves,

$$_{int}(V,A)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}ϵ_{\mu \nu \lambda \sigma }(g_1\omega ^\mu \rho ^{\nu \lambda }u^\sigma +g_2f_1^\mu a_1^{\nu \lambda }u^\sigma )+\frac{i}{2}g_3\rho ^{\mu \nu }[a_{1\mu },u_\nu ].$$
(2.24)
(The term $`a_1^{\mu \nu }[\rho _\mu ,u_\nu ]`$ is equivalent to the third term above to leading order in pion momentum.) Although we have here a number of different coupling constants, only some of them will actually enter our results for the shifts in particle parameters to $`O(T^2)`$.

## III Perturbative vertices

The vertices needed in evaluating the one loop Feynman diagrams for the correlation functions can be recognised best from the diagrams themselves. Let us consider the correlation function of two vector currents at non-zero temperature $`T=1/\beta `$,

$$id^4xe^{iqx}Tr\varrho TV_\mu ^a(x)V_\nu ^b(0),$$
(3.1)
where $`\varrho =e^{\beta H}/Tre^{\beta H}`$ is the thermal density matrix of QCD. The diagrams contributing to it are of three types, namely those of self-energy, vertex modification and intermediate states shown respectively in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. We see that we only need vertices up to four fields, counting both quantum (particle) and classical (external) fields. At each vertex the pion field can appear at most quadratically. When it does appear so, the two pion fields must be contracted at the same vertex. The resulting pion loop is of $`O(T^2)`$, if no derivative is present on the pion fields; but the loop is of higher order if it does, allowing us to ignore such vertices. Also at each vertex the external fields can occur at most linearly (with the exception of the vertex in Fig. 3(b)). At such a vertex with an external field, the vector or the axial vector meson field must also occur linearly. Keeping these requirements in mind, we now obtain the polynomial version of the chiral Lagrangian written in the previous section.

The pion Lagrangian (2.17) can be expanded as

$`(\pi )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(_\mu 𝝅^\mu 𝝅m_\pi ^2𝝅𝝅)F_\pi 𝒂_\mu ^\mu 𝝅+𝒗_\mu 𝝅\times ^\mu 𝝅+F_\pi 𝝅(𝒗_\mu \times 𝒂^\mu )`$ (3.2)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}F_\pi ^2𝒂_\mu 𝒂^\mu +{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left\{𝝅𝝅(𝒗_\mu 𝒗^\mu 𝒂_\mu 𝒂^\mu )𝒗_\mu 𝝅𝒗^\mu 𝝅+𝒂_\mu 𝝅𝒂^\mu 𝝅\right\}.`$ (3.3)
Here and below we denote the isovector triplet of fields by bold face letters. Note that we have added the pion mass term, even though we shall evaluate the final results in the chiral limit. The first term gives the free, thermal pion propagator matrix. As discussed in the Appendix, all we need here is its 11-component,

$`{\displaystyle }`$ $`d^4xe^{ikx}Tr\varrho T\pi ^a(x)\pi ^b(0)|_{11}`$ (3.5)
$`=\delta ^{ab}\left({\displaystyle \frac{i}{k^2m_\pi ^2+iϵ}}+2\pi n(k_0)\delta (k^2m_\pi ^2)\right),`$
where $`n`$ is the bosonic distribution function $`n(k_0)=(e^{\beta |k_0|}1)^1`$.

The kinetic part of the Lagrangian for the spin one mesons reduces to

$$_{kin}(R,S)=\frac{1}{2}\underset{𝝆,𝒂_1}{}\{_\mu 𝑹_\nu (^\mu 𝑹^\nu ^\nu 𝑹^\mu )m_R^2𝑹_\mu 𝑹^\mu \}\frac{1}{2}\underset{\omega ,f_1}{}\{_\mu S_\nu (^\mu S^\nu ^\nu S^\mu )m_S^2S_\mu S^\mu \}.$$
(3.6)
The density of spin one mesons are suppressed exponentially in the heat bath. So we need only the vacuum part of the respective 11-components of the propagator matrices, which for $`R_\mu ^a`$, for example, is

$$d^4xe^{ipx}0|TR_\mu ^a(x)R_\nu ^b(0)|0=\delta ^{ab}\frac{i(g_{\mu \nu }+p_\mu p_\nu /m_R^2)}{p^2m_R^2+iϵ}.$$
(3.7)
As an illustration we now work out the vertices present in the term $`\rho _{\mu \nu }f_+^{\mu \nu }`$. Since $`f_+^{\mu \nu }`$ is proportional to the external fields, we need only the terms in $`\rho _{\mu \nu }`$ without them. Thus upto four field vertices, we have

$`\rho _{\mu \nu }f_+^{\mu \nu }`$ $`=`$ $`4^\mu v^\nu (_\mu \rho _\nu _\nu \rho _\mu )+{\displaystyle \frac{2i}{F_\pi }}^\mu a^\nu [\pi ,_\mu \rho _\nu _\nu \rho _\mu ]`$ (3.9)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2F_\pi ^2}}^\mu v^\nu [\pi ,[\pi ,_\mu \rho _\nu _\nu \rho _\mu ]]`$
As already explained, we have to contract the two pion fields in the four field vertex above. Its thermal piece is

$$Tr\varrho T\pi ^a(x)\pi ^b(x)|_{11}\delta ^{ab}\frac{d^4k}{(2\pi )^3}n(k_0)\delta (k^2m_\pi ^2)=\delta ^{ab}\frac{T^2}{12},$$
(3.10)
in the chiral limit. (We see here that any derivative on the pion fields would result in contributions of higher order in $`T`$). Thus the third term in Eq.(3.6) reduces to the first with a $`T`$-dependent coefficient.

In this way we derive the pieces of the polynomial Lagrangian from those of the chiral Lagrangian of Eqs. (2.20-22) as

$`(V)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{F_\rho }{m_V}}\left\{\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{T^2}{12F_\pi ^2}}\right)^\mu 𝒗^\nu (_\mu 𝝆_\nu _\nu 𝝆_\mu )+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{F_\pi }}^\mu 𝒂^\nu (_\mu 𝝆_\nu _\nu 𝝆_\mu )\times 𝝅\right\}`$ (3.12)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{2G_\rho }{m_VF_\pi ^2}}_\mu 𝝆_\nu ^\mu 𝝅\times ^\nu 𝝅{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{2}H_\omega }{m_VF_\pi }}ϵ_{\mu \nu \lambda \sigma }\omega ^\mu ^\nu 𝝅^\lambda 𝒗^\sigma ,`$
$`(A)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{F_{a_1}}{m_A}}\left\{\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{T^2}{12F_\pi ^2}}\right)^\mu 𝒂^\nu (_\mu 𝒂_{1\nu }_\nu 𝒂_{1\mu })+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{F_\pi }}^\mu 𝒗^\nu (_\mu 𝒂_{1\nu }_\nu 𝒂_{1\mu })\times 𝝅\right\}`$ (3.14)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{2}H_{f_1}}{m_AF_\pi }}ϵ_{\mu \nu \lambda \sigma }f_1^\mu ^\nu 𝝅^\lambda 𝒂^\sigma ,`$
and $`[u\stackrel{}{_\mu }v(_\mu u)vu_\mu v]`$

$$(V,A)=ϵ_{\mu \nu \lambda \sigma }\left(\frac{g_1}{F_\pi }\omega ^\mu \stackrel{}{^\nu }𝝆^\lambda ^\sigma 𝝅+\frac{g_2}{F_\pi }f_1^\mu \stackrel{}{^\nu }𝒂_1^\lambda ^\sigma 𝝅\right)+\frac{g_3}{F_\pi }^\mu 𝝆^\nu (𝒂_{1\mu }\times _\nu 𝝅𝒂_{1\nu }\times _\mu 𝝅).$$
(3.15)
In writing the above expressions, when two or more vertices present themselves with the same field content, differing only in the number of derivatives on the pion field, we retain only the one with fewer or no derivative on it.

