Taking a vector supermultiplet apart: Alternative Fayet-Iliopoulos-type terms

Starting from an Abelian N = 1 vector supermultiplet V coupled to conformal supergravity, we construct from it a nilpotent real scalar Goldstino superfield D of the type proposed in arXiv:1702.02423. It contains only two independent component fields, the Goldstino and the auxiliary D-field. The important properties of this Goldstino superfield are: (i) it is gauge invariant; and (ii) it is super-Weyl invariant. As a result, the gauge prepotential can be represented as V =V + D, where V contains only one independent component field, modulo gauge degrees of freedom, which is the gauge one-form. Making use of D allows us to introduce new Fayet-Iliopoulos-type terms, which differ from the one proposed in arXiv:1712.08601 and share with the latter the property that gauged R-symmetry is not required. (C) 2018 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V.