The F(4) gauged supergravity in six dimensions

Gauged N=4 supergravity theories with Yang-Mills symmetry SU(2) are constructed in six dimensions. There are four distinct theories, determined by the values of the SU(2) coupling constant g and a mass parameter m for the two-index tensor field contained in the theories. One of the theories has a scalar potential with two extrema; one extremum leads to a ground state exhibiting the full anti-de Sitter supersymmetry F(4), while the other breaks the supersymmetry completely. In this theory, and also in two of the remaining three theories, the two-index tensor ''eats'' an abelian vector and becomes massive, acquiring a cubic self-coupling in the process. The last theory, in which the tensor field remains massless, coincides with one previously obtained by dimensional reduction from seven dimensions. We obtain a variety of compactifications for all the theories, many supersymmetric and many to four dimensions. Finally, we comment on the geometrical structure of the theories, and compare them to ten-dimensional supergravities. (orig.)