The coupling constants can generally be determined from the observed decay rates of the particles. Thus the decay rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\rho ^0e^+e^{})=6.9`$ keV gives $`F_\rho =154`$ MeV. Similarly the decay rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(a_1\pi \gamma )=640`$ keV gives $`F_{a_1}=135`$ MeV. The latter constant can also be determined from one of the Weinberg sum rules , agreeing closely with this value. The decay width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\rho 2\pi )=153`$ MeV gives the coupling $`G_\rho =69`$ MeV. Here one expects large chiral corrections as the pions are far from being soft. Thus the chiral loops reduce this value to $`G_\rho =53`$ MeV . Using this value and the decay rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\omega 3\pi )=7.6`$ MeV, we get the dimensionless coupling constant $`g_1=0.87`$ . There does not appear any data relating to the decay of $`f_1`$ to determine $`g_2`$. The remaining coupling constants in Eqs. (3.8-10) will not appear in our results to $`O(T^2)`$.

## IV Mass and coupling shifts

Given the vertices, it is simple to calculate the diagrams of Figs. 1-3. The Lorentz tensor and the thermal matrix structures of the two point functions are discussed in the Appendix, according to which the free pole term of Fig. 1(a) is given in the variable $`Eq_0`$ for $`\stackrel{}{q}=0`$ essentially by

$`E^4{\displaystyle \frac{(F_\rho /m_V)^2}{E^2m_V^2+iϵ}}.`$

We now determine how this pole position and the residue are modified by interactions at finite temperature. The self-energy diagrams of Fig. 1 modify it to

$`E^4{\displaystyle \frac{(F_\rho /m_V)^2}{E^2m_V^2\mathrm{\Pi }_t}}`$

where we use Eqs. (A.12-13) to construct $`\mathrm{\Pi }_t`$ from the finite temperature part of the polarisation tensor $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{\alpha \beta }`$,

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{\alpha \beta }(q)=\underset{c=\omega ,a_1,\pi }{}\mathrm{\Pi }_{\alpha \beta }^{(c)}(q),$$
(4.1)
the sum running over the diagrams of Fig. 1(b). (We have left out Fig. 1(c), which is clearly of order $`T^4`$ .) To write out these contributions we define the gauge invariant tensors

$`A_{\alpha \beta }(q)`$ $`=`$ $`g_{\alpha \beta }+q_\alpha q_\beta /q^2,`$ (4.2)
$`B_{\alpha \beta }(q,k)`$ $`=`$ $`q^2k_\alpha k_\beta qk(q_\alpha k_\beta +k_\alpha q_\beta )+(qk)^2g_{\alpha \beta },`$ (4.3)
$`C_{\alpha \beta }(q,k)`$ $`=`$ $`q^4k_\alpha k_\beta q^2(qk)(q_\alpha k_\beta +k_\alpha q_\beta )+(qk)^2q_\alpha q_\beta .`$ (4.4)
The three contributions are now given by

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{\alpha \beta }^{(\omega )}=\left(\frac{2g_1}{F_\pi }\right)^2\frac{d^4k}{(2\pi )^3}\frac{n(k_0)\delta (k^2m_\pi ^2)}{(qk)^2m_V^2}(q^2k^2A_{\alpha \beta }+B_{\alpha \beta }),$$
(4.5)
$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{\alpha \beta }^{(a_1)}=2\left(\frac{g_3}{F_\pi }\right)^2\frac{d^4k}{(2\pi )^3}\frac{n(k_0)\delta (k^2m_\pi ^2)}{(qk)^2m_A^2}(B_{\alpha \beta }C_{\alpha \beta }/m_A^2),$$
(4.6)
and

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{\alpha \beta }^{(\pi )}=2\left(\frac{2G_\rho }{m_VF_\pi ^2}\right)^2\frac{d^4k}{(2\pi )^3}\frac{n(k_0)\delta (k^2m_\pi ^2)}{(qk)^2m_\pi ^2}C_{\alpha \beta }.$$
(4.7)
The respective contributions to $`\mathrm{\Pi }_t`$ are ($`\omega _k=\sqrt{\stackrel{}{k}^2+m_\pi ^2}`$),

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_t^{(\omega )}(E)=\frac{16g_1^2}{3F_\pi ^2}E^2(E^2m_V^2+m_\pi ^2)\frac{d^3kn(\omega _k)}{(2\pi )^3\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}\omega _k}\frac{\stackrel{}{k}^2}{(E^2m_V^2+m_\pi ^2)^24E^2\omega _k^2},$$
(4.8)
$$\mathrm{\Pi }_t^{(a_1)}(E)=\frac{4}{3}\left(\frac{g_3}{F_\pi }\right)^2E^2(E^2m_A^2+m_\pi ^2)\frac{d^3kn(\omega _k)}{(2\pi )^3\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}\omega _k}\frac{\stackrel{}{k}^2(2+E^2/m_A^2)+3m_\pi ^2}{(E^2m_A^2+m_\pi ^2)^24E^2\omega _k^2},$$
(4.9)
and

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_t^{(\pi )}(E)=\frac{4}{3}\left(\frac{2G_\rho }{m_VF_\pi ^2}\right)^2E^6\frac{d^3kn(\omega _k)}{(2\pi )^3\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}\omega _k}\frac{\stackrel{}{k}^2}{E^44E^2\omega _k^2}.$$
(4.10)
To evaluate the integrals for $`E^2`$ near $`m_V^2`$ in the chiral limit, we note the difference in the small $`\stackrel{}{k}`$ behaviour of the denominators of the integrands: while it behaves like $`\stackrel{}{k}^2`$ in Eq. (4.6), they are constants in Eq. (4.7-8). Accordingly we get ,

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_t^{(\omega )}(E)=\frac{g_1^2T^2}{18F_\pi ^2}(E^2m_V^2),\mathrm{\Pi }_t^{(a_1)}\mathrm{\Pi }_t^{(\pi )}O(T^4).$$
(4.11)
Including also the constant vertex corrections from Figs. 2(a,b), we get for the complete pole term

$$E^4\frac{(F_\rho ^T/m_V)^2}{E^2m_V^2}$$
(4.12)
with

$$F_\rho ^T=F_\rho \left\{1\left(1+\frac{g_1^2}{3}\right)\frac{T^2}{12F_\pi ^2}\right\}.$$
(4.13)
It is simple to see that the remaining diagrams cannot alter this pole term to $`O(T^2)`$. Each of the remaining vertex corrections of Fig. 2(c,d) is essentially of the form of the corresponding self-energy integral $`(\mathrm{\Pi }_t)`$ multiplied by the $`\rho `$-meson pole. Then the behaviour (4.9) of the self energies excludes any pole contribution to $`O(T^2)`$ from these corrections. Of the contributions from the diagrams of Fig. 3 with intermediate states, the one with $`\pi \omega `$ is like $`\mathrm{\Pi }_t^{(\omega )}`$, while those with $`\pi a_1`$ and $`\pi \pi `$ have two powers of $`\stackrel{}{k}`$ fewer in the integrands compared to the self energies $`\mathrm{\Pi }_t^{(a_1)}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Pi }_t^{(\pi )}`$ respectively. Clearly they cannot contribute to the $`\rho `$ meson pole.

It is now also simple to establish that any particle with a mass other than $`m_V`$ and not included in our calculation, cannot alter our results. The argument rests simply on the structure of the interaction vertices without external fields. Such a vertex must have a pion field with a derivative. Thus the loop integrals involving such a particle must be of order higher than $`T^2`$.

It is interesting to work out the amplitude of Fig. 3(a) corresponding to the intermediate state $`\pi a_1`$. Its finite temperature part is given by

$$2\left(\frac{F_{a_1}}{m_AF_\pi }\right)^2\frac{d^4k}{(2\pi )^3}\frac{n(k_0)\delta (k^2m_\pi ^2)}{(qk)^2m_A^2}\{q^2(q^22qk)A_{\mu \nu }B_{\mu \nu }\}.$$
(4.14)
It may be readily evaluated in the chiral limit to give essentially

$$\frac{T^2}{6F_\pi ^2}\left\{E^4\frac{(F_{a_1}/m_A)^2}{E^2m_A^2}\right\},$$
(4.15)
where the expression in second bracket is the contribution of the axial vector meson $`a_1`$ to the vacuum correlation function of axial vector currents. Observe the different origin of the $`O(T^2)`$ correction to the $`\rho `$ and $`a_1`$ poles. While for $`\rho `$, it is given by the self-energy due to $`\pi \omega `$ and constant vertex diagram, it is given by the intermediate state $`\pi a_1`$ for $`a_1`$. This presence of axial vector meson pole in the vector current correlation function at finite temperature was detected earlier using PCAC and current algebra .

