The isometries of the cut, metric and hypermetric cones

We show that the symmetry groups of the cut cone Cut(n) and the metric cone Met(n) both consist of the isometries induced by the permutations on {1,...,n}; that is, Is(Cut(n))=Is(Met(n))=Sym(n) for n>4. For n=4 we have Is(Cut(4))=Is(Met(4))=Sym(3)xSym(4). This is then extended to cones containing the cuts as extreme rays and for which the triangle inequalities are facet-inducing. For instance, Is(Hyp(n))=Sym(n) for n>4, where Hyp(n) denotes the hypermetric cone.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX, 2 postscript figure

Empirical information on nuclear matter fourth-order symmetry energy from an extended nuclear mass formula

We establish a relation between the equation of state (EOS) of nuclear matter and the fourth-order symmetry energy $a_{\rm{sym,4}}(A)$ of finite nuclei in a semi-empirical nuclear mass formula by self-consistently considering the bulk, surface and Coulomb contributions to the nuclear mass. Such a relation allows us to extract information on nuclear matter fourth-order symmetry energy $E_{\rm{sym,4}}(\rho_0)$ at normal nuclear density $\rho_0$ from analyzing nuclear mass data. Based on the recent precise extraction of $a_{\rm{sym,4}}(A)$ via the double difference of the "experimental" symmetry energy extracted from nuclear masses, for the first time, we estimate a value of $E_{\rm{sym,4}}(\rho_0) = 20.0\pm4.6$ MeV. Such a value of $E_{\rm{sym,4}}(\rho_0)$ is significantly larger than the predictions from mean-field models and thus suggests the importance of considering the effects of beyond the mean-field approximation in nuclear matter calculations.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure. Presentation improved and discussions added. Accepted version to appear in PL

Euclidean SYM Theories by Time Reduction and Special Holonomy Manifolds

Euclidean supersymmetric theories are obtained from Minkowskian theories by performing a reduction in the time direction. This procedure elucidates certain mysterious features of Zumino's N=2 model in four dimensions, provides manifestly hermitian Euclidean counterparts of all non-mimimal SYM theories, and is also applicable to supergravity theories. We reanalyse the twists of the 4d N=2 and N=4 models from this point of view. Other applications include SYM theories on special holonomy manifolds. In particular, we construct a twisted SYM theory on Kaehler 3-folds and clarify the structure of SYM theory on hyper-Kaehler 4-folds.Comment: 21 pages, LaTeX fil

Quantum Mechanical Sectors in Thermal N=4 Super Yang-Mills on RxS^3

We study the thermodynamics of U(N) N=4 Super Yang-Mills (SYM) on RxS^3 with non-zero chemical potentials for the SU(4) R-symmetry. We find that when we are near a point with zero temperature and critical chemical potential, N=4 SYM on RxS^3 reduces to a quantum mechanical theory. We identify three such critical regions giving rise to three different quantum mechanical theories. Two of them have a Hilbert space given by the SU(2) and SU(2|3) sectors of N=4 SYM of recent interest in the study of integrability, while the third one is the half-BPS sector dual to bubbling AdS geometries. In the planar limit the three quantum mechanical theories can be seen as spin chains. In particular, we identify a near-critical region in which N=4 SYM on RxS^3 essentially reduces to the ferromagnetic XXX_{1/2} Heisenberg spin chain. We find furthermore a limit in which this relation becomes exact.Comment: 33 pages, 3 figures. v2,v3: typos fixed, refs added, minor changes in sec. 3, formulas corrected in sec. 6. v4: typos fixe

Embedding of theories with SU(2|4) symmetry into the plane wave matrix model

We study theories with SU(2|4) symmetry, which include the plane wave matrix model, 2+1 SYM on RxS^2 and N=4 SYM on RxS^3/Z_k. All these theories possess many vacua. From Lin-Maldacena's method which gives the gravity dual of each vacuum, it is predicted that the theory around each vacuum of 2+1 SYM on RxS^2 and N=4 SYM on RxS^3/Z_k is embedded in the plane wave matrix model. We show this directly on the gauge theory side. We clearly reveal relationships among the spherical harmonics on S^3, the monopole harmonics and the harmonics on fuzzy spheres. We extend the compactification (the T-duality) in matrix models a la Taylor to that on spheres.Comment: 56 pages, 6 figures, v2:a footnote and references added, section 5.2 improved, typos corrected, v3:typos corrected, v4: some equations are corrected, eq.(G.2) is added, conclusion is unchange

