A Candidate for a Supergravity Anomaly

Abstract: Using elementary BRS cohomology theory, this paper describes a supergravity anomaly analogous to, but very different from, the well known gauge and gravitational anomalies. It closely resembles the known gauge anomalies, but it results from a triangle diagram with two gravitinos and a gauge vector boson, rather than three gauge vector bosons, or two gravitons and a vector boson. A model that is likely to generate this supergravity anomaly is described. The coefficient of this anomaly, in perturbation theory, in a theory with unbroken supersymmetry, appears to be zero, because no relevant diagrams are linearly divergent. However, when, and only when, the theory has spontaneously broken supergravity, there are counterterms in the action which contribute to linearly divergent diagrams that can generate the anomaly. From the relevant Feynman diagrams in the theory, the general form of the anomaly can be conjectured. It is proportional to the VEV $\left< D^a \right>$ of the auxiliary field for the vector boson. So removing the anomaly generates a requirement that the effective spontaneous breaking of supergravity needs to be of the purely chiral type with $\left< F^i \right> \not = 0$ and with $\left< D^a \right>=0$.