One can calculate the axial-vector meson pole term in the axial-vector current correlation function in an entirely analogous manner. Again one finds that the pole position does not shift from $`E^2=m_A^2`$, and the residue $`F_{a_1}^T`$ is given by Eq. (4.11) with $`g_1`$ replaced by $`g_2`$.

## V Discussion

Here we have determined the temperature dependence of the parameters of $`\rho `$ and $`a_1`$ meson poles appearing in the vector and the axial-vector correlation functions. It is based on the flavour symmetry of QCD and its spontaneous breakdown, as embodied in chiral perturbation theory. It allows a low temperature expansion of these quantities, of which we just calculate the leading term to $`O(T^2)`$. To this order the mass shift is zero, due to the presence of derivatives on pion fields in interaction vertices as required by the chiral symmetry. The residues depend on the coupling constants at the vertices $`\rho \omega \pi `$ and $`a_1f_1\pi `$ and decrease with temperature. These results parallel those for the nucleon calculated earlier, the above vertices playing roles analogous to that of the vertex $`\pi N\overline{N}`$ .

We may try to estimate the range of validity of our results by comparing these with the temperature expansions of other quantities. For the quark condensate the expansion has been worked out to order $`T^6`$ . It shows that the $`T^2`$ term continues to dominate the series up to $`T=150`$ MeV. It may not be true in all cases, however. Take the example of the nucleon pole residue in the nucleon correlation function. In the pion-nucleon system there is the low energy resonance $`\mathrm{\Delta }(1237)`$, which limits considerably the range of validity of the first few terms in the chiral perturbation series for $`\pi N`$ scattering amplitudes. Already at $`T=100`$ MeV, the average pion energies in the heat bath are outside this range. This situation limits the validity of the $`T^2`$ term in the nucleon pole residue to temperatures below $`100`$ MeV.

As the $`\pi \rho `$ and $`\pi a_1`$ systems do not have any such low energy excitations, we may expect our calculation to order $`T^2`$ to represent the expansion well up to temperatures of about $`150`$ MeV, as in the case of the quark condensate. There is, however, one source of enhanced chiral corrections to our results, which may limit this range of validity. As mentioned earlier, at the vertices where the $`\rho `$ or the external fields couple to two pions (see Figs. 1(b), 2(c,d) and 3(a)), the pion momenta are not at all soft. Thus, although these diagrams do not contribute to order $`T^2`$, the coefficients of higher order terms may be larger.

We finally comment briefly on the different approaches in the literature to determine the temperature dependence of these parameters. First, there are other Lagrangian approaches. One has the massive Yang-Mills  and the hidden gauge  formulations. Since these Lagrangians are built on the $`SU(2)\times SU(2)`$ flavor symmetry, they also produce no shift in the meson masses to $`O(T^2)`$ . However, the coefficients of $`T^4`$ quoted in these works must be incomplete, as they do not include two loop diagrams. One has also the more phenomenological Lagrangian of Quantum Hadrodynamics , which produces negligible shift in the meson masses to $`O(T^2)`$ .

The second approach tries to calculate the correlation functions using soft pion techniques, but fails to reproduce the terms proportional to $`g_1^2`$ and $`g_2^2`$ in $`F_\rho `$ and $`F_{a_1}`$ respectively . Since chiral perturbation theory actually incorporates such techniques in a systematic and refined way, it is interesting to trace this disagreement. The Tr(ace) in Eq. (3.1) can be restricted to the vacuum and the one pion states, giving the full contribution to $`O(T^2)`$ in the chiral limit. In the pion matrix element one may use the hypotheses of partially conserved axial-vector current and the algebra of currents to arrive at

$`Tr\varrho TV_\mu ^a(x)V_\nu ^b(0)=\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{T^2}{6F_\pi ^2}}\right)0|TV_\mu ^a(x)V_\nu ^b(0)|0_\beta +{\displaystyle \frac{T^2}{6F_\pi ^2}}0|TA_\mu ^a(x)A_\nu ^b(0)|0,`$

and a similar one for the axial vector correlation function. The subscript $`\beta `$ in the first matrix element on the right is a reminder that it is really not a vacuum matrix element, since any internal (pion) line which would occur in its perturbative evaluation must be taken as thermal. Being multiplied with $`T^2`$ , the second matrix element can be taken as a true vacuum expectation value for results to $`O(T^2)`$ and we have already verified the correctness of this term in our calculations above.

The authors of Ref. assume the first matrix element also to be a true vacuum matrix element having no temperature dependence. In terms of Feynman diagrams it amounts to ignoring the self energy diagrams of Fig. 1, which can in general contribute to both the pole position and the residue. In fact, the missing $`g_1^2`$ term in $`F_\rho `$ arises exactly from the self energy diagram of Fig. 1(b). A similar situation arises also in the case of the correlation function of nucleon currents. Applying the same soft pion techniques and assuming the resulting matrix elements to be true vacuum expectation values, one misses the term proportional to the axial coupling constant of the nucleon in the residue of the nucleon pole . We conclude that such soft pion techniques as applied to the correlation functions cannot reproduce the full results of chiral perturbation theory.

The third approach is based on thermal QCD sum rules . It is convenient to discuss these sum rules after subtracting out the corresponding vacuum sum rules, leaving only $`T`$ dependent contributions. The spectral side of such a sum rule is given by three types of one loop diagrams, like those of Fig.1, 2 and 3. In the literature, however, it is assumed to be saturated by a pole term with $`T`$ dependent parameters and the two particle intermediate states containing (at least) one pion. The inadequacy of this saturation scheme is revealed by the fact that the self-energy and vertex correction diagrams are generally not exhausted by contributions which make the pole term $`T`$ dependent. It is the neglect of the remaining contributions which make the existing results unreliable. (For incorporation of such remaining contributions in the nucleon sum rule, see Refs. .)

The fourth and the last one is a phenomenological approach based on the (first order) virial expansion of the self energy of a particle . Quite generally it expresses the complex shift in the pole position of a particle as an integral over the product of the forward scattering amplitude of a pion on the particle and the pion distribution function. Since the pion gas is rather dilute even at a temperature $`100`$ MeV, this formula should hold upto higher temperatures than the results of chiral perturbation expansion to first order only. But the problem here is to construct the scattering amplitude, which is reliable .

## Appendix

Here we discuss the kinematic structure of the vector and axial-vector two point functions. In the real time formulation of thermal field theory we are using here, one has with each physical vertex an associated (ghost) vertex to take into account . This causes all two point functions to take the form of 2$`\times `$2 matrices. Thus even if we begin with the 11-component, the perturbative expansion will mix it up with the other components. But as we show below, this complication does not arise for the problem at hand and we actually need work with the 11-component only.

Consider first the complete vector (or axial-vector) meson propagator, which appears in the self-energy diagrams of Fig.1. Denoting the thermal $`2\times 2`$ matrices in this Appendix by bold face letters, it satisfies the Dyson equation,

$$𝑫_{\mu \nu }=𝑫_{\mu \nu }^{(0)}+𝑫_{\mu \lambda }^{(0)}(i𝚷^{\lambda \sigma })𝑫_{\sigma \nu }$$
(A.1)
The free thermal propagator has the factorised form

$$𝑫_{\mu \nu }^{(0)}(q_0,\stackrel{}{q})=𝑼(q_0)\left(\begin{array}{cc}D_{\mu \nu }^{(0)}& 0\\ 0& D_{\mu \nu }^{(0)}\end{array}\right)𝑼(q_0)$$
(A.2)
where

$$𝑼(q_0)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\sqrt{1+n}& \sqrt{n}\\ \sqrt{n}& \sqrt{1+n}\end{array}\right),n=(e^{\beta |q_0|}1)^1$$
(A.3)
and $`D_{\mu \nu }^{(0)}(q)`$ is the vacuum propagator

$$D_{\mu \nu }^{(0)}(q)=\frac{i(g_{\mu \nu }+q_\mu q_\nu /m_R^2)}{q^2m_R^2+iϵ}$$
(A.4)
From its spectral representation, the complete propagator $`i𝑫_{\mu \nu }(q)`$ can also be shown to admit a similar factorisation,

$$𝑫_{\mu \nu }(q_0,\stackrel{}{q})=𝑼(q_0)\left(\begin{array}{cc}D_{\mu \nu }& 0\\ 0& D_{\mu \nu }^{^{}}\end{array}\right)𝑼(q_0)$$
(A.5)
It then follows from Eq. (A1) that $`𝑼(i𝚷_{\mu \nu })𝑼`$ must have the diagonal structure,

