OSp supergroup manifolds, superparticles and supertwistors

We construct simple twistor–like actions describing superparticles propagating on a coset superspace OSp(1|4)/SO(1, 3) (containing the D = 4 anti–de–Sitter space as a bosonic subspace), on a supergroup manifold OSp(1|4) and, generically, on OSp(1|2n). Making two different contractions of the superparticle model on the OSp(1|4) supermanifold we get massless superparticles in Minkowski superspace without and with tensorial central charges. Using a suitable parametrization of OSp(1|2n) we obtain even Sp(2n)–valued Cartan forms which are quadratic in Grassmann coordinates of OSp(1|2n). This result may simplify the structure of brane actions in super–AdS backgrounds. For instance, the twistor–like actions constructed with the use of the even OSp(1|2n) Cartan forms as supervielbeins are quadratic in fermionic variables. We also show that the free bosonic twistor particle action describes massless particles propagating in arbitrary space-times with a conformally flat metric, in particular, in Minkowski space and AdS space. Applications of these results to the theory of higher spin fields and to superbranes in AdS superbackgrounds are mentioned.