Introdu

tion to M-theory
A Mini Course
I. Introdu tion and basi formulae
H. Lu

Why

D = 11

Almost all the known fundamental theories have underlying symmetry prin iples.

 Classi al Me hani s:

spa e and time translational

invarian es; spa e rotational invarian e.
 Spe ial Relativity: the above plus spa e-time rotational invarian e.
 General Relativity: general oordinate transformation invarian e.
 Ele tro-magnetism: abelian gauge invarian e.
 Standard Model: non-abelian gauge invarian e.
It is interesting to note that the on ept of quantum
me hani s (QM) does not seem to be based on any symmetry prin iple, whi h may be the reason why it is not
yet understood.
QM introdu es a new on ept for parti les: the bosons
and fermions. This leads to the possibility of a new
symmetry, namely the theory is invariant under the inter hange of bosoni and fermioni parti les. The on2

sisten y of su h a symmetry depends on whether there

is a losed algebra asso iated with the symmetry. This
algebra has been onstru ted and is alled a superalgebra.
The SUSY transformation turns a boson into a fermion
and vi e versa. A ting on the parti les twi e, a boson
be omes itself and so does the fermion, but it ould
be lo ated at a dierent point of spa etime. Thus one
would expe t the superalgebra is losely related to the
Poin are algebra. In fa t the anti- ommuntators of the
super harges Q whi h generate the SUSY transformation have the following stru ture:

fQ; Qg =

P :

In the above dis ussion we have assumed rigid supersymmetry transformations, whi h implies Poin are
invarian e. Lo al supersymmetry would then naturally
imply general oordinate invarian e. In other words,
lo al supersymmetry requires Einstein gravity.
Thus, we see that although quantum me hani s is
in ompatible with gravity, it predi ts the existen e of
3

the gravity:
QM

! boson/fermion ! supersymmetry
! Einstein gravity

All the superalgebras are lassied. In Minkowskiansignature spa etime, the highest dimension that allows
the existen e of a superalgebra is D = 11, based upon
whi h, eleven-dimensional supergravity was onstru ted.

D = 11 supergravity
The theory ontains a single fermioni eld, , alled
the gravitino. In D = 11, the dim. of gamma matrix
is 2[D=2  2[D=2 = 32  32, so the gravitino has 32
omponents. The on-shell ondition redu es this to 16.
The spa etime index  runs from 0 to 10, but there are
a total of 8 on-shell values, giving rise to
fermion degree of freedom = 32=2  8 = 128 :

The bosoni elds onsist of the graviton, des ribed

4

by the metri g and a 3-form anti-symmetri tensor

potential A. The physi al degrees of freedom for
these two elds are
9  10
1 = 44 ;
g :
2
987
= 84 :
A :
6
Thus the total degrees of freedom are 128, mat hing
pre isely the fermioni degrees of freedom. (Note that
the 3-form is ne essary sin e the degrees of freedom from
the graviton are only 44.)
How to ount physi al degrees of freedom:

Gauge

shoots twi e

Let us onsider a ve tor potential A  A dx, with

eld strength F = dA = 21 A dx ^ dx . The
equation of motion is given by
(1)

(2)

(1)

dF = ddA = 0 :
(Note that dF means  F .) It has the gauge invarian e A ! A + d . So the physi al degrees
(2)

(1)

(2)

(1)

(1)

(0)

of freedom are 1 less. We an x the gauge by imposing the gauge ondition dA = 0 (i.e.  A = 0,
the Lorentz gauge.) This is the \gauge shooting on e."
Now having done that, we nd that the gauge ondition dA = 0 is invariant under A ! A + d~
provided that dd~ = 0. Thus we an use d~ to remove an additional degree of freedom. Thus \the gauge
shoots twi e," and the physi al degrees of freedom be ome D 1 1 = D 2. In D = 4, A des ribes the
photon, whi h has two degrees of freedom.
The above dis ussion an easily be generalised to an
arbitrary n-form A n , in whi h ase, the physi al degrees of freedom are given by
0
1
BBD 2CC
n
B
C
(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(0)

(0)

( )

 CD

To prove this, let us note that the original total omponents of A n are given by
original dof
An :
CDn :
It has the gauge symmetry An = d n 1), and hen e
we need to subtra t the degrees of freedom of  n ,
whi h itself has a gauge invarian e of  n = d n ,
( )