$$𝑼(i𝚷_{\mu \nu })𝑼=\left(\begin{array}{cc}i\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu }& 0\\ 0& i\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu }^{}\end{array}\right)$$
(A.6)
The matrix equation (A.1) now collapses to the ordinary equation

$$D_{\mu \nu }=D_{\mu \nu }^{(0)}+D_{\mu \lambda }^{(0)}(i\mathrm{\Pi }^{\lambda \sigma })D_{\sigma \nu }$$
(A.7)
and its complex conjugate. The only remnants of the matrix structure are the relations between $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu }`$ and the components of $`𝚷_{\mu \nu }`$. With the 11-component of the latter, these are

$$Re(𝚷_{11})_{\mu \nu }=Re\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu },Im(𝚷_{11})_{\mu \nu }=(1+2n)Im\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu }.$$
(A.8)
In calculations at finite temperature, one usually prefers the matter rest frame, thereby losing explicit Lorentz covariance. The latter may be restored by bringing in the four velocity $`u_\mu `$ in the medium <sup>*</sup><sup>*</sup>*No confusion should arise from the earlier use of $`u_\mu `$ as a field variable in sec. II. Then the time and space components of a four-vector $`q_\mu `$ are converted to Lorentz scalars, $`\omega =uq`$ and $`\overline{q}=\sqrt{\omega ^2q^2}`$. In this framework a gauge covariant decomposition of the polarisation tensor is

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu }(q)=\mathrm{\Pi }_tP_{\mu \nu }+\mathrm{\Pi }_lQ_{\mu \nu },$$
(A.9)
where we choose the kinematic covariants as

$$P_{\mu \nu }=g_{\mu \nu }+\frac{q_\mu q_\nu }{q^2}\frac{q^2}{\overline{q}^2}\stackrel{~}{u}_\mu \stackrel{~}{u}_\nu ,Q_{\mu \nu }=\frac{q^4}{\overline{q}^2}\stackrel{~}{u}_\mu \stackrel{~}{u}_\nu ,$$
(A.10)
with $`\stackrel{~}{u}_\mu =u_\mu \omega q_\mu /q^2`$. The invariant amplitudes are functions of two variables, say $`q^2`$and $`\omega `$. With the decomposition (A.9) the Dyson equation (A.7) can be solved to get

$$D_{\mu \nu }=\frac{i}{q^2m_R^2\mathrm{\Pi }_t+iϵ}P_{\mu \nu }+\frac{i}{q^2m_R^2q^2\mathrm{\Pi }_l+iϵ}\frac{Q_{\mu \nu }}{q^2}+\frac{i}{m_R^2}\frac{q_\mu q_\nu }{q^2}.$$
(A.11)
To find the invariant amplitudes $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{t,l}`$ we form the scalars

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_1=\mathrm{\Pi }_\mu ^\mu ,\mathrm{\Pi }_2=u^\mu u^\nu \mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu },$$
(A.12)
when Eq. (A.9) gives

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_l=\frac{1}{\overline{q}^2}\mathrm{\Pi }_2,\mathrm{\Pi }_t=\frac{1}{2}(\mathrm{\Pi }_1+\frac{q^2}{\overline{q}^2}\mathrm{\Pi }_2).$$
(A.13)
In the limit $`\stackrel{}{q}0`$,the kinematic structures (A.10 ) relate the two invariant amplitudes,

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_t(q_0,\stackrel{}{q}=0)=q_0^2\mathrm{\Pi }_l(q_0,\stackrel{}{q}=0).$$
(A.14)
In this limit the second equation of (A.13) simplifies to

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_t=\frac{1}{3}\mathrm{\Pi }_1.$$
(A.15)
Having discussed the 2$`\times `$2 matrix structure of the complete propagator, we turn to the same for the two point functions, which for definiteness we take the one for vector currents. From the self-energy diagrams of Fig. 1 it gets the contribution

$`\delta ^{ab}\left({\displaystyle \frac{F_V}{m_V}}\right)^2(q^2g_\mu ^\lambda q_\mu q^\lambda )𝑫_{\lambda \sigma }(q^2g_\nu ^\sigma q^\sigma q_\nu )`$ (A.16)
$`=\delta ^{ab}𝑼(q_0)\left(\begin{array}{cc}G_{\mu \nu }& 0\\ 0& G_{\mu \nu }^{}\end{array}\right)𝑼(q_0)`$ (A.19)
where

$$G_{\mu \nu }=q^4\left(\frac{F_\rho }{m_V}\right)^2\left(\frac{1}{q^2m_V^2\mathrm{\Pi }_t+iϵ}P_{\mu \nu }+\frac{1}{q^2m_V^2q^2\mathrm{\Pi }_l+iϵ}\frac{Q_{\mu \nu }}{q^2}\right)$$
(A.20)
on using (A.11). Note that at $`\stackrel{}{q}=0`$ the two pole positions above coincide due to the kinematic constraint (A.14). The vertex correction diagrams of Figs. 2(c) and (d) are of the form

$$𝚷^{\mu \lambda }𝑫_{\lambda \nu }^{(0)}=𝑼^1(q_0)\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{\Pi }^{\mu \lambda }D_{\lambda \nu }^{(0)}& 0\\ 0& \mathrm{\Pi }^{\mu \lambda }D_{\lambda \nu }^{(0)}\end{array}\right)𝑼(q_0)$$
(A.21)
while the diagrams Fig. 3(a) with intermediate states are of the form given by (A.5).

We see that the results of evaluation of different diagrams are typically of the form of a diagonal matrix, sandwiched between $`𝑼`$ or $`𝑼^1`$. Near the meson pole the $`𝑼`$ matrix reduces to the unit matrix with exponential correction $`e^{m_\rho /T}`$. Such corrections are too small to be retained when we are calculating corrections of $`O(T^2)`$ only. The remaining diagonal matrix may be represented by its 11-component, which again admits a decomposition into invariant amplitudes like that of $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu }`$ in Eq. (A.9) with the longitudinal and the transverse ones being again related for $`\stackrel{}{q}=0`$ as in Eq. (A.14) for $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{l,t}`$.

## Acknowledgement

One of us (S.M.) acknowledges support of CSIR, Government of India.


text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

In recent times, investigation of string theory models whose low energy dynamics is described by a compactification of ten or eleven dimensional supergravity in presence of brane fluxes, has revived the interest in the study of gauged supergravities with different number of supersymmetries, and their possible Higgs and super Higgs phases  \- . Other examples of models with broken phases are the Scherk–Schwarz  supergravities and the so called “no-scale” supergravity models . Models of this type naturally appear when brane fluxes are turned on in orientifold compactifications of Type IIB superstring theory, and their no-scale structure gives rise to the interesting possibility of having a dynamically generated hierarchy of scales below the Planck scale  \- . In the present work we show that all these spontaneously broken models can be viewed as non semisimple gauging of “flat groups” in extended supergravity, originally considered in the generalized dimensional reduction of Scherk–Schwarz .

We will mainly consider the example of $`N=8`$ gauged supergravity in four dimensions. The existence of a $`𝔰𝔬(1,1)`$ grading in the Lie algebra of the duality group $`\mathrm{E}_{7,7}`$ will turn out to be essential. This grading comes from the decomposition

$$𝔢_{7,7}=𝔢_{6,6}+𝔰𝔬(1,1)+𝔭,𝔭=\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}_\mathrm{𝟐}+\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}_{+\mathrm{𝟐}}^{},$$
(1)
where $`𝔭`$ carries the mentioned representations of $`𝔢_{6,6}+𝔰𝔬(1,1)`$.

Gauged supergravities based on the above decomposition originate models that differ from previously constructed gaugings  \-  and were overlooked in previous classifications . They allow a construction of the Scherk–Schwarz models from a purely four dimensional perspective.

Although in $`N=8`$ supergravity the structure of $`\mathrm{E}_{7,7}`$ is essential we will show that in a large class of models the manifold of the scalars has isometries which include $`𝔰𝔬(1,1)`$ and translations. The $`𝔰𝔬(1,1)`$ provides a grading of the isometry algebra as well as of the symplectic space of electric and magnetic field strengths. For example, all $`N=2`$ supergravities based on special geometry with a cubic prepotential have this property . It is then not surprise that all these models have a five dimensional origin .

