NEW INSIGHT INTO BRST ANOMALIES IN SUPERSTRING THEORY

Based on the extended BRST formalism of Batalin, Fradkin and Vilkovisk y, we perform a general algebraic analysis of the BRST anomalies in su perstring theory of Neveu-Schwarz-Ramond. Consistency conditions on th e BRST anomalies are completely solved. The genuine super-Virasoro ano maly is identified with the essentially unique solution to the consist ency condition without any reference to a particular gauge for the 2D supergravity fields. In a configuration space where metric and graviti no fields are properly constructed, the general form of the super-Weyl anomaly is obtained from the super-Virasoro anomaly as its descendant . We give a novel local action of super-Liouville type, which plays a role of Wess-Zumino-Witten term shifting the super-Virasoro anomaly in to the super-Weyl anomaly. These results reveal a hierarchical relatio nship in the BRST anomalies.