Compactification of D=11 supergravity on S⁴ x T³

Abstract:

We have a look at compactification as a special way of explaining why we only observe 4 spacetime dimensions although theories as string or M-theory require more. In particular, we treat compactification of 11-dimensional supergravity, which is the low energy limit of M-theory, on S⁴ x T³. At first, we present the basic ideas behind those theories and compactification. Then we introduce important concepts of supersymmetry and supergravity. Afterwards, our particular case of compactification is treated, where we first review the results for the compactification on S⁴ before we calculate the scalar potential from the reduction ansatz for a so-called twisted torus.