Supersymmetric Curvature Squared Invariants in Five and Six Dimensions

In this dissertation, we investigatethe supersymmetric completion of curvature squared invariants in five and six dimensionsas well as the construction of off-shell Poincar´e supergravities and their matter couplings. We use superconformal calculus in fiveand six dimensions, which are an off- shell formalisms. In fivedimensions,there are twoinequivalentWeyl multiplets: the standard Weyl multiplet and the dilaton Weyl multiplet.The main difference betweenthese twoWeyl multiplets is thatthe dilaton Weyl multipletcontains a graviphoton in its field content whereas the standard Weyl multiplet does not.A supergravity theory based on the standard Weyl multiplet requires coupling to an external vector multiplet. In five dimensions,we construct two new formulations for 2-derivative off-shell Poincar´e supergravity theories and present the internally gauged models. We also construct supersymmetric completions of all curvature squared terms in five dimensional supergravity with eight supercharges.Adopting the dilaton Weyl multiplet, we construct a Weyl squared invariant, the supersymmetric combination of Gauss-Bonnet combination and the Ricci scalar squared invariant as well as all vector multiplets coupled curvature squared invariants. Since the minimal off-shell supersymmetric Riemann tensor squared invariant has been obtained before, both the minimal off-shell and the vector multiplets coupled curvature squared invariants in the dilation Weyl multiplet are complete. We also constructedan off-shell Ricci scalar squared invariant utilizing the standard Weyl multiplet.The supersymmetric Ricci scalar squared in the standard Weyl multiplet is coupled to n number of vector multiplets by construction, and it deforms the very special geometry. We found that in the supersymmetric AdS5 vacuum, the very special geometry defined on the moduli space is modified in a simple way. We study the vacuum solutions with AdS2 × S3 and AdS3 × S2 structures. We also analyze the spectrum around a maximally supersymmetric Minkowski5, and study the magnetic string and electric black hole. Finally, we generalize our procedure for the construction of an off-shell Ricci scalar squared invariant in five dimensions to N = (1, 0), D = 6 supergravity