New Gaugings and Non-Geometry

We discuss the possible realisation in string/M theory of the recently discovered family of four-dimensional maximal SO(8) gauged supergravities, and of an analogous family of seven-dimensional half-maximal SO(4) gauged supergravities. We first prove a no-go theorem that neither class of gaugings can be realised via a compactification that is locally described by ten- or eleven-dimensional supergravity. In the language of Double Field Theory and its M theory analogue, this implies that the section condition must be violated. Introducing the minimal number of additional coordinates possible, we then show that the standard S-3 and S-7 compactifications of ten- and eleven-dimensional supergravity admit a new class of section-violating generalised frames with a generalised Lie derivative algebra that reproduces the embedding tensor of the SO(4) and SO(8) gaugings respectively. The physical meaning, if any, of these constructions is unclear. They highlight a number of the issues that arise when attempting to apply the formalism of Double Field Theory to non-toroidal backgrounds. Using a naive brane charge quantisation to determine the periodicities of the additional coordinates restricts the SO(4) gaugings to an infinite discrete set and excludes all the SO(8) gaugings other than the standard one.