Weak Decoupling Duality and Quantum Identification

If a quantum system is subject to noise, it is possible to perform quantum error correction reversing the action of the noise if and only if no information about the system's quantum state leaks to the environment. In this article, we develop an analogous duality in the case that the environment approximately forgets the identity of the quantum state, a weaker condition satisfied by epsilon-randomizing maps and approximate unitary designs. Specifically, we show that the environment approximately forgets quantum states if and only if the original channel approximately preserves pairwise fidelities of pure inputs, an observation we call weak decoupling duality. Using this tool, we then go on to study the task of using the output of a channel to simulate restricted classes of measurements on a space of input states. The case of simulating measurements that test whether the input state is an arbitrary pure state is known as equality testing or quantum identification. An immediate consequence of weak decoupling duality is that the ability to perform quantum identification cannot be cloned. We furthermore establish that the optimal amortized rate at which quantum states can be identified through a noisy quantum channel is equal to the entanglement-assisted classical capacity of the channel, despite the fact that the task is quantum, not classical, and entanglement-assistance is not allowed. In particular, this rate is strictly positive for every non-constant quantum channel, including classical channels.Comment: 14 pages; v2 has some remarks added and inaccuracies corrected; v3 has new title, improved presentation and additional references; v4 is the final, accepted version (to appear in IEEE IT), title changed once more and numerous improvements made - the main one being that we can now show that nontrivial amortization is necessary in erasure channel

Deriving N=2 S-dualities from Scaling for Product Gauge Groups

S-dualities in scale invariant N=2 supersymmetric field theories with product gauge groups are derived by embedding those theories in asymptotically free theories with higher rank gauge groups. S-duality transformations on the couplings of the scale invariant theory follow from the geometry of the embedding of the scale invariant theory in the Coulomb branch of the asymptotically free theory.Comment: 19 pages latex and 1 figure using psfig.sty. References adde

Non-commutative solitons and strong-weak duality

Some properties of the non-commutative versions of the sine-Gordon model (NCSG) and the corresponding massive Thirring theories (NCMT) are studied. Our method relies on the NC extension of integrable models and the master Lagrangian approach to deal with dual theories. The master Lagrangians turn out to be the NC versions of the so-called affine Toda model coupled to matter fields (NCATM) associated to the group GL(2), in which the Toda field belongs to certain representations of either $U(1){x} U(1)$ or $U(1)_{C}$ corresponding to the Lechtenfeld et al. (NCSG$_{1}$) or Grisaru-Penati (NCSG$_{2}$) proposals for the NC versions of the sine-Gordon model, respectively. Besides, the relevant NCMT$_{1, 2}$ models are written for two (four) types of Dirac fields corresponding to the Moyal product extension of one (two) copy(ies) of the ordinary massive Thirring model. The NCATM$_{1,2}$ models share the same one-soliton (real Toda field sector of model 2) exact solutions, which are found without expansion in the NC parameter $\theta$ for the corresponding Toda and matter fields describing the strong-weak phases, respectively. The correspondence NCSG$_{1}$ $\leftrightarrow$ NCMT$_{1}$ is promising since it is expected to hold on the quantum level.Comment: 24 pages, 1 fig., LaTex. Typos in star products of eqs. (3.11)-(3.13) and footnote 1 were corrected. Version to appear in JHE

Thermal DBI action for the D3-brane at weak and strong coupling

We study the effective action for finite-temperature D3-branes with an electromagnetic field at weak and strong coupling. We call this action the thermal DBI action. Comparing at low temperature the leading $T^4$ correction for the thermal DBI action at weak and strong coupling we find that the $3/4$ factor well-known from the AdS/CFT correspondence extends to the case of arbitrary electric and magnetic fields on the D3-brane. We investigate the reason for this by taking the decoupling limit in both the open and the closed string descriptions thus showing that the AdS/CFT correspondence extends to the case of arbitrary constant electric and magnetic fields on the D3-brane.Comment: 30 pages, no figure

