SOLITONS IN SUPERSYMMETRIC SIGMA-MODELS WITH TORSION

We derive a bound on the energy of the general (p, q)-supersymmetric t wo-dimensional massive sigma-model with torsion, in terms of the topol ogical and Noether charges that appear as central charges in its super symmetry algebra. The bound is saturated by soliton solutions of first -order Bogomol'nyi-type equations. This generalizes results obtained p reviously for p = q models without torsion. We give examples of massiv e (1, 1) models with torsion that have a group manifold as a target sp ace. We show that they generically have multiple vacua and find an exp licit soliton solution of an SU(2) model. We also construct a new clas s of zero-torsion massive (4, 4) models with multiple vacua and solito n solutions. In addition, we compute the metrics on the one-soliton mo duli spaces for those cases for which soliton solutions are known expl icitly, and discuss their interpretation.