( )

1)

1)

2)

et .

by

Thus total degrees of freedom of (n

1)

are given

CDn 2 + CDn 3 +


+ ( 1)n+1 ;

whi h is pre isely CDn 11. Thus we have
gauge shoots on e
n :
CDn 11 :
CDn

1)

The above gauge an be xed using the Lorentz gauge

ondition dA n = 0. As dis ussed previously, this
gauge ondition itself is invariant under A n ! A n +
df n , provided that d  df n = 0. It follows that
we should further subtra t the degrees of freedom from
the on-shell f n . We shall use the te hnique of \proof
by indu tion" and assume that
( )

( )

1)

( )

1)

1)

f n

CDn 12 :
Thus the physi al degrees of freedom for n-form eld
gauge shoots twi e

1)

strength are

CDn

CDn

1
1

CDn 12 = CDn 2 :

The argument for gravity is the same. In D dimensions, the metri g , whi h is symmetri , has 21 D(D +1)
7

 omponents. There are D general oordinate transformations. After the gauge shoots twi e, the physi al
degrees of freedom that left are
1
2

D(D + 1) 2D = 21 (D

2)(D

1)

1;

whi h we have used to ount earlier. The dis ussion of

the gravitino follows in a similar fashion. In D = 11,
the gravitino arries a ve tor index , so the physi al
number of omponents asso iated with this index is 11
2 = 9. There is a further tra e ondition


= 0:

whi h redu e one omponent further, leading to 11

2 1 = 8.
Having dis ussed the physi al degrees of freedom of
11-dimensional supergravity, we shall dis uss the orresponding Lagrangian. But rst, let us onsider some
useful formulae in dierential geometry:

USEFUL FORMULAE IN DIFFERENTIAL GEOMETRY

Dierential forms:
1
 =  :::p dx ^


^ dxp ;
 2 ^p ;
p!
 ^  = ( )pq  ^ ;
 2 ^p;  2 ^q :
1

Exterior derivative, d:
1
d  [  :::p dxv ^ dx ^


^ dxp :
p!
d maps p-forms to (p + 1)-forms:
d : ^p ! ^p+1;
d2 = 0 :
Dening the omponents of d, (d) :::p , by
1
(d) :::p dx ^


^ dxp ;
d 
(p + 1)!
we have
(d) :::p = (p + 1)[  :::p ;
1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

where

1
T[ :::q  (T :::q + even perms
q!
1

Leibnitz rule

d( ^  ) = d ^  +( )p ^ d;
:

Stokes' Theorem

Z
M

d! =

odd perms) :

 2 ^p;  2 ^q :

!;
where M is an n-manifold and ! 2 ^n 1.
M

Epsilon tensors and densities:

" :::n  (+1; 1; 0)

1

if 1 : : : n is an (even, odd, no) permutation of a lexi al

ordering of indi es (1 : : : n). It is a tensor density of
weight +1. We may also dene the quantity "


n ,
with omponents given numeri ally by
"


n  ( 1)t "


n ;
where t is the number of timelike oordinates. NOTE:
This is the only quantity where we do not raise and
1

10

lower indi es using the metri tensor. " :::n is a tensor

density of weight 1. We dene epsilon tensors:
r
1  :::n
 :::n
r
"
;
 :::n = jgj " :::n ;

=
1

jg j

where g  det(g ) is the determinant of the metri

tensor g . Note that the tensor  :::n is obtained
from  :::n by raising the indi es using inverse metri s.
(Note that in some onventions, the upstairs epsilon
is taken to be always positive for a lexi al ordering of
indi es, so that the lexi ally-ordered downstairs epsilon
will be negative in a spa etime with an odd number of
timelike oordinates. This seems to be illogi al, sin e
for antisymmetri tensors (dierential forms), indi es
are naturally downstairs. Also, as we will see below,
positivity for the lexi ally-ordered downstairs epsilon is
needed in order to have the Hodge dual of unity be the
positive volume element.)
1