Hidden Symmetries and Integrable Hierarchy of the N=4 Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Equations

We describe an infinite-dimensional algebra of hidden symmetries of N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills (SYM) theory. Our derivation is based on a generalization of the supertwistor correspondence. Using the latter, we construct an infinite sequence of flows on the solution space of the N=4 SYM equations. The dependence of the SYM fields on the parameters along the flows can be recovered by solving the equations of the hierarchy. We embed the N=4 SYM equations in the infinite system of the hierarchy equations and show that this SYM hierarchy is associated with an infinite set of graded symmetries recursively generated from supertranslations. Presumably, the existence of such nonlocal symmetries underlies the observed integrable structures in quantum N=4 SYM theory.Comment: 24 page

From Six to Four and More: Massless and Massive Maximal Super Yang-Mills Amplitudes in 6d and 4d and their Hidden Symmetries

A self-consistent exposition of the theory of tree-level superamplitudes of the 4d N=4 and 6d N=(1,1) maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories is provided. In 4d we work in non-chiral superspace and construct the superconformal and dual superconformal symmetry generators of the N=4 SYM theory using the non-chiral BCFW recursion to prove the latter. In 6d we provide a complete derivation of the standard and hidden symmetries of the tree-level superamplitudes of N=(1,1) SYM theory, again using the BCFW recursion to prove the dual conformal symmetry. Furthermore, we demonstrate that compact analytical formulae for tree-superamplitudes in N=(1,1) SYM can be obtained from a numerical implementation of the supersymmetric BCFW recursion relation. We derive compact manifestly dual conformal representations of the five- and six-point superamplitudes as well as arbitrary multiplicity formulae valid for certain classes of superamplitudes related to ultra-helicity-violating massive amplitudes in 4d. We study massive tree superamplitudes on the Coulomb branch of the N=4 SYM theory from dimensional reduction of the massless superamplitudes of the six-dimensional N=(1,1) SYM theory. We exploit this correspondence to construct the super-Poincare and enhanced dual conformal symmetries of massive tree superamplitudes in N=4 SYM theory which are shown to close into a finite dimensional algebra of Yangian type. Finally, we address the fascinating possibility of uplifting massless 4d superamplitudes to 6d massless superamplitudes proposed by Huang. We confirm the uplift for multiplicities up to eight but show that finding the uplift is highly non-trivial and in fact not of a practical use for multiplicities larger than five.Comment: 77 pages, 1 figure. v2: Reference adde

Ampere's Law and Energy Loss in AdS/CFT Duality

We note that the energy loss in ${\cal N}=4$ SYM measures directly the spatial string tension $\sigma_S=\pi\sqrt{\lambda}T^2/2$ which is at the origin of the area law for large spatial Wilson loops. We show that the latter reflects on the nonperturbative nature of Ampere's law in ${\cal N}=4$ SYM both in vacuum and at finite temperature.Comment: 5pp and 1 Figure; short discussion adde

Spin-Bits and N=4 SYM

We briefly review the spin-bit formalism, describing the non-planar dynamics of the $\mathcal{N}=4,d=4$ Super Yang-Mills SU(N) gauge theory. After considering its foundations, we apply such a formalism to the $su(2)$ sector of purely scalar operators. In particular, we report an algorithmic formulation of a deplanarizing procedure for local operators in the planar gauge theory, used to obtain planarly-consistent, testable conjectures for the higher-loop $su(2)$ spin-bit Hamiltonians. Finally, we outlook some possible developments and applications.Comment: 29 pages; contribution to the Proceedings of the 43rd Erice International School of Subnuclear Physics ``Towards New Milestones in our Quest to go Beyond the Standard Model'', Erice, Italy (29 August--7 September 2005); v2: some references adde