On the Role of Space-Time Foam in Breaking Supersymmetry via the Barbero-Immirzi Parameter

Abstract

We discuss how: (i) a dilaton/axion superfield can play the role of a Barbero-Immirzi field in four-dimensional conformal quantum supergravity theories, (ii) a fermionic component of such a dilaton/axion superfield may play the role of a Goldstino in the low-energy effective action obtained from a superstring theory with F-type global supersymmetry breaking, (iii) this global supersymmetry breaking is communicated to the gravitational sector via the supergravity coupling of the Goldstino, and (iv) such a scenario may be realized explicitly in a D-foam model with D-particle defects fluctuating stochastically.

Comments: 24 pages, 2 figures, references added, version published in Phys. Rev. D