BPS state





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In supersymmetric quantum field theory with extended supersymmetry, certain extremal supermultiplets have some of the supersymmetries retained (have 0-eigenvalue under some of the supersymmetry generators). These are called Bogomol’nyi–Prasad–Sommerfield saturated solutions.

More in detail, where in a plain supersymmetry super Lie algebra a suitable basis {Q A}\{Q_A\} of supersymmetry generators has odd bracket proportional to the spacetime translation and hence to an energy/mass operator EE (with terminology as at unitary representation of the Poincaré group)

{Q A,Q B}=Eδ AB \{Q_A, Q_B\} = E \delta_{A B}

for extended supersymmetry there are further bosonic super Lie algebra generators K ABK_{A B} (charges) such that

{Q A,Q B}=Eδ ABK AB. \{Q_A, Q_B\} = E \delta_{A B} - K_{A B} \,.

It follows from the supersymmetry algebra that (Eδ ABK AB)(E \delta_{A B} - K_{A B}) is a positive definite bilinear form, which puts a lower bound on the energy given the values of these extra charges. This is called the BPS bound. See also at Bridgeland stability condition.

In particular when this bound is satisfied in that some of the eigenvalues of the matrix (K AB)(K_{A B}) are actually equal to the energy/mass, then the corresponding component of the right hand side in the above equation vanishes and hence then the corresponding supersymmetry generators may annihilate the given state, then called a BPS state. This way enhanced supersymmetry of states goes along with certain charges taken extremal values.

States with similar behaviour are also considered also in some models of soliton theory (English Wikipedia: Bogomol’nyi–Prasad–Sommerfield bound).

BPS states play a central role in the investigation of moduli spaces of classical vacua as they form part of the moduli problem which is often the most tractable.

Several mathematical theories in geometry are interpreted as counting BPS-states in the sense of integration on appropriate compactification of the moduli space of BPS-states in a related physical model attached to the underlying geometry: most notably the Gromov-Witten invariants, Donaldson-Thomas invariants and the Thomas-Pandharipande invariants; all the three seem to be deeply interrelated though they are defined in rather very different terms. The compactification of the moduli space involves various stability conditions.

In supergravity

In the context of supergravity BPS states correspond to super spacetimes admitting Killing vectors. These notably include extremal black brane solutions.

In superstring theory

Specifically in superstring theory BPS states in target space correspond to string states on the worldsheet which are annihilated by the left-moving (say) half of the Dirac-Ramond operator. These are counted by the Witten genus, see at Witten genus – Relation to BPS states.

The degeneracy of BPS states in string theory has been used to provide a microscopic interpretation of Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of black holes, see at black holes in string theory.

Formalization in higher differential geometry

The following are some observations on the formalization of BPS states from the nPOV, in higher differential geometry, following (Sati-Schreiber 15).

Let d1,1|N\mathbb{R}^{d-1,1|N} be a super-Minkowski spacetime, let (d,N,p)(d,N,p) be in the brane scan and write

ϕψ¯E pψΩ p+2( d1,1|N) \phi \coloneqq \bar{\psi} \wedge E^{\wedge p} \wedge \psi \in \Omega^{p+2}(\mathbb{R}^{d-1,1|N})

for the correspoding super Lie algebra cocycle, as discussed at Green-Schwarz action functional, see (FSS 13) for the perspective invoked here.

Consider then XX a super-spacetime locally modeled on d1,1|N\mathbb{R}^{d-1,1|N} as a Cartan geometry, solving the relevant supergravity equations of motion (e.g. 11-dimensional supergravity for d=11d= 11, heterotic supergravity for d=10d = 10 and N=(1,0)N = (1,0), type IIA supergravity for d=10d = 10 and N=(1,1)N= (1,1) or type IIB supergravity for d=10d = 10 N=(2,0)N= (2,0)).

This means in particular that XX carries a super differential form

ωΩ p+2(X) \omega \in \Omega^{p+2}(X)

which is definite on ϕ\phi. This is the curvature of the WZW-term which defines the relevant super p-brane sigma-model with target space XX.

By (AGIT 89) XX is a BPS state to the extent that it carries Killing spinors which form a central Lie algebra extension of a sub-algebra of the supersymmetry algebra (i.e. of the super translation Lie algebra) by H dR p(X)H^p_{dR}(X) which is classified by the cocycle given by

(ϵ 1,ϵ 2)ω(ϵ 1,ϵ 2)Ω p(X) cl/im(d dR). (\epsilon_1, \epsilon_2) \mapsto \omega(\epsilon_1,\epsilon_2) \in \Omega^p(X)_{cl}/im(\mathbf{d}_{dR}) \,.

Now we observe that by (hgpII, theorem 3.3.1) this is precisely the 0-truncation of the super-Poisson bracket Lie n-algebra 𝔓𝔬𝔦𝔰(X,ω)\mathfrak{Pois}(X,\omega) induced by regarding (X,ω)(X,\omega) as an pre-n-plectic supermanifold and restricting along the inclusion of the Killing vectors/Killing spinors into all the Hamiltonian vector fields.

