N=8 matter coupled AdS_3 supergravities

TL;DR

This work constructs gauged D=3, N=8 supergravities as deformations of the ungauged theory on the coset $SO(8,n)/(SO(8)×SO(n))$, organized by a single $SO(8,n)$ covariant embedding-tensor projection. The gauging is implemented via a Chern-Simons term and a scalar potential $W$, with Yukawa-like shifts encoded in the $T$-tensor through the scalars, ensuring local supersymmetry via $A_1,A_2,A_3$; consistency conditions are captured by a projection on the embedding tensor. The authors classify admissible gauge groups, including compact $SO(4)×SO(4)$ and its special case $SO(4)$ that reproduces the AdS$_3 imes S^3$ reduction of D=6, N=(2,0) supergravity with $n$ tensor multiplets, as well as noncompact gaugings such as $SO(p,4−p)×SO(q,4−q)$ and other exotic possibilities, some admitting maximally supersymmetric AdS$_3$ vacua with enhanced symmetry. These results connect three-dimensional gauged supergravity to AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$ realizations of higher-dimensional compactifications and pave the way for extending the construction to other $N<16$ theories.

Abstract

Following the recent construction of maximal (N=16) gauged supergravity in three dimensions, we derive gauged D=3, N=8 supergravities in three dimensions as deformations of the corresponding ungauged theories with scalar manifolds SO(8,n)/(SO(8)x SO(n)). As a special case, we recover the N=(4,4) theories with local SO(4) = SO(3)_L x SO(3)_R, which reproduce the symmetries and massless spectrum of D=6, N=(2,0) supergravity compactified on AdS_3 x S^3.