Loop operators and S-duality from curves on Riemann surfaces

We study Wilson-'t Hooft loop operators in a class of N=2 superconformal field theories recently introduced by Gaiotto. In the case that the gauge group is a product of SU(2) groups, we classify all possible loop operators in terms of their electric and magnetic charges subject to the Dirac quantization condition. We then show that this precisely matches Dehn's classification of homotopy classes of non-self-intersecting curves on an associated Riemann surface--the same surface which characterizes the gauge theory. Our analysis provides an explicit prediction for the action of S-duality on loop operators in these theories which we check against the known duality transformation in several examples.Comment: 41 page

Quantum computation with Turaev-Viro codes

The Turaev-Viro invariant for a closed 3-manifold is defined as the contraction of a certain tensor network. The tensors correspond to tetrahedra in a triangulation of the manifold, with values determined by a fixed spherical category. For a manifold with boundary, the tensor network has free indices that can be associated to qudits, and its contraction gives the coefficients of a quantum error-correcting code. The code has local stabilizers determined by Levin and Wen. For example, applied to the genus-one handlebody using the Z_2 category, this construction yields the well-known toric code. For other categories, such as the Fibonacci category, the construction realizes a non-abelian anyon model over a discrete lattice. By studying braid group representations acting on equivalence classes of colored ribbon graphs embedded in a punctured sphere, we identify the anyons, and give a simple recipe for mapping fusion basis states of the doubled category to ribbon graphs. We explain how suitable initial states can be prepared efficiently, how to implement braids, by successively changing the triangulation using a fixed five-qudit local unitary gate, and how to measure the topological charge. Combined with known universality results for anyonic systems, this provides a large family of schemes for quantum computation based on local deformations of stabilizer codes. These schemes may serve as a starting point for developing fault-tolerance schemes using continuous stabilizer measurements and active error-correction.Comment: 53 pages, LaTeX + 199 eps figure

Squarepants in a Tree: Sum of Subtree Clustering and Hyperbolic Pants Decomposition

We provide efficient constant factor approximation algorithms for the problems of finding a hierarchical clustering of a point set in any metric space, minimizing the sum of minimimum spanning tree lengths within each cluster, and in the hyperbolic or Euclidean planes, minimizing the sum of cluster perimeters. Our algorithms for the hyperbolic and Euclidean planes can also be used to provide a pants decomposition, that is, a set of disjoint simple closed curves partitioning the plane minus the input points into subsets with exactly three boundary components, with approximately minimum total length. In the Euclidean case, these curves are squares; in the hyperbolic case, they combine our Euclidean square pants decomposition with our tree clustering method for general metric spaces.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures. This version replaces the proof of what is now Lemma 5.2, as the previous proof was erroneou

't Hooft Operators in Gauge Theory from Toda CFT

We construct loop operators in two dimensional Toda CFT and calculate with them the exact expectation value of certain supersymmetric 't Hooft and dyonic loop operators in four dimensional \Ncal=2 gauge theories with SU(N) gauge group. Explicit formulae for 't Hooft and dyonic operators in \Ncal=2^* and \Ncal=2 conformal SQCD with SU(N) gauge group are presented. We also briefly speculate on the Toda CFT realization of arbitrary loop operators in these gauge theories in terms of topological web operators in Toda CFT.Comment: 49 pages, LaTeX. Typos fixed, references adde

New N=1 Dualities from M5-branes and Outer-automorphism Twists

We generalize recent construction of four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ SCFT from wrapping six-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=(2,0)$ theory on a Riemann surface to the case of $D$-type with outer-automorphism twists. This construction allows us to build various dual theories for a class of $\mathcal{N}=1$ quiver theories of $SO-USp$ type. In particular, we find there are five dual frames to $SO(2N)/USp(2N-2)/G_2$ gauge theories with $(4N-4)/4N/8$ fundamental flavors, where three of them are non-Lagrangian. We check the dualities by computing the anomaly coefficients and the superconformal indices. In the process we verify that the index of $D_4$ theory on a certain three punctured sphere with $Z_2$ and $Z_3$ twist lines exhibits the expected symmetry enhancement from $G_2 \times USp(6)$ to $E_7$.Comment: 56 pages, 29 colored figures; v2: minor corrections, references adde

Spectral networks and Fenchel-Nielsen coordinates

We explain that spectral networks are a unifying framework that incorporates both shear (Fock-Goncharov) and length-twist (Fenchel-Nielsen) coordinate systems on moduli spaces of flat SL(2,C) connections, in the following sense. Given a spectral network W on a punctured Riemann surface C, we explain the process of "abelianization" which relates flat SL(2)-connections (with an additional structure called "W-framing") to flat C*-connections on a covering. For any W, abelianization gives a construction of a local Darboux coordinate system on the moduli space of W-framed flat connections. There are two special types of spectral network, combinatorially dual to ideal triangulations and pants decompositions; these two types of network lead to Fock-Goncharov and Fenchel-Nielsen coordinates respectively.Comment: 63 pages; v2: expository improvements, journal versio

Boundary Value Problems on Planar Graphs and Flat Surfaces with integer cone singularities, II: The mixed Dirichlet-Neumann Problem

In this paper we continue the study started in part I (posted). We consider a planar, bounded, $m$-connected region $\Omega$, and let \bord\Omega be its boundary. Let $\mathcal{T}$ be a cellular decomposition of \Omega\cup\bord\Omega, where each 2-cell is either a triangle or a quadrilateral. From these data and a conductance function we construct a canonical pair $(S,f)$ where $S$ is a special type of a (possibly immersed) genus $(m-1)$ singular flat surface, tiled by rectangles and $f$ is an energy preserving mapping from ${\mathcal T}^{(1)}$ onto $S$. In part I the solution of a Dirichlet problem defined on ${\mathcal T}^{(0)}$ was utilized, in this paper we employ the solution of a mixed Dirichlet-Neumann problem.Comment: 26 pages, 16 figures (color

The Virtue of Defects in 4D Gauge Theories and 2D CFTs

We advance a correspondence between the topological defect operators in Liouville and Toda conformal field theories - which we construct - and loop operators and domain wall operators in four dimensional N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories on S^4. Our computation of the correlation functions in Liouville/Toda theory in the presence of topological defect operators, which are supported on curves on the Riemann surface, yields the exact answer for the partition function of four dimensional gauge theories in the presence of various walls and loop operators; results which we can quantitatively substantiate with an independent gauge theory analysis. As an interesting outcome of this work for two dimensional conformal field theories, we prove that topological defect operators and the Verlinde loop operators are different descriptions of the same operators.Comment: 59 pages, latex; v2 corrections to some formula