dS2 supergravity

Abstract

Abstract We construct two-dimensional supergravity theories endowed with a positive cosmological constant, that admit de Sitter vacua. We consider the cases of $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 as well as $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 supersymmetry, and couple the supergravity to a superconformal field theory with the same amount of supersymmetry. Upon fixing a supersymmetric extension of the Weyl gauge, the theories are captured, at the quantum level, by supersymmetric extensions of timelike Liouville theory with $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 and $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 supersymmetry respectively. The theories exhibit good ultraviolet properties and are amenable to a variety of techniques such as systematic loop expansions and, in the $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 case, supersymmetric localization. Our constructions offer a novel path toward a precise treatment of the Euclidean gravitational path integral for de Sitter, and in turn, the Gibbons-Hawking entropy of the de Sitter horizon. We argue that the supersymmetric localization method applied to the $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 theory must receive contributions from boundary terms in configuration space. We also discuss how these theories overcome several obstructions that appear upon combining de Sitter space with supersymmetry.