Aspects of canonical gravity and supergravity (Q687731)

The present paper is a review of some recent developments in both canonical gravity and supergravity with special emphasis on topics related to Ashtekar's variables. Among the new topics treated by the authors we mention a three-dimensional supergravity, where solutions of the quantum constraints of the \(N=1\) theory are explicitly derived for the first time. This part of the paper is based on an unpublished joint work with I. McArthur. Finally, it is studied the \(N=2\) supergravity and it is shown that there exist physical observables based on ``hidden symmetries''. Consider the paper as a need for both beginners and specialists in gravity and supergravity.