The flat group whose gauging corresponds to the Scherk–Schwarz mechanism has the following structure,

$`[X_\mathrm{\Lambda },X_0]=f_{\mathrm{\Lambda }0}^\mathrm{\Sigma }X_\mathrm{\Sigma },`$ (2)
$`[X_\mathrm{\Lambda },X_\mathrm{\Sigma }]=0\mathrm{\Lambda }=1,\mathrm{}27,`$ (3)
where $`X_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is in the $`\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}_{+\mathrm{𝟐}}^{}`$ in (1) and $`X_0`$ is a generic Cartan generator of $`𝔲𝔰𝔭(8)𝔢_{7,7}`$. The gauge group is then a semidirect product of two abelian factors. Note that this group is not a subgroup of any previously considered electric subgroup of $`\mathrm{E}_{7,7}`$. Flat groups of this kind exist in all four dimensional extended supergravity models which have a five dimensional origin, and in particular, in many no-scale supergravity models obtained by turning on brane fluxes. Partial supersymmetry breaking of these models correspond to different Higgs branches of the flat groups.

The paper is organized as follows. In section 2 we discuss non isomorphic electric subgroups of $`\mathrm{E}_{7,7}`$ and show that a choice which is not a subgroup of $`\mathrm{SL}(8,)`$ gives rise to the gauging of the Scherk–Schwarz spontaneously broken supergravity. In section 3 we give the relation between the four dimensional $`N=8`$ Lagrangian in standard form with the one obtained by Sezgin and van Nieuwenhuizen  by generalized dimensional reduction. In particular, we give the relevant terms in the bosonic sector which are due to the gauging of a flat group. Interestingly enough, these terms include unconventional Chern-Simons terms for vector fields, due to the gauging of translational isometries (Peccei-Quinn symmetries) and to the fact that the scalar axions are charged under the gauge group. In section 4 we discuss theories with lower supersymmetries in the perspective of the gauging of flat groups.

## 2 Electric subgroups of $`N=8`$ supergravity

In $`N=8`$, $`d=4`$ supergravity there are 28 vector gauge potentials $`Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Their field strengths $`F^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, together with their magnetic duals $`G_\mathrm{\Lambda }=\frac{1}{2}\frac{}{{}_{}{}^{}F_{}^{\mathrm{\Lambda }}}`$111We have used the following normalization for the kinetic Lagrangian of the vectors:
$$=\mathrm{}(𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }})F_{\mu \nu }^\mathrm{\Lambda }{}_{}{}^{}F_{}^{\mathrm{\Sigma }\mu \nu }+\mathrm{}(𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }})F_{\mu \nu }^\mathrm{\Lambda }F^{\mathrm{\Sigma }\mu \nu }\text{, with }{}_{}{}^{}F_{}^{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{2}ϵ^{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }F_{\rho \sigma }.$$
transform in the (56 dimensional) fundamental representation of $`\mathrm{E}_{7,7}`$. $`\mathrm{E}_{7,7}`$ is embedded in $`\mathrm{Sp}(56,)`$ via the fundamental representation, which is then said to be a symplectic representation. This implies that the matrices of the Lie algebra $`𝔢(7,7)`$ are of the form

$$\left(\begin{array}{cc}a& b\\ c& a^T\end{array}\right),b=b^T,c=c^T,$$
(4)
with $`a,b,c,d`$ being $`28\times 28`$ matrices. A generator of the symplectic algebra $`𝔰𝔭(56)`$ has $`a,b,c`$ arbitrary ($`b,c`$ symmetric) but the generators belonging to the subalgebra $`𝔢_{7,7}`$ have some restrictions on these entries.

An electric subgroup of $`\mathrm{E}_{7,7}`$ is any subgroup with $`b=0`$. Such a subgroup acts linearly on the 28 dimensional space of the electric field strengths (or vector potentials). If the 28 gauge potentials are in the adjoint representation of an electric subgroup, then it is in principle possible to gauge it.

The standard example is $`\mathrm{SO}(8)`$ gauged supergravity . $`\mathrm{SO}(8)`$ is the maximal compact subgroup of $`\mathrm{SL}(8,)`$, which is a maximal electric subgroup of $`\mathrm{E}_{7,7}`$. In the representation (4) it has not only $`b=0`$ but also $`c=0`$. The reason is that $`\mathrm{𝟓𝟔}\mathrm{𝟐𝟖}+\mathrm{𝟐𝟖}^{}`$ 222We will denote by $`𝐫^{}`$ the contragradient representation of $`𝐫`$.  under $`\mathrm{SL}(8,)`$, so the field strengths are not mixed with their duals by an $`\mathrm{SL}(8,)`$ transformation.

We would like to give a parametrization of the group $`\mathrm{E}_{7,7}`$ which depicts the embedding of different electric subgroups. If we think about $`N=8`$ supergravity in $`d=4`$ as obtained by dimensional reduction of $`N=8`$ supergravity in $`d=5`$, it is pretty obvious that it must be possible to choose an electric subgroup of $`\mathrm{E}_{7,7}`$ which contains $`\mathrm{E}_{6,6}`$. Indeed, $`\mathrm{E}_{6,6}`$ has a linear action on the 27 vector potentials in dimension five, so it will have it also on the dimensionally reduced vectors. The 28th four dimensional vector comes from the metric, and it is an $`\mathrm{E}_{6,6}`$ singlet. This suggests that we should look for new electric subgroups of $`\mathrm{E}_{7,7}`$ by considering the decomposition of the representations of $`\mathrm{E}_{7,7}`$ under the subgroup $`\mathrm{E}_{6,6}\times \mathrm{SO}(1,1)`$ (this subgroup is maximal as a reductive subgroup of $`\mathrm{E}_{7,7}`$, but it is not a maximal subgroup, as we will see later). The fundamental representation decomposes as follows (the subindex indicates the charge under SO(1,1))

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\mathrm{𝟓𝟔}& \underset{\mathrm{E}_{6,6}\times \mathrm{SO}(1,1)}{}& \mathrm{𝟐𝟕}_{+\mathrm{𝟏}}+\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}_\mathrm{𝟏}^{}+\mathrm{𝟏}_{+\mathrm{𝟑}}+\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{𝟑},\end{array}$$

with $`\mathrm{𝟏}_{+\mathrm{𝟑}}`$ being the new vector that comes from the metric when performing the dimensional reduction. The adjoint representation decomposes as

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\mathrm{𝟏𝟑𝟑}& \underset{\mathrm{E}_{6,6}\times \mathrm{SO}(1,1)}{}& \mathrm{𝟕𝟖}_\mathrm{𝟎}+\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{𝟎}+\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}_\mathrm{𝟐}+\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}_{+\mathrm{𝟐}}^{};\end{array}$$
(5)
$`\mathrm{𝟕𝟖}_\mathrm{𝟎}`$ is the adjoint of $`\mathrm{E}_{6,6}`$, $`\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{𝟎}`$ is the generator of the rescaling of the radius of $`S^1`$, the $`\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}_{+\mathrm{𝟐}}^{}`$ are the shift symmetries acting on the axions coming from the fifth component of the 27 five dimensional vectors, $`\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}_\mathrm{𝟐}`$ are the additional transformations, not implementable on the vector potentials, which complete the algebra of $`\mathrm{E}_{7,7}`$.

