Conformal Manifolds for the Conifold and other Toric Field Theories

In the space of couplings of the 4D N=1 gauge theory associated to D3 branes probing Calabi-Yau singularities, there is a manifold over which superconformal invariance is preserved. The AdS/CFT correspondence is valid precisely for this "conformal manifold". We identify the conformal manifold for all the Y^{p,q} toric singularities, paying special attention to the case of the conifold, Y^{1,0}. For a general Y^{p,q} the conformal manifold is three dimensional, while for the conifold it is five dimensional. There is always an exactly marginal deformation, analogous to the beta-deformation of N=4 SYM, which involves fluxes in the dual gravity description. This beta-deformation exists for any toric Calabi-Yau singularity.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures; V2: References added, minor change

Triangle Anomalies from Einstein Manifolds

The triangle anomalies in conformal field theory, which can be used to determine the central charge a, correspond to the Chern-Simons couplings of gauge fields in AdS under the gauge/gravity correspondence. We present a simple geometrical formula for the Chern-Simons couplings in the case of type IIB supergravity compactified on a five-dimensional Einstein manifold X. When X is a circle bundle over del Pezzo surfaces or a toric Sasaki-Einstein manifold, we show that the gravity result is in perfect agreement with the corresponding quiver gauge theory. Our analysis reveals an interesting connection with the condensation of giant gravitons or dibaryon operators which effectively induces a rolling among Sasaki-Einstein vacua.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures; published versio

S-confinements from deconfinements

We consider four dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ gauge theories that are S-confining, that is they are dual to a Wess-Zumino model. S-confining theories with a simple gauge group have been classified. We prove all the S-confining dualities in the list, when the matter fields transform in rank-$1$ and/or rank-$2$ representations. Our only assumptions are the S-confining dualities for $SU(N)$ with $N+1$ flavors and for $Usp(2N)$ with $2N+4$ fundamentals. The strategy consists in a sequence of deconfinements and re-confinements. We pay special attention to the explicit superpotential at each step.Comment: 60 pages, many figure

Giant magnons and spiky strings on the conifold

We find explicit solutions for giant magnons and spiky strings on the squashed three dimensional sphere. For a special value of the squashing parameter the solutions describe strings moving in a sector of the conifold, while for another value of the squashing parameter we recover the known results on the round three dimensional sphere. A new feature is that the energy and the momenta enter in the dispersion relation of the conifold in a transcendental way

Supersymmetric gauge theories with decoupled operators and chiral ring