Epsilon-tensor identities

n
 :::n  :::n = ( 1)t n!  :::
:::n :
1

1
1

From this, ontra tions of indi es lead to the spe ial

11

 ases

 :::r r
1


+1 :::n

1:::r r+1:::n

= ( 1)t r!(n

r)! rr

:::n
+1 :::n

+1

where again t denotes the number of timelike oordinates. The multi-index delta-fun tions have unit strength,
and are dened by







pp  [[
1

pp

(Note that only one set of square bra kets is a tually

needed here; but with our \unit-strength" normalisation onvention (7), the se ond antisymmetrisation is
harmless.) It is worth pointing out that a ommon o urren e of the multi-index delta-fun tion is in an expression like B A


p 





pp , where A


p is totally
antisymmetri in its (p 1) indi es. It is easy to see
that this an be written out as the p terms
1

1
1

B A


p 





pp
1
= (B A


p + B A


p + B A


p 
p
+


+ Bp A


p ); ;
if p is odd. If instead p is even, the signs alternate and
1

1
1

12

1 2

B A


p 





pp
1
= (B A


p B A


p + B A


p 
p



Bp A


p ) :
1

1 2

Hodge  operator:

(dx ^


^ dxp) 
1

 :::n

1:::p

dx

^


^ dxn p :

p
(n p)!
The Hodge , or dual, is thus a map from p-forms to
(n p)-forms:
1

:

^p ! ^n

Note in parti ular that taking p = 0 in (14) gives

r
1

n
1 =  = n!  :::n dx ^


^dx = jgj dx1^


^dxn:
This ris the general- oordinate-invariant volume element jg j dnx of Riemannian geometry. It should be
1

13

emphasised that onversely, we have

dx ^ dx ^


r^ dxn = ( 1)t " 


n dnx
= ( 1)t  


n jg j dnx :
This extra ( 1)t fa tor is tiresome, but unavoidable if
we want our denitions to be su h that 1 is always the
positive volume element.
From these denitions it follows that
1
 ^  = p! j
 j ;
where  and  are p-forms and
1

1 2

1 2

j
 j   :::p   :::p:
1

Applying  twi e, we get

  ! = ( )p(n p)+t !;

! 2 ^p:

In even dimensions, n = 2m, m-forms an be eigenstates of , and hen e an be self-dual or anti-self-dual,

in ases where  = +1. From (19), we see that this o urs when m is even if t is even, and when m is odd if t
is odd. In parti ular, we an have self-duality and antiself-duality in n = 4k Eu lidean-signature dimensions,
and in n = 4k + 2 Lorentzian-signature dimensions.
14

The bosoni Lagrangian

We now write down the Lagrangian for the bosoni se tor of 11-dimensional supergravity
L11 = R 1l 21 F ^ F 16 F ^ F ^ A ;
where F = dA . The last term is usually referred
to as the \FFA term," whi h does not ouple to gravity. The oe ient 1=6 is xed by supersymmetry. In
traditional notation, the Lagrangian is of the form
L11 = e R 2 1 4! e Fa a a a F a a a a
1
"a


a Fa


a Fa


a Aa a a ;
+
6  4!4!3!
p
where e =
g.
Let us now dis uss the symmetry of the Lagrangian.
It is invariant under the general oordinate transformations
xM =  M
gMN =  P pgMN + gP N M  P + gMP N  P ;
where the parameters  M are arbitrary fun tions of
all eleven oordinates. Under this transformation, the
(4)

(4)

(4)

(4)

(4)

(3)

(3)

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

11

15

9 10 11

form eld

A = AMNP dxM ^ dxN ^ dxP ;

is invariant, but AMNP transforms ovariantly. Gen(3)

eral oordinate invarian e is a symmetry of Lagrangian.

There is also a gauge symmetry of the a tion
Z

S = d11x L :

The gauge transformation is

(3)

!A

(3)

+ d ;
(2)

whi h leaves F invariant, but does not leave the FFA

term invariant:
(4)

F4 ^ F

(4)

^A ! F ^F ^A
3

(4)

+ d(F

(3)

(4)

^F ^
(4)

(2)

):

However it is a total derivative. So although the 11dimensional supergravity Lagrangian is not invariant
under the gauge symmetry, the a tion is invariant provided the spa etime has no boundary.
There is another transformation that res ales the Lagrangian homogeniously:

gMN

!

gMN ;

(3)

16

!