¿From (5) it follows that $`𝔢_{7,7}`$ has a grading under $`𝔰𝔬(1,1)`$,

$$𝔢_{7,7}=𝔩_0+𝔩_{+2}+𝔩_2.$$

The representation 56 is a graded representation. The underlying vector space is decomposed as $`V=V^+V^{}`$, this decomposition being compatible with the grading of the Lie algebra. $`V^+`$ is the space of the electric field strengths (and potentials) and $`V^{}`$ the space of their magnetic duals. In particular we have that

$`X𝔩_0,`$ $`X:V^+V^+,`$
$`X𝔩_{+2},`$ $`X:V^+V^+`$
so the non semisimple subalgebra $`𝔩_0+𝔩_{+2}`$ has a linear action on $`V^+`$. Therefore, the matrices of $`𝔩_0+𝔩_{+2}`$ in the fundamental representation have $`b=0`$ (4). $`𝔩_0`$ has also $`c=0`$, while $`𝔩_{+2}`$ has $`a0,c0`$. We write the action of $`𝔩_{\pm 2}`$ on $`V^+V^{}`$:

$$\delta \left(\begin{array}{c}F^\mathrm{\Lambda }\\ F\\ G_\mathrm{\Lambda }\\ G\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}0_\mathrm{\Sigma }^\mathrm{\Lambda }& t_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Lambda }}& d^{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Gamma }}t_\mathrm{\Gamma }& 0^\mathrm{\Lambda }\\ t_\mathrm{\Sigma }& 0& 0_\mathrm{\Sigma }& 0\\ d_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Gamma }}t_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Gamma }}& 0_\mathrm{\Lambda }& 0_\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Sigma }& t_\mathrm{\Lambda }\\ 0_\mathrm{\Sigma }& 0& t_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Sigma }}& 0\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}F^\mathrm{\Sigma }\\ F\\ G_\mathrm{\Sigma }\\ G\end{array}\right).$$
(6)
$`t_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`t_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ are the parameters of the transformation and $`d_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Gamma }}`$ is the symmetric invariant tensor of the representation $`\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}`$ of $`\mathrm{E}_{6,6}`$ ($`d^{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Gamma }}`$ of the $`\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}^{}`$). The matrices of $`𝔩_2`$ have $`c=0`$, $`a0,b0`$. We denote the vector potentials as $`(Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda },Z_\mu ^0=B_\mu )`$, with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=1,\mathrm{}27`$. They transform as $`V^+`$, so we have

$`\delta _{\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}_{+\mathrm{𝟐}}^{}}Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }=t_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Lambda }}B_\mu `$ $`\delta _{\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{𝟎}}Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }=\lambda Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$
$`\delta _{\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}_{+\mathrm{𝟐}}^{}}B_\mu =0`$ $`\delta _{\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{𝟎}}B_\mu =3\lambda B_\mu .`$
The above transformation properties under translations and $`\mathrm{SO}(1,1)`$ are common to a large class of supergravity models with different number of supersymmetries.

Finally, let us discuss the scalar sector. The coset of the scalars in four and five dimensions are respectively $`\mathrm{E}_{7,7}/\mathrm{SU}(8)`$ and $`\mathrm{E}_{6,6}/\mathrm{USp}(8)`$. The corresponding Cartan decompositions are

$`𝔢_{7,7}=𝔰𝔲(8)+𝔭,`$ $`𝔭=\mathrm{𝟕𝟎}\mathrm{of}\mathrm{SU}(8)`$
$`𝔢_{6,6}=𝔲𝔰𝔭(8)+𝔭^{}`$ $`𝔭=\mathrm{𝟒𝟐}\mathrm{of}\mathrm{USp}(8),`$
and we have that the $`\mathrm{𝟕𝟎}`$ of $`\mathrm{SU}(8)`$ is decomposed

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\mathrm{𝟕𝟎}& \underset{\mathrm{USp}(8)}{}& \mathrm{𝟒𝟐}+\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}+\mathrm{𝟏}.\end{array}$$

The physical meaning of the above decomposition is that the scalars in the $`\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}`$ come from the fifth component of the 27 five dimensional vectors and the singlet from the $`g_{55}`$ component of the metric (radius of $`S^1`$).

## 3  Standard form of $`N=8`$ Scherk–Schwarz supergravity and gauging of flat groups

We want to compare the maximally extended ($`N=8`$) supergravity in four dimensions with the theory found by Sezgin and Van Nieuwenhuizen  through the Scherk–Schwarz dimensional reduction from five dimensions.

Let us first consider the case where all the mass parameters are set to zero (standard dimensional reduction). In dimension five the U-duality group is $`\mathrm{E}_{6,6}`$, and it acts linearly on the 27 vector potentials $`\widehat{A}_{\widehat{\mu }}^\mathrm{\Lambda },`$ with $`\widehat{\mu }=1,\mathrm{}5`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=1,\mathrm{}27`$. We will denote the quantities in five dimensions with a hat, “ $`\widehat{\text{ }}`$ ”, to distinguish them from the four dimensional ones. The local symmetries acting on these vector potentials are general coordinate transformations in five dimensions with parameters $`\widehat{\xi }^{\widehat{\mu }}(x^{\widehat{\nu }})`$ and 27 abelian U(1) gauge transformations $`\mathrm{\Xi }^\mathrm{\Lambda }(x^{\widehat{\nu }})`$. When performing the reduction to four dimensions, the local symmetries that remain are: four dimensional general coordinate transformations with parameters $`\xi ^\mu (x^\nu )`$ with $`\mu ,\nu =1,\mathrm{}4`$, a gauge transformation with parameter $`\xi ^5(x^\nu )`$, and the U(1) gauge transformations with parameters $`\mathrm{\Xi }^\mathrm{\Lambda }(x^\nu )`$. Explicitly these transformations read

$`\delta _{\xi ^5}A_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }=_\mu \xi ^5A_5^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$
$`\delta _\mathrm{\Xi }A_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }=_\mu \mathrm{\Xi }^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$
$`\delta _{\xi ^5}A_5^\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$
$`\delta _\mathrm{\Xi }A_5^\mathrm{\Lambda }=0,`$
We will denote $`A_5^\mathrm{\Lambda }=a^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. There is also a global ($`x`$-independent) invariance $`a^\mathrm{\Lambda }a^\mathrm{\Lambda }+t_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$. We denote by $`B_\mu `$ and $`\varphi `$ the vector and scalar coming from the reduction of the vielbein,

$$\widehat{V}_{\widehat{\mu }}^{\widehat{a}}=(V_\mu ^a,V_\mu ^5=V_5^5B_\mu ,V_5^5=e^{2\varphi })$$

with transformation

$$\delta _{\xi ^5}B_\mu =_\mu \xi ^5.$$

The combinations

$$Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }=A_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }a^\mathrm{\Lambda }B_\mu $$

are inert under $`\xi ^5`$ and so $`Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`B_\mu `$ are genuine four dimensional gauge fields. Note, however, that under the global translation $`t_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$, $`Z^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ transforms

$$\delta Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }=t_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Lambda }}B_\mu .$$

The meaning of this transformation is that the 28 vectors $`(Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda },B_\mu )`$ form a 28 dimensional indecomposable representation of the 27 dimensional translation group ($`t_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$). The action given in Ref. is also invariant under the following $`\mathrm{SO}(1,1)`$ transformation (with parameter $`\lambda `$)

$`\varphi ^{}=\varphi \lambda `$
$`Z_{}^{}{}_{\mu }{}^{\mathrm{\Lambda }}=e^\lambda Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$
$`B_{}^{}{}_{\mu }{}^{}=e^{3\lambda }B_\mu `$
$`a_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Lambda }}=e^{2\lambda }a^\mathrm{\Lambda }.`$
We observe that the group generated by $`\mathrm{SO}(1,1)`$ and the 27 global translations is precisely the same as the one discussed in Section 2, which appears in the decomposition of $`\mathrm{E}_{7,7}`$ under $`\mathrm{E}_{6,6}`$.

In terms of the fields $`\varphi ,a^\mathrm{\Lambda },B_\mu ,Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, the Lagrangian (4.33) of  at zero masses reduces to the following standard expression:333Note that our definitions slightly differ from the ones in . In particular, we have defined the field strengths of the vectors as: $`Z_{\mu \nu }^\mathrm{\Lambda }=\frac{1}{2}(_\mu Z_\nu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }_\nu Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda })`$, $`B_{\mu \nu }=\frac{1}{2}(_\mu B_\nu _\nu B_\mu )`$. Moreover, with respect to  we have redefined $`\frac{\varphi }{\sqrt{3}}\varphi `$ and $`2d_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Gamma }}d_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Gamma }}`$.

