Super Yang-Mills, division algebras and triality

A bstract We give a unified division algebraic description of ( D = 3, N = 1 , 2 , 4 , 8), ( D = 4, N = 1 , 2 , 4), ( D = 6, N = 1 , 2) and ( D = 10, N = 1) super Yang-Mills theories. A given ( D = n + 2 , N ) theory is completely specified by selecting a pair ( A n , A n N ) of division algebras, A n ⊆ A n N = ℝ , ℂ , ℍ , O , where the subscripts denote the dimension of the algebras. We present a master Lagrangian, defined over A n N -valued fields, which encapsulates all cases. Each possibility is obtained from the unique ( O , O ) ( D = 10, N = 1) theory by a combination of Cayley-Dickson halving, which amounts to dimensional reduction, and removing points, lines and quadrangles of the Fano plane, which amounts to consistent truncation. The so-called triality algebras associated with the division algebras allow for a novel formula for the overall (spacetime plus internal) symmetries of the on-shell degrees of freedom of the theories. We use imaginary A n N -valued auxiliary fields to close the non-maximal supersymmetry algebra off-shell. The failure to close for maximally supersymmetric theories is attributed directly to the non-associativity of the octonions.