On organizing principles of Discrete Differential Geometry. Geometry of spheres

Discrete differential geometry aims to develop discrete equivalents of the geometric notions and methods of classical differential geometry. In this survey we discuss the following two fundamental Discretization Principles: the transformation group principle (smooth geometric objects and their discretizations are invariant with respect to the same transformation group) and the consistency principle (discretizations of smooth parametrized geometries can be extended to multidimensional consistent nets). The main concrete geometric problem discussed in this survey is a discretization of curvature line parametrized surfaces in Lie geometry. We find a discretization of curvature line parametrization which unifies the circular and conical nets by systematically applying the Discretization Principles.Comment: 57 pages, 18 figures; In the second version the terminology is slightly changed and umbilic points are discusse

The Soft-Collinear Bootstrap: N=4 Yang-Mills Amplitudes at Six and Seven Loops

Infrared divergences in scattering amplitudes arise when a loop momentum $\ell$ becomes collinear with a massless external momentum $p$. In gauge theories, it is known that the L-loop logarithm of a planar amplitude has much softer infrared singularities than the L-loop amplitude itself. We argue that planar amplitudes in N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory enjoy softer than expected behavior as $\ell \parallel p$ already at the level of the integrand. Moreover, we conjecture that the four-point integrand can be uniquely determined, to any loop-order, by imposing the correct soft-behavior of the logarithm together with dual conformal invariance and dihedral symmetry. We use these simple criteria to determine explicit formulae for the four-point integrand through seven-loops, finding perfect agreement with previously known results through five-loops. As an input to this calculation we enumerate all four-point dual conformally invariant (DCI) integrands through seven-loops, an analysis which is aided by several graph-theoretic theorems we prove about general DCI integrands at arbitrary loop-order. The six- and seven-loop amplitudes receive non-zero contributions from 229 and 1873 individual DCI diagrams respectively.Comment: 27 pages, 48 figures, detailed results including PDF and Mathematica files available at http://goo.gl/qIKe8 v2: minor corrections v3: figure 7 corrected, Lemma 2 remove

Equivalent String Networks and Uniqueness of BPS States

We analyze string networks in 7-brane configurations in IIB string theory. We introduce a complex parameter M characterizing equivalence classes of networks on a fixed 7-brane background and specifying the BPS mass of the network as M_{BPS} = | M |. We show that M can be calculated without knowing the particular representative of the BPS state. Based on detailed examination of backgrounds with three and four 7-branes we argue that equivalent networks may not be simultaneously BPS, an essential requirement of consistency.Comment: 28 pages, LaTeX, 18 eps figure

Decomposition and Oxidation of the N-Extended Supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics Multiplets

We furnish an algebraic understanding of the inequivalent connectivities (computed up to $N\leq 10$) of the graphs associated to the irreducible supermultiplets of the N-extended Supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics. We prove that the inequivalent connectivities of the N=5 and N=9 irreducible supermultiplets are due to inequivalent decompositions into two sets of N=4 (respectively, N=8) supermultiplets. "Oxido-reduction" diagrams linking the irreducible supermultiplets of the N=5,6,7,8 supersymmetries are presented. We briefly discuss these results and their possible applications.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Refining the classification of the irreps of the 1D N-Extended Supersymmetry

The linear finite irreducible representations of the algebra of the 1D $N$-Extended Supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics are discussed in terms of their "connectivity" (a symbol encoding information on the graphs associated to the irreps). The classification of the irreducible representations with the same fields content and different connectivity is presented up to $N\leq 8$.Comment: Two extra cases added. Reply to hep-th/0611060v2 comments adde