$`_{d=4}^{\mathrm{bos}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}VR+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}V_\mu \varphi ^\mu \varphi +{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}Ve^{4\varphi }\widehat{𝒩}_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }}_\mu a^\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mu a^\mathrm{\Sigma }+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{24}}VP_\mu ^{abcd}P_{abcd}^\mu +`$ (7)
$`+`$ $`V\mathrm{}(𝒩_{00})B_{\mu \nu }B^{\mu \nu }+2V\mathrm{}(𝒩_{0\mathrm{\Lambda }})Z_{\mu \nu }^\mathrm{\Lambda }B^{\mu \nu }+V\mathrm{}(𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }})Z_{\mu \nu }^\mathrm{\Lambda }Z^{\mathrm{\Sigma }\mu \nu }+`$
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}ϵ^{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }\left[\mathrm{}(𝒩_{00})B_{\mu \nu }B_{\rho \sigma }+2\mathrm{}(N_{\mathrm{\Lambda }0})B_{\mu \nu }Z_{\rho \sigma }^\mathrm{\Lambda }+\mathrm{}(𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }})Z_{\mu \nu }^\mathrm{\Lambda }Z_{\rho \sigma }^\mathrm{\Sigma }\right]`$
in terms of the 28$`\times `$28 complex symmetric matrix

$`𝒩_{00}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}d_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Gamma }}a^\mathrm{\Lambda }a^\mathrm{\Sigma }a^\mathrm{\Gamma }{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{i}}{2}}\left(e^{2\varphi }a^\mathrm{\Lambda }a^\mathrm{\Sigma }\widehat{𝒩}_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}e^{6\varphi }\right)`$
$`𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }0}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}d_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Gamma }}a^\mathrm{\Sigma }a^\mathrm{\Gamma }{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{i}}{2}}e^{2\varphi }\widehat{𝒩}_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }}a^\mathrm{\Sigma }`$
$`𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }}`$ $`=`$ $`d_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Gamma }}a^\mathrm{\Gamma }{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{i}}{2}}e^{2\varphi }\widehat{𝒩}_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }}.`$
$`P_\mu ^{abcd}`$ is the $`\mathrm{E}_{6,6}/\mathrm{USp}(8)`$ vielbein, $`V=detV_\mu ^a`$ and $`\widehat{𝒩}_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }}`$ is the five dimensional ($`\mathrm{SO}(1,1)`$ invariant) vector kinetic matrix.

The representation of $`\mathrm{E}_{7,7}`$ on the 56 dimensional vector space of the field strengths and their duals is symplectic. For the moment being, let $``$ denote the vector $`(F^\mathrm{\Lambda },F)`$ and $`𝒢`$ $`(G_\mathrm{\Lambda },G)`$. In terms of the self dual combinations $`^+=\frac{1}{2}\left(+\mathrm{i}^{}\right)`$, $`𝒢^+=\frac{1}{2}\left(𝒢+\mathrm{i}^{}𝒢\right)`$, a generic element of the symplectic group would act as

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+}\\ 𝒢_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+}\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}A& B\\ C& D\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}^+\\ 𝒢^+\end{array}\right),A^TC\mathrm{and}B^TD\mathrm{symmetric},A^TDC^TB=11.$$

Then the matrix $`𝒩`$ transforms as

$$𝒩^{}=(C+D𝒩)(A+B𝒩)^1.$$

The fractional formula allows us to compute the non linear transformations of the fields under the upper block triangular transformation corresponding to the $`\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}_\mathrm{𝟐}`$ elements of $`𝔢_{7,7}`$ in (6),

$`\delta 𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }}=𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Pi }}𝒩_{\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Sigma }}d^{\mathrm{\Pi }\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }}t_\mathrm{\Gamma }+t_\mathrm{\Lambda }𝒩_{\mathrm{\Sigma }0}+t_\mathrm{\Sigma }𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }0}`$
$`\delta 𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }0}=𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }}𝒩_{\mathrm{\Delta }0}d^{\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }}t_\mathrm{\Gamma }+t_\mathrm{\Lambda }𝒩_{00}`$
$`\delta 𝒩_{00}=𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }0}𝒩_{\mathrm{\Gamma }0}d^{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Delta }}t_\mathrm{\Delta }`$
The infinitesimal transformation of $`𝒩`$ under the translational symmetries $`\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}_{+\mathrm{𝟐}}^{}`$ (lower block triangular) in (6) is

$`\delta 𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }}=d_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Delta }}t_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Delta }}`$
$`\delta 𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }0}=𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }}t_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Sigma }}`$
$`\delta 𝒩_{00}=2𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }0}t_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$
In particular, we note that only $`\mathrm{}(𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }})`$ (theta term) transforms non linearly under the translations $`t^{}`$.

We consider now the semidirect product of the 27 translations with parameters $`t_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ with a generic element of the Cartan subalgebra of $`\mathrm{USp}(8)`$, maximal compact subgroup of $`\mathrm{E}_{6,6}`$. Its Lie algebra is of the form (3) with $`f_{\mathrm{\Lambda }0}^\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ the matrix of the Cartan element in the representation $`\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}`$ of $`\mathrm{USp}(8)`$. We will denote it by $`M_\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. Since $`\mathrm{USp}(8)`$ has rank four, $`M_\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ depends on four parameters, $`m_i,i=1,\mathrm{}4`$ and its 27 eigenvalues are functions of these four paramenters. They are given by

$$\pm \mathrm{i}(m_i\pm m_j),i<j$$

and 3 eigenvalues are 0 444The physical masses of the vector bosons actually are proportional to the above eigenvalues with a moduli dependent prefactor $`e^{3\varphi }`$, as it can be seen from inspection of the Lagrangian (7). The same observation holds also for the masses of the other particles, as given in  . This means that there are 3 linear combinations of $`X_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ which actually commute with $`X_0`$.

We choose this group to perform the gauging of $`N=8`$ supergravity. $`Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ are the gauge connections for $`X_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ generators and $`B_\mu `$ is the U(1) gauge connection. It is straightforward to see that the gauge transformations of the connection fields are as follows

$`\delta Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }=_\mu \mathrm{\Xi }^\mathrm{\Lambda }+\mathrm{\Xi }^0M_\mathrm{\Sigma }^\mathrm{\Lambda }Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Xi }^\mathrm{\Sigma }M_\mathrm{\Sigma }^\mathrm{\Lambda }B_\mu `$
$`\delta B_\mu =_\mu \mathrm{\Xi }^0.`$
The field strengths are

$`F_{\mu \nu }^\mathrm{\Lambda }={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(_\mu Z_\nu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }_\nu Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }M_\mathrm{\Sigma }^\mathrm{\Lambda }(Z_\nu ^\mathrm{\Sigma }B_\mu Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Sigma }B_\nu )\right)`$
$`B_{\mu \nu }={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(_\mu B_\nu _\nu B_\mu \right).`$
The gauge transformation of the axion fields $`a^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is

$$\delta a^\mathrm{\Lambda }=M_\mathrm{\Sigma }^\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Xi }^\mathrm{\Sigma }+\mathrm{\Xi }^0M_\mathrm{\Sigma }^\mathrm{\Lambda }a^\mathrm{\Sigma },$$

and their covariant derivatives

$$_\mu a^\mathrm{\Lambda }=_\mu a^\mathrm{\Lambda }M_\mathrm{\Sigma }^\mathrm{\Lambda }a^\mathrm{\Sigma }B_\mu M_\mathrm{\Sigma }^\mathrm{\Lambda }Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Sigma }.$$

In order to write the gauge completion of the Lagrangian (7), we first observe that $`\widehat{𝒩}_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }}`$ is invariant under the gauge transformations $`\mathrm{\Xi }^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, but transforms under $`\mathrm{\Xi }^0`$ as follows

$$\delta \widehat{𝒩}_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }}=\mathrm{\Xi }^0M_\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{𝒩}_{\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Delta }}+(\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }).$$

It then follows that under $`\mathrm{\Xi }^0`$

$`\delta 𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }}=\mathrm{\Xi }^0M_\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }𝒩_{\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Delta }}+(\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma })`$
$`\delta 𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }0}=\mathrm{\Xi }^0M_\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }𝒩_{\mathrm{\Sigma }0}`$
$`\delta 𝒩_{00}=0,`$
and under $`\mathrm{\Xi }^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$

$`\delta 𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }}=d_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Delta }}M_\mathrm{\Pi }^\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Xi }^\mathrm{\Pi }`$
$`\delta 𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }0}=𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }}M_\mathrm{\Pi }^\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Xi }^\mathrm{\Pi }`$
$`\delta 𝒩_{00}=2𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }0}M_\mathrm{\Pi }^\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Xi }^\mathrm{\Pi }.`$
The gauge completion of the lagrangian (7) is then obtained by replacing

$`F_{\mu \nu }^\mathrm{\Lambda }F_{\mu \nu }^\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{non}\mathrm{abelian}`$
$`_\mu a^\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu a^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$
$`P_\mu ^{abcd}P_\mu ^{abcd}P_5^{abcd}B_\mu ,`$
where $`P_5^{abcd}`$ is defined in (4.3) and (4.33) of Ref.  and has the property that

$$\delta _{\mathrm{\Xi }^0}P_\mu ^{abcd}=P_5^{abcd}_\mu \mathrm{\Xi }^0,$$

and adding the extra term

$$^{\mathrm{extra}}=\frac{1}{3}d_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Pi }}M_\mathrm{\Delta }^\mathrm{\Pi }ϵ^{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda }Z_\nu ^\mathrm{\Delta }(_\rho Z_\sigma ^\mathrm{\Sigma }\frac{3}{4}M_\mathrm{\Gamma }^\mathrm{\Sigma }Z_\rho ^\mathrm{\Gamma }B_\sigma ).$$
(8)
Note that the second term in (8) is in fact identically zero here, due to the symmetry property of $`d_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Pi }}`$.

