Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications (SIGMA)

SIGMA 19 (2023), 022, 37 pages      arXiv:2205.14133      https://doi.org/10.3842/SIGMA.2023.022

The Derived Pure Spinor Formalism as an Equivalence of Categories

Chris Elliott a, Fabian Hahner b and Ingmar Saberi c
a) Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Amherst College, 220 South Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01002, USA
b) Mathematisches Institut der Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 205, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
c) Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Theresienstraße 37, 80333 München, Germany

Received July 12, 2022, in final form April 04, 2023; Published online April 18, 2023

Abstract
We construct a derived generalization of the pure spinor superfield formalism and prove that it exhibits an equivalence of dg-categories between multiplets for a supertranslation algebra and equivariant modules over its Chevalley-Eilenberg cochains. This equivalence is closely linked to Koszul duality for the supertranslation algebra. After introducing and describing the category of supermultiplets, we define the derived pure spinor construction explicitly as a dg-functor. We then show that the functor that takes the derived supertranslation invariants of any supermultiplet is a quasi-inverse to the pure spinor construction, using an explicit calculation. Finally, we illustrate our findings with examples and use insights from the derived formalism to answer some questions regarding the ordinary (underived) pure spinor superfield formalism.

Key words: pure spinor superfields; equivalence of categories; supersymmetry; field theory; BV formalism.

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