A :
(3)

Under this, the Lagrangian res ales as L ! 9 L. Thus

this is a symmetry of the equation of motion. It is
sometimes referred as a \trombone" symmetry.
The above are manifest symmetries of the bosoni
se tor. Are there any further hidden symmetries?
Equations of Motion

The equations of motion of the form eld F are easy

to obtain. It satises
BI : dF = 0 ;
EOM : d  F = 21 F4 ^ F :
The advantage of using form eld notation is that the
above eom are very easy to derive:
1
L = d(F )A
F ^ F A3 :
2
(4)

(4)

(4)

(4)

(4)

(3)

(4)

(4)

The equation of motion for the gravity is a bit tri ky.

We shall not derive them in great detail but use the
following Lemma instead
g = g gab gab ;
R = Rab gab + Rab gab
17

Note that

Rab = R a b
= r ab

rb

It follows that the se ond term of R is a total derivative and it integrates to zero when the variation of
Z

is al ulated.
The Einstein equation of motion is then given by
2
RMN = 121 (FMN

1
12

F 2 gMN ) :

Supermembrane a tion

Although there are some people who believe that 11dimensional supergravity itself is already a theory of
everything, the general onsensus is that it is the lowenergy ee tive a tion of some more fundamental theory. One andidate for su h a fundamental theory is the
supermembrane a tion. It implies that the fundamental
18

parti les are the os illating modes of a membrane that

sweeps through spa etime. The a tion for the bosoni
se tor of the supermembrane a tion is given by

S=

d  h + ijk iX  j X  k X  A :

3

where h is the determinant of the indu ed metri hij ,

given by
hij = iX  X  g :
The rst term in the a tion is alled the Nambu-Guto
a tion, whi h is the 3-dim volume of the membrane
sweeping through the spa etime.
Note that the 11-dimensional gravity g , as well as
the 3-form eld A , are not dynami al elds in the
a tion; rather they des ribe the spa etime ba kground
in whi h the membrane propagates. One is then left
with the question how is this supermembrane a tion
related to the 11-dimensional supergravity, where g
and A are dynami al elds?
The supermembrane a tion has a manifest spa etime
supersymmetry, but does not have any world-volume
supersymmetry. One reason for this is that there are
twi e as many fermioni as bosoni degrees of freedom,
(3)

(3)

19

from the worldvolume point of view. However, there is

a \"-symmetry of the supermembrane a tion that an
redu e the fermioni degrees of freedom by half, and
hen e restore the world-volume supersymmetry. The
-symmetry exists only if the ba kground elds satisfy
the equations of motion of 11-dim supergravity.
Thus we see that the relation between 11-dim supergravity and supermembrane a tion is purely lassi al.
No one knows how to quantise the supermembrane a tion. In fa t it an be shown that the supermembrane
a tion has a ontinuous spe trum rather than a dis rete
one! This is be ause one an pull out string-like spikes
from a membrane at no ost in energy. For this and
other reasons, theories in 11-dimensions were largely ignored for about 20 years.
Type IIA Supergravity

String theory seem to be mu h more promising than 11dimensional supergravity or the supermembrane a tion,
sin e it is possible to quantise the string theory. In
D = 10, there are ve dierent superstring theories.
20

Although ea h has a dierent eld ontent, the bosoni

a tion is given by

S=

d2 + ij iX  j X  B :

where is the determinant of the indu ed metri ij ,

given by
ij = iX  X  g :
The above elds g and B , together with dilaton
 are alled NS-NS elds, and the additional bosoni
elds, if they exist, will ouple to fermions and hen e
do not show up in the pure bosoni a tion.
There are two ways of quantising a string theory. One
is to onsider string living in a purely at ba kground
with all ba kground elds vanishing. The theory then
be omes linear and one an obtain the spe trum of the
theory. Having obtained the vertex operators for ea h
quantum state, one an then introdu e orrelation fun tions for these vertex operators, whi h des ribe the intera tions of the states. One an then write down a
eld theory that reprodu es su h intera tions, whi h
turns out pre isely to be the supergravity a tion.
Another way is to onsider strings in a generi urved
(2)

21

ba kground. Classi ally, the theory has two-dimensional

onformal invarian e, but at the quantum level it suers
from an anomaly. At the one loop level, the equation
des ribing this anomaly is alled the  -fun tion. The
vanishing of the  -fun tion gives pre isely the set of
equations of motion of ten-dimensional supergravity.
Thus we see that supergravity an be viewed as lowest
level string theory, to ontrast with the situation in D =
11.
Let us now on entrate on type IIA supergravity,
whi h has the eld ontent
bosons : g ; ; A ; A
fermions : ;  :
(3)

