A necessary condition for partial breaking of N = 2 global supersymmetry is the presence of nonlinear deformations of the field transformations which cannot be generated by background values of auxiliary fields. This work studies the simplest of these deformations which already occurs in N = 1 global supersymmetry, and its coupling to supergravity. It can be viewed as an imaginary constant shift of the D-auxiliary real field of an abelian gauge multiplet. We show how this deformation describes

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... he magnetic dual of a Fayet-Iliopoulos term, a result that remains valid in supergravity, using its new-minimal formulation. Local supersymmetry and the deformation induce a positive cosmological constant. Moreover, the deformed U(1) Maxwell theory coupled to supergravity describes upon elimination of the auxiliary fields the gauging of R-symmetry, realised by the Freedman model of 1976. To this end, we construct the chiral spinor multiplet in superconformal tensor calculus by working out explicitly its transformation rules and use it for an alternative description of the new-minimal supergravity coupled to a U(1) multiplet. We also discuss the deformed Maxwell theory in curved superspace.