Eleven-dimensional supergravity as a constrained topological field theory

We describe a new first-order formulation of D = 11 supergravity which shows that theory can be understood to arise from a certain topological field theory by the imposition of a set of local constraints on the fields, plus a lagrange multiplier term. The topological field theory is of interest as the algebra of its constraints realizes the D = 11 supersymmetry algebra with central charges. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.