Cosmological models consistent with supersymmetric compactification of superstring theories

Abstract

The compactification of 10-dimensional supergravity, coupled to super Yang-Mills theory, to curved 4-dimensional spacetimes is investigated. The requirement of unbroken supersymmetry leads to a set of consistency conditions. These are fairly restrictive, but nevertheless permit some nontrivial solutions, including the Milne universe. More general time-dependent metrics are also not ruled out.