Orientifold dual for stuck NS5 branes

We establish T-duality between NS5 branes stuck on an orientifold 8-plane in type I' and an orientifold construction in type IIB with D7 branes intersecting at angles. Two applications are discussed. For one we obtain new brane constructions, realizing field theories with gauge group a product of symplectic factors, giving rise to a large new class of conformal N=1 theories embedded in string theory. Second, by studying a D2 brane probe in the type I' background, we get some information on the still elusive (0,4) linear sigma model describing a perturbative heterotic string on an ADE singularity.Comment: 24 pages, LaTeX, references adde

Dimers and cluster integrable systems

We show that the dimer model on a bipartite graph on a torus gives rise to a quantum integrable system of special type - a cluster integrable system. The phase space of the classical system contains, as an open dense subset, the moduli space of line bundles with connections on the graph. The sum of Hamiltonians is essentially the partition function of the dimer model. Any graph on a torus gives rise to a bipartite graph on the torus. We show that the phase space of the latter has a Lagrangian subvariety. We identify it with the space parametrizing resistor networks on the original graph.We construct several discrete quantum integrable systems.Comment: This is an updated version, 75 pages, which will appear in Ann. Sci. EN

On hierarchically closed fractional intersecting families

For a set $L$ of positive proper fractions and a positive integer $r \geq 2$, a fractional $r$-closed $L$-intersecting family is a collection $\mathcal{F} \subset \mathcal{P}([n])$ with the property that for any $2 \leq t \leq r$ and $A_1, \dotsc, A_t \in \mathcal{F}$ there exists $\theta \in L$ such that $\lvert A_1 \cap \dotsb \cap A_t \rvert \in \{ \theta \lvert A_1 \rvert, \dotsc, \theta \lvert A_t \rvert\}$. In this paper we show that for $r \geq 3$ and $L = \{\theta\}$ any fractional $r$-closed $\theta$-intersecting family has size at most linear in $n$, and this is best possible up to a constant factor. We also show that in the case $\theta = 1/2$ we have a tight upper bound of $\lfloor \frac{3n}{2} \rfloor - 2$ and that a maximal $r$-closed $(1/2)$-intersecting family is determined uniquely up to isomorphism.Comment: 18 pages, 0 figure

Discrete Gauge Symmetries in Discrete MSSM-like Orientifolds

Motivated by the necessity of discrete Z_N symmetries in the MSSM to insure baryon stability, we study the origin of discrete gauge symmetries from open string sector U(1)'s in orientifolds based on rational conformal field theory. By means of an explicit construction, we find an integral basis for the couplings of axions and U(1) factors for all simple current MIPFs and orientifolds of all 168 Gepner models, a total of 32990 distinct cases. We discuss how the presence of discrete symmetries surviving as a subgroup of broken U(1)'s can be derived using this basis. We apply this procedure to models with MSSM chiral spectrum, concretely to all known U(3)xU(2)xU(1)xU(1) and U(3)xSp(2)xU(1)xU(1) configurations with chiral bi-fundamentals, but no chiral tensors, as well as some SU(5) GUT models. We find examples of models with Z_2 (R-parity) and Z_3 symmetries that forbid certain B and/or L violating MSSM couplings. Their presence is however relatively rare, at the level of a few percent of all cases.Comment: 47 pages. References adde