Hidden Modulus in the Extended Veneziano-Yankielowicz Theory

The issue of domain walls in the recently extended Veneziano-Yankielowicz theory is investigated and we show that they have an interesting substructure. We also demonstrate the presence of a noncompact modulus. The associated family of degenerate solutions is physically due to the presence of a valley of vacua in the enlarged space of fields. This is a feature of the extended Veneziano-Yankielowicz theory. Unfortunately the above properties do not match the ones expected for the domain walls of N=1 super Yang-Mills.Comment: LaTeX, 13 pages and 5 figs, v3 misprints correcte

Heat kernel for Newton-Cartan trace anomalies

We compute the leading part of the trace anomaly for a free non-relativistic scalar in 2+1 dimensions coupled to a background Newton-Cartan metric. The anomaly is proportional to 1/m, where m is the mass of the scalar. We comment on the implications of a conjectured a-theorem for non-relativistic theories with boost invariance.Comment: 18 page

Monopoles Can be Confined by 0, 1 or 2 Vortices

There are three types of monopole in gauge theories with fundamental matter and N=2 supersymmetry broken by a superpotential. There are unconfined 0-monopoles and also 1 and 2-monopoles confined respectively by one or two vortices transforming under distinct components of the unbroken gauge group. If a Fayet-Iliopoulos term is added then there are only 2-monopoles. Monopoles transform in the bifundamental representation of two components of the unbroken gauge symmetry, and if two monopoles share a component they may form a boundstate. Selection rules for this process are found, for example vortex number is preserved modulo 2. We find the tensions of the vortices, which are in general distinct, and also the conditions under which vortices are mutually BPS. Results are derived in field theory and also in MQCD, and in quiver theories a T-dual picture may be used in which monopoles are classified by quiver diagrams with two colors of vertices.Comment: 46 pages, 13 figures, V2: Comment on non-BPS correction added; 1 figure adde

The holographic non-abelian vortex

We study a fully back-reacted non-abelian vortex solution in an extension of the holographic superconductor setup. The thermodynamic properties of the vortex are computed. We show that, in some regime of parameters, the non-abelian vortex solution has a lower free energy than a competing abelian vortex solution. The solution is dual to a finite-temperature perturbed conformal field theory with a topological defect, on which operators related to the Goldstone modes of a spontaneously broken symmetry are localized. We compute numerically the retarded Green function of these operators and we find, in the classical approximation in the bulk, a gapless $\mathbb{CP}^1$ excitation on the vortex world line.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figure

Trace anomaly for non-relativistic fermions

We study the coupling of a 2+1 dimensional non-relativistic spin 1/2 fermion to a curved Newton-Cartan geometry, using null reduction from an extra-dimensional relativistic Dirac action in curved spacetime. We analyze Weyl invariance in detail: we show that at the classical level it is preserved in an arbitrary curved background, whereas at the quantum level it is broken by anomalies. We compute the trace anomaly using the Heat Kernel method and we show that the anomaly coefficients a, c are proportional to the relativistic ones for a Dirac fermion in 3+1 dimensions. As for the previously studied scalar case, these coefficents are proportional to 1/m, where m is the non-relativistic mass of the particle.Comment: 23 page

On Newton-Cartan trace anomalies

We classify the trace anomaly for parity-invariant non-relativistic Schr\"odinger theories in 2+1 dimensions coupled to background Newton-Cartan gravity. The general anomaly structure looks very different from the one in the z=2 Lifshitz theories. The type A content of the anomaly is remarkably identical to that of the relativistic 3+1 dimensional case, suggesting the conjecture that an a-theorem should exist also in the Newton-Cartan context. Erratum: due to an overcounting of the number of linearly-independent terms in the basis, the type A anomaly disappears if Frobenius condition is imposed. See appended erratum for details. This crucial mistake was pointed out to us in arXiv:1601.06795.Comment: 16 pages, V2:few equations corrected (final results unchanged), references added, typos, V3: erratum include

Nonrelativistic trace and diffeomorphism anomalies in particle number background

Using the heat kernel method, we compute nonrelativistic trace anomalies for Schr\"odinger theories in flat spacetime, with a generic background gauge field for the particle number symmetry, both for a free scalar and a free fermion. The result is genuinely nonrelativistic, and it has no counterpart in the relativistic case. Contrary to the naive expectations, the anomaly is not gauge-invariant; this is similar to the non-gauge covariance of the non-abelian relativistic anomaly. We also show that, in the same background, the gravitational anomaly for a nonrelativistic scalar vanishes.Comment: 20 pages; V2 minor changes also in title, typo

Higher Winding Strings and Confined Monopoles in N=2 SQCD

We consider composite string solutions in N=2 SQCD with the gauge group U(N), the Fayet--Iliopoulos term \xi \neq 0 and N (s)quark flavors. These bulk theories support non-Abelian strings and confined monopoles identified with kinks in the two-dimensional world-sheet theory. Similar and more complicated kinks (corresponding to composite confined monopoles) must exist in the world-sheet theories on composite strings. In a bid to detect them we analyze the Hanany--Tong (HT) model, focusing on a particular example of N=2. Unequal quark mass terms in the bulk theory result in the twisted masses in the N=(2,2) HT model. For spatially coinciding 2-strings, we find three distinct minima of potential energy, corresponding to three different 2-strings. Then we find BPS-saturated kinks interpolating between each pair of vacua. Two kinks can be called elementary. They emanate one unit of the magnetic flux and have the same mass as the conventional 't Hooft--Polyakov monopole on the Coulomb branch of the bulk theory (\xi =0). The third kink represents a composite bimonopole, with twice the minimal magnetic flux. Its mass is twice the mass of the elementary confined monopole. We find instantons in the HT model, and discuss quantum effects in composite strings at strong coupling. In addition, we study the renormalization group flow in this model.Comment: 41 pages, 11 figure