[Truncated abstract. Formulae and special characters can only be approximated. See PDF version for accurate reproduction.] Theories of self-dual supersymmetric nonlinear electrodynamics are generalized to a curved superspace of 4D N = 1 supergravity, for both the old-minimal and the newminimal versions of N = 1 supergravity. We derive the self-duality equation, which has to be satisfied by the action functional of any U(1) duality invariant model of a massless vector multiplet, and show that such models are invariant under a superfield Legendre transformation. We construct a family of self-dual nonlinear models, which includes a minimal curved superspace extension of the N = 1 supersymmetric Born- Infeld action. The supercurrent and supertrace of such models are explicitly derived and proved to be duality invariant. The requirement of nonlinear self-duality turns out to yield nontrivial couplings of the vector multiplet to Kähler sigma models. We explicitly construct such couplings in the case when the matter chiral multiplets are inert under the duality rotations, and more specifically to the dilaton-axion chiral multiplet when the group of duality rotations is enhanced to SL(2,R). The component structure of the nonlinear dynamical systems introduced proves to be more complicated, especially in the presence of supergravity, as compared with well-studied effective supersymmetric theories containing at most two derivatives (including nonlinear Kähler sigma-models). As a result, when deriving their canonically normalized component actions, the traditional approach becomes impractical and cumbersome. We find it more efficient to follow the Kugo-Uehara scheme which consists of (i) extending the superfield theory to a super-Weyl invariant system; and then (ii) applying a plain component reduction along with imposing a suitable super-Weyl gauge condition. This scheme is implemented in order to derive the bosonic action of the SL(2,R) duality invariant coupling to the dilaton-axion chiral multiplet and a Kähler sigma-model.

Dans cette thèse, nous présentons des avancements récents en Théorie des Champs Doubles (TCD) et Théories des Champs Exceptionnels (TCE). Ces théories ont la particularité d’être des reformulations de supergravité dans lesquelles les symétries de dualité sont explicites avant toute réduction dimensionnelle. Ces reformulations se basent sur la définition d’un espace-temps étendu qui géométrise le groupe de T-dualité en TCD et les groupes exceptionnels de U-dualité en TCE. Tous les champs de cet espace sont soumis à une contrainte de section qui restreint leur dépendance en coordonnées. Il existe plusieurs solutions à la contrainte de section, qui correspondent donc à des théories différentes. Dans ce sens, le formalisme des théories des champs étendues amène à une unification de ces théories. De plus, grâce à un outil spécifique aux théories des champs étendues, l’ansatz de Scherk-Schwarz généralisé, il est possible de réécrire les ansatz compliqué de type Kaluza-Klein en supergravité sous une forme élégante et compacte: un produit matriciel en dimensions supérieures. Ici, nous présentons plusieurs exemples de l’efficacité de l’ansatz de Scherk-Schwarz généralisé. En particulier, nous prouvons deux conjectures concernant les troncations cohérentes: la réduction dite “de Pauli” de la corde bosonique ainsi que la supergravité de type IIB sur AdS5 x S5. La dernière application de cet ansatz concerne la théorie de type IIB généralisée, apparue récemment dans l’étude des système intégrables, et son plongement dans la TCE E6(6). Enfin, nous présentons la complétion supersymétrique de la TCE E8(8) bosonique. / In this thesis, recent developments in Double Field Theory (DFT) and Exceptional Field Theory (EFT) are presented. They are reformulation of supergravity in which duality symmetries are made manifest before dimensional reduction. This is achieved through the definition of an extended spacetime that “geometrises” the T-duality group O(d,d) in DFT and exceptional U-duality groups in EFT. All functions on this extended space are subject to a covariant `section constraint', whose solutions then restrict the coordinates dependency of the fields. There exist different solutions to the section constraint that correspond to different theories. In this sense, different theories are unified within the formalism of extended field theories. Moreover, extended field theories possess a powerful tool to study compactifications: the generalised Scherk-Schwarz ansatz.Here, we present several examples of the effectiveness of the generalised Scherk-Schwarz ansatz. In particular, we proved two conjectures regarding consistent truncations: the so-called Pauli reduction of the bosonic string on group manifolds and type IIB supergravity on AdS5 x S5. Another application is presented on the embedding of generalised type IIB within the E6(6) EFT, which recently appeared in the study of integrable systems.Finally, we present the supersymmetric completion of the bosonic E8(8) EFT.