This is the website of the Spencer Research Group. We are mathematical physicists and/or physical mathematicians collaborating on a homological approach to supersymmetry, based on the Spencer cohomology of Lie superalgebras.
The main applications of this method so far are to the classification of supersymmetric supergravity backgrounds and to the construction of supersymmetric field theories on curved spaces.
Learn about our researchThis contains a growing list of papers we have written on this research project.
Filtered deformations of the eleven-dimensional Poincaré superalgebra: maximally supersymmetric backgrounds via their Killing superalgebras.
A homological derivation of eleven-dimensional supergravity?
Filtered deformations of the four-dimensional N=1 Poincaré superalgebra: Festuccia-Seiberg without supergravity!
Killing superalgebras as filtered deformations. This is the foundational paper of this project.
Filtered deformations of the six-dimensional (1,0) Poincaré superalgebra: beyond supergravity!
Sub-maximally supersymmetric backgrounds of eleven-dimensional supergravity via filtered deformations.
Andrew's MSc dissertation (warts and all).
Here is a growing list of talks we have given on this research project.
José's seminar at the Hitchin Lab of the ICMAT.
José's seminar at the Rencontres Théoreticiennes at the IHP.
José's colloquium at the Leibniz University in Hannover.
José's talk at the inagural conference of the Arnold-Regge Center.
José's talk at Chris Hull's 60th Birthday conference.
Andrea's talk at String Math 2017
José's talk at Field equations on lorentzian spacetimes.
José's talk at SuperMartin 2018.
José's Geometry seminar at Freiburg University.
José's talk at the Superconference.
José's talk at M-theory and Mathematics.
José's zoom seminar at Vienna University.
José's talk at the Seminario de Geometría y Física Matemática.