(2)

(1)

The eld ontent strongly suggests that the theory has

an origin in D = 11.

g^ ! g ;  ; A ;
A^ ! A ; A ;
^ ! ;  ;
(1)

(3)

(3)

(2)

We shall show that indeed type IIA supergravity is

22

pre isely the ir le redu tion of 11-dimensional supergravity. However, to do this, we need to learn a few
basi things about general relativity.
RIEMANNIAN GEOMETRY

For a metri ds2 = g dxdx , we dene a vielbein ea

as a \square root" of g :
g = ea eb ab;
where ab is a lo al Lorentz metri . The inverse vielbein, whi h we denote by Ea, satises
Ea ea = ;
Ea eb = ab :
The \solder forms" ea = ea dx give an orthonormal
basis for the otangent spa e. Similarly, the ve tor elds
Ea  give an orthonormal basis for the tangent spa e.

Torsion and urvature

a dx, the
We dene the spin onne tion ! ab = !b
a
a
torsion 2-form T and the urvature 2-form  b by
T a  12 Ta dx ^ dx = dea + !ab ^ eb ;
ab  12 Rab dx ^ dx = d! ab + ! a ^ ! b :
23

Dene a Lorentz- ovariant and general- oordinate ovariant derivative D that a ts on tensors with oordinate and Lorentz indi es:
a 
a
D Vba = r Vba + !
Vb !b
V ;
where r is the usual general- oordinate ovariant
derivative:
r V =  V +  V V ;
and  is the Christoel onne tion. Demanding metri ity for g , i.e. D g = 0, implies

1 
g ( g +  g  g):
=

2
Demanding metri ity for ab, i.e. D ab = 0, implies
!ab = !ba ;
where !ab  a ! b.
Bian hi Identities

Taking the exterior derivatives of the torsion and the

urvature gives
D T a  d T a + !ab ^ T b = ab ^ eb ;
D ab  d ab + !a ^  b a ^ ! b = 0 :
24

In general, on Lorentz-valued p forms su h as ab, we

dene the Lorentz- ovariant exterior derivative by

D a b  d a b + ! a ^  b

! b ^ a :

Torsion-free metri onne tion

With the metri ity assumption, and the assumption

that the torsion vanishes, it follows that ! ab is then
uniquely determined:

!ab = !ba:
d ea = !ab ^ eb;
Dening ab = ba by
d ea = 12 b a eb ^ e ;
it follows that !ab is given by
!ab = 12 ( ab + a b b a)e :

Note that the vielbein is onstant with respe t to the

Lorentz- and general- oordinate ovariant derivative dened by (38); D ea = 0.
Symmetries of the Riemann tensor

25

It follows from its denition as 2-form that it is always

antisymmetri on the nal index pair:
Rab = Rab;
Rab d = Rabd
where we an always freely onvert oordinates indi es to Lorentz indi es, and vi e versa, using the vielbein. Thus Rab d = E Ed Rab and onversely Rab =
e ed Rab d. The metri ity ondition Dab = 0 implies
!ab = !ba, and hen e ab = ba. Thus
Rab d = Rba d:
Metri ity
The torsion-free ondition implies that
Ra[b d = 0;
Torsion-free
where Ra[b d = 31 (Rab d + Ra db + Radb ). In addition
we an derive that
Rab d = R dab:
The Ri i tensor and s alar, and Weyl tensor

We dene the Ri i tensor Rab and Ri i s alar R by

R  Rabab:

Rab  R a b;
26

Note that (51) implies that the Ri i tensor is symmetri , Rab = Rba.
The Weyl tensor Cab d is dened in n dimensions by
1
(Ra bd Radb + Rbda Rb ad)
Cab d  Rab d
n 2
1
+
R(a bd adb ) :
(n 1)(n 2)
It is the \tra eless" part of the Riemann tensor, in the
sense that C a b  0. It has the same symmetries as the
Riemann tensor for torsion-free onne tion. One may
dene the Weyl 2-form
ab,

ab

1
2

Cab de ^ ed

= ab
+

(n

n 2

1
1)(n

(Ra bd
2)

Rb ad)e ^ ed

Ra bde ^ ed :

27