The Functional of Super Riemann Surfaces – A “Semi-Classical” Survey

This article provides a brief discussion of the functional of super Riemann surfaces from the point of view of classical (i.e., not “super-”) differential geometry. The discussion is based on symmetry considerations and aims to clarify the “borderline” between classical and super differential geometry with respect to the distinguished functional that generalizes the action of harmonic maps and is expected to play a basic role in the discussion of “super Teichmüller space”. The discussion is also motivated by the fact that a geometrical understanding of the functional of super Riemann surfaces from the point of view of super geometry seems to provide serious issues to treat the functional analytically.