A consistent limit of 11D Supergravity

Motivated by old and new developments in non-relativistic string theory, we show that there exists a consistent non-relativistic limit of eleven-dimensional supergravity. Before taking the limit we give a short review of the underlying Membrane Newton-Cartan geometry. This geometry is a particular extension of the Newton-Cartan geometry in the sense that the two nondegenerate metrics of Newton-Cartan geometry (one to measure time intervals and another one to measure spatial distances) are replaced by two nondegenerate metrics of rank 3 and rank 8, respectively. An important role in describing this geometry and in the consistency of the limit is played by the so-called intrinsic torsion tensor components. These are the components of the torsion tensor that are independent of the spin-connection. After expanding the action of eleven-dimensional supergravity as a power series of a contraction parameter, we show how the different divergences that arise when taking the limit can be tamed. We furthermore show how the divergences that arise in expanding the supersymmetry rules can be controlled by imposing a supersymmetric set of constraints. This leads to a Membrane Newton-Cartan supergravity theory where the Newton potential can be identified with the component of the 3-form of eleven-dimensional supergravity that points in the three directions corresponding to the rank 3 degenerate metric.