Gauge and matter fields coupled to N=2 supergravity

The authors consider the potential of a general matter system of N=2 vector and scalar multiplets coupled to supergravity. For lagrangians that are initially quadratic in the matter fields the potential is proved to be either positive or unbounded from below. The results have been obtained in the framework of a superconformal multiplet calculus, and it has been verified that they can be derived from each of the three off-shell representations. As an example the authors consider SO(6) Yang-Mills theory coupled to scalar multiplets in the 10+10 representation, which, for suitably chosen parameters, leads to the potential of gauged N=8 supergravity. Finally, a discussion of the possibility to set residual nonabelian symmetry groups after breaking of N=8 supersymmetry to N=1 or 2 is presented. (Auth.)