H dR p(X)τ 0𝔓𝔬𝔦𝔰(X,ω)Vect Ham(X) H^p_{dR}(X) \to \tau_0 \mathfrak{Pois}(X,\omega) \to Vect_{Ham}(X)

(Here we are using that if an n-type is an extension of a 0-type, then its 0-truncation is still an extension by the 0-truncation of the original homotopy fiber.)

The elements in H dR p(X)H^p_{dR}(X) here are precisely the pp-brane charges, as discussed in (AGIT 89, p. 8).

Hence XX is the more BPS the more odd-graded elements there are in τ 0𝔓𝔬𝔦𝔰(X,ω)\tau_0 \mathfrak{Pois}(X,\omega) (or its restriction to super-isometries). Hence XX is a 1/2 BPS state of supergravity if the odd dimension of this is half that of d1,d|N\mathbb{R}^{d-1,d|N}, it is 1/4 BPS if the odd dimension is one fourth of that of d1,d|N\mathbb{R}^{d-1,d|N}, etc.

Notice that if

B p+1(/Γ) conn L WZW F () X ω Ω cl p+2 \array{ && \mathbf{B}^{p+1} (\mathbb{R}/\Gamma)_{conn} \\ & {}^{\mathllap{\mathbf{L}_{WZW}}}\nearrow & \downarrow^{\mathrlap{F_{(-)}}} \\ X &\stackrel{\omega}{\longrightarrow}& \mathbf{\Omega}^{p+2}_{cl} }

is a prequantization of ω\omega, i.e. an actual WZW term with curvature ω\omega, then 𝔓𝔬𝔦𝔰(X,ω)\mathfrak{Pois}(X,\omega) is supposed to be the Lie differentiation of the stabilizer group of L WZW\mathbf{L}_{WZW}, which is the quantomorphism n-group QuantMorph(L WZW)QuantMorph(\mathbf{L}_{WZW}). (This Lie differentiation statement is strictly shown only for p=0p = 0 and p=1p = 1 in dcct but clearly should hold generally.)

Hence we may regard QuantMorph(L WZW)\mathbf{QuantMorph}(\mathbf{L}_{WZW}) (or its restriction to super-isometries) as the Lie integration of the brane-charge extended supersymmetry algebra. By the discussion at conserved current – In higher differential geometry this is indeed the n-group of conserved currents of L WZW\mathbf{L}_{WZW} regraded as a local Lagrangian, and so this conceptually connects back to the considerations in (AGIT 89).


In 11d Supergravity

In 11-dimensional supergravity (M-theory) there are four kinds of 1/2 BPS states (the black M-branes) (e.g. Stelle 98, section 3 EHKNT 07):



The BPS bound derives its name from the discussion of magnetic monopoles in 4-dimensional Yang-Mills theory in

  • (E. B. Bogomolnyj) ?. ?. ????????????, Устойчивость классических решений, Яд. Физ. 24 (1976) 449–454

  • M. K. Prasad, Charles Sommerfield, Exact classical solution for ‘t Hooft monopole and the Julia-Zee dyon, Phys. Rev. Lett. 35 (1975) 760–762.

The extension of the term “BPS-saturated state” from this case to situations in string theory seems to have happened in

The original article identifying the role of BPS states in supersymmetric field theory is

Exposition and review includes

Further developments are in

Introductions, surveys and lectures

An introduction that starts at the beginning and then covers much of the ground in some detail is

  • Greg Moore, PiTP Lectures on BPS states and wall-crossing in d=4d = 4, 𝒩=2\mathcal{N} = 2 theories (pdf)

A survey of progress on the most general picture is in

  • Katzutoshi Ohta, BPS state counting and related physics (2005) (pdf)

In supergravity

Discussion of extremal/BPS black branes in supergravity (especially in 11-dimensional supergravity and 10d type II supergravity) includes

Specifically for 1/2 n1/2^n-BPS states of intersecting M-branes in 11d there is discussion in

see also

Discussion in the context of multiple M2-branes in the BLG model is in

Discussion for 4d supergravity, hence in KK-compactification of type II supergravity on a Calabi-Yau manifold is due to

Discussion of more general classification of solutions to supergravity preserving some supersymmetry, i.e. admitting some Killing spinors includes

The conceptual identification of the relevant brane-charge extension of the supersymmetry algebra as that of the conserved currents of the Green-Schwarz super p-brane sigma models for branes is due to

reviewed in




and the generalization to D-branes is discussed in


Detailed discussion of examples for various backgrounds is in

  • Takeshi Sato, Superalgebras in Many Types of M-Brane Backgrounds and Various Supersymmetric Brane Configurations, Nucl.Phys. B548 (1999) 231-257 (arXiv:hep-th/9812014)

Discussion of this in higher differential geometry via the Poisson bracket Lie n-algebra is in

Discussion of relation of M5-brane BPS states to knot invariants includes

Spectral networks

Last revised on July 12, 2019 at 19:39:37. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.