HOW TO GET MASSES FROM EXTRA DIMENSIONS

A generalized method of dimensional reduction, applicable to theories in curved space, is described. As in previous works by other authors, the extra dimensions are related to the manifold of a Lie group. The new feature of this work is to define and study a class of Lie groups, called “flat groups”, for which the resulting theory has no cosmological constant, a well-behaved potential, and a number of arbitrary mass parameters. In particular, when the analysis is applied to the reduction of 11-dimensional supergravity to four dimensions it becomes possible to incorporate three arbitrary mass parameters in the resulting N = 8 theory. This shows that extended supersymmetry theories allow more possibilities for spontaneous symmetry breaking than was previously believed to be the case.