Exotic Non-Supersymmetric Gauge Dynamics from Supersymmetric QCD

We extend Seiberg's qualitative picture of the behavior of supersymmetric QCD to nonsupersymmetric models by adding soft supersymmetry breaking terms. In this way, we recover the standard vacuum of QCD with $N_f$ flavors and $N_c$ colors when $N_f < N_c$. However, for $N_f \geq N_c$, we find new exotic states---new vacua with spontaneously broken baryon number for $N_f = N_c$, and a vacuum state with unbroken chiral symmetry for $N_f > N_c$. These exotic vacua contain massless composite fermions and, in some cases, dynamically generated gauge bosons. In particular Seiberg's electric-magnetic duality seems to persist also in the presence of (small) soft supersymmetry breaking. We argue that certain, specially tailored, lattice simulations may be able to detect the novel phenomena. Most of the exotic behavior does not survive the decoupling limit of large SUSY breaking parameters.Comment: 36 pages, latex + 2 figures (uuencoded ps

Holography, Singularities on Orbifolds and 4D N=2 SQCD

Type II string theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau manifold, with a singularity modeled by a hypersurface in an orbifold, is considered. In the limit of vanishing string coupling, one expects a non gravitational theory concentrated at the singularity. It is proposed that this theory is holographicly dual to a family of ``non-critical'' superstring vacua, generalizing a previous proposal for hypersurfaces in flat space. It is argued that a class of such singularities is relevant for the study of non-trivial IR fixed points that appear in the moduli space of four-dimensional N=2 SQCD: SU(N_c) gauge theory with matter in the fundamental representation. This includes the origin in the moduli space of the SU(N_c) gauge theory with N_f=2N_c fundamentals. The 4D IR fixed points are studied using the anti-holographic description and the results agree with information available from gauge theory.Comment: 33 pages (Latex

N=2 supersymmetric QCD and elliptic potentials

We investigate the relation between the four dimensional N=2 SU(2) super Yang-Mills theory with four fundamental flavors and the quantum mechanics model with Treibich-Verdier potential described by the Heun equation in the elliptic form. We study the precise correspondence of quantities in the gauge theory and the quantum mechanics model. An iterative method is used to obtain the asymptotic expansion of the spectrum for the Schr\"{o}dinger operator, we are able to fix the precise relation between the energy spectrum and the instanton partition function of the gauge theory. We also study asymptotic expansions for the spectrum which correspond to the strong coupling regions of the Seiberg-Witten theory.Comment: Latex, 29pp, published version, content restructured and simplifie

DLCQ and Plane Wave Matrix Big Bang Models

We study the generalisations of the Craps-Sethi-Verlinde matrix big bang model to curved, in particular plane wave, space-times, beginning with a careful discussion of the DLCQ procedure. Singular homogeneous plane waves are ideal toy-models of realistic space-time singularities since they have been shown to arise universally as their Penrose limits, and we emphasise the role played by the symmetries of these plane waves in implementing the flat space Seiberg-Sen DLCQ prescription for these curved backgrounds. We then analyse various aspects of the resulting matrix string Yang-Mills theories, such as the relation between strong coupling space-time singularities and world-sheet tachyonic mass terms. In order to have concrete examples at hand, in an appendix we determine and analyse the IIA singular homogeneous plane wave - null dilaton backgrounds.Comment: 29 pages, v2: reference added + minor cosmetic correction

Transformations of Spherical Blocks

We further explore the correspondence between N=2 supersymmetric SU(2) gauge theory with four flavors on epsilon-deformed backgrounds and conformal field theory, with an emphasis on the epsilon-expansion of the partition function natural from a topological string theory point of view. Solving an appropriate null vector decoupling equation in the semi-classical limit allows us to express the instanton partition function as a series in quasi-modular forms of the group Gamma(2), with the expected symmetry Weyl group of SO(8) semi-direct S_3. In the presence of an elementary surface operator, this symmetry is enhanced to an action of the affine Weyl group of SO(8) semi-direct S_4 on the instanton partition function, as we demonstrate via the link between the null vector decoupling equation and the quantum Painlev\'e VI equation.Comment: 31 pages, 1 figure; v2: typos corrected, references adde