In the Scherk–Schwarz theory, the term (8) comes from the generalized dimensional reduction of the Chern-Simons term , but in a four dimensional setting it is required because of the non linear transformation

$$\delta \mathrm{}(𝒩_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }})=d_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Pi }}M_\mathrm{\Gamma }^\mathrm{\Pi }\mathrm{\Xi }^\mathrm{\Gamma },$$

as shown in (3.16) of Ref. .

Here $`d_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Pi }}M_\mathrm{\Gamma }^\mathrm{\Pi }=C_{\mathrm{\Gamma },\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }}`$ of  and it satisfies the property

$$C_{\mathrm{\Gamma },\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }}+C_{\mathrm{\Lambda },\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Gamma }}+C_{\mathrm{\Sigma },\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Lambda }}=0$$

as a consequence of the fact that $`d_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Pi }}`$ is an invariant tensor of $`E_{6(6)}`$.

Supersymmetry also requires a scalar potential

$$U=\frac{1}{24}e^{6\varphi }P_{5abcd}P_5^{abcd}$$

as shown in Ref. . We do not discuss here the fermionic sector of the theory whose gauge completion can also be obtained in a standard manner.

## 4  Gauging of flat groups in $`N=2`$ four dimensional supergravities

We want to extend the gauging of flat groups to a class of $`N=2`$ four dimensional supergravities which have a five dimensional interpretation. The graviton multiplet has fields

$$(V_\mu ^a,\psi _{\mu A},Z_\mu ^0).$$

It is well known that the interactions of $`N=2`$ vector multiplets with fields

$$(Z_\mu ^\mathrm{\Lambda },\lambda _A^\mathrm{\Lambda },z^\mathrm{\Lambda }),\mathrm{\Lambda }=1,\mathrm{}n_v,$$

are described by the special geometry of the scalar sigma model. The special geometry  of the Kaehler manifold of the scalar fields is completely specified by an holomorphic prepotential of $`n_v+1`$ variables, homogeneous of degree two

$$(x^\mathrm{\Lambda },x^0)=x_{}^{0}{}_{}{}^{2}f(\frac{x^\mathrm{\Lambda }}{x^0}),$$

where in special coordinates,

$$z^\mathrm{\Lambda }=\frac{x^\mathrm{\Lambda }}{x^0}.$$

The holomorphic functions

$$(x^\mathrm{\Lambda },x^0,F_\mathrm{\Lambda }=\frac{}{x^\mathrm{\Lambda }},F_0=\frac{}{x^0})$$

are a local section of a flat symplectic bundle (with structure group $`\mathrm{Sp}(2n_v+2,)`$) over the special Kaehler manifold . The duality group $`G`$ is a subgroup of $`\mathrm{Sp}(2n_v+2,)`$. The representation of $`G`$ acting on the field strengths $`(F_{}^{+}{}_{\mu \nu }{}^{\mathrm{\Lambda }},F_{}^{+}{}_{}{}^{0}{}_{\mu \nu }{}^{})`$ and their duals $`(G_{}^{+}{}_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mu \nu }{}^{},G_{}^{+}{}_{0\mu \nu }{}^{})`$ is a symplectic representation.

If we choose a cubic prepotential of the form

$$=\frac{1}{3!}\frac{c_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Delta }}x^\mathrm{\Lambda }x^\mathrm{\Sigma }x^\mathrm{\Delta }}{x^0},$$

then the Kaehler manifold has always $`n_v+1`$ isometries which form a group $`\mathrm{SO}(1,1)\mathrm{}^{n_v}`$ (semidirect product) acting on the coordinates $`x`$ as follows

$`\delta x^\mathrm{\Lambda }=\lambda x^\mathrm{\Lambda },`$ $`\delta x^0=3\lambda x^0`$
$`\delta x^\mathrm{\Lambda }=t_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Lambda }}x^0`$ $`\delta x^0=0.`$
This transformation induces a symplectic action on the symplectic sections and the electromagnetic field strengths as follows

$$\left(\begin{array}{cccc}\lambda & t_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Lambda }}& 0& 0\\ 0& 3\lambda & 0& 0\\ c_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Delta }}t_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Delta }}& 0& \lambda & 0\\ 0& 0& t_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{\Lambda }}& 3\lambda \end{array}\right).$$

The lower block triangular transformations have the same form of the $`𝔩_0+𝔩_+`$ of $`𝔢_{7,7}`$. This should not come as a surprise since all these theories can be obtained by dimensional reduction of $`N=2`$ supergravity in five dimensions with $`n_v1`$ vector multiplets whose real special geometry is defined by the cubic surface

$$c_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Delta }}y^\mathrm{\Lambda }y^\mathrm{\Sigma }y^\mathrm{\Delta }=1.$$

If the real special geometry in five dimensions has no isometries ($`c_{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Delta }}`$ are generic), and in the absence of hypermultiplets, the only global symmetry in five dimensions is the SU(2) R-symmetry and the Scherk–Schwarz generalized dimensional reduction would correspond to the gauging of the U(1) Cartan element of SU(2), giving mass only to the gravitinos and the gauginos, which are the only fields charged under this U(1). Supersymmetry would be broken while the $`\mathrm{U}(1)\mathrm{}^{n_v}`$ group would remain unbroken.

In the case where there is a group of isometries $`G^{}`$ acting on the real special manifold (for dimension 5), then we could use for the Scherk–Schwarz mechanism a U(1) which has also a component on the Cartan element of the maximal compact subgroup of $`G^{}`$. A non trivial flat group would emerge in four dimensions whose gauging would be similar to the gauging of $`N=8`$ supergravity discussed in section 2 .

As an illustration, let us consider models where the real special geometry is a coset space $`G^{}/H^{}`$ and the $`n_v`$ five dimensional vectors belong to a linear representation $`R(n_v)`$ of $`G^{}`$. Kaluza-Klein dimensional reduction implies that the U-duality group in four dimensions $`G`$ has an $`\mathrm{SO}(1,1)`$ grading when decomposing with respect to $`G^{}G`$

$$𝔤=𝔤_0^{}+\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{𝟎}+𝔯(n_v)_\mathrm{𝟐}+𝔯^{}(n_v)_{+\mathrm{𝟐}}.$$

($`𝔯`$ denotes the representation space of $`R_{n_v}`$). Moreover, the $`2n_v+2`$ dimensional symplectic representation $`R(2n_v+2)`$ of the four dimensional duality group $`G`$ has the following decomposition under $`G^{}\times \mathrm{SO}(1,1)`$

$$𝔯(2n_v+2)=𝔯(n_v)_{+\mathrm{𝟏}}+\mathrm{𝟏}_{+\mathrm{𝟑}}+𝔯^{}(n_v)_\mathrm{𝟏}+\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{𝟑}.$$

Note that these decompositions and the $`\mathrm{SO}(1,1)`$ grading are universal and do not depend on the choice of $`G^{}`$. Indeed, this grading has a Kaluza-Klein origin.

We give in Table 1 the examples corresponding to the exceptional five dimensional cosets. The flat group of dimension $`n_v+1`$ has structure constants which depend on $`\mathrm{dim}(\mathrm{CSA})_H^{}+1`$ parameters.

Most of the spontaneously broken models studied in Ref.  have a dynamical origin analogous to the one discussed in the present investigation. However, since there are models which break an odd number of supersymmetries, one can consider gaugings that do not have a five dimensional interpretation. This should be the case for some models obtained by turning on brane fluxes .

## Acknowledgements

S. F. would like to thank Raymond Stora for enlightening conversations and the Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Torino for its kind hospitality during the completion of this work. Work supported in part by the European Comunity’s Human Potential Program under contract HPRN-CT-2000-00131 Quantum Space-Time, in which L. A., R. D. and M. A. Ll. are associated to Torino University. The work of S. F. has also been supported by the D.O.E. grant DE-FG03-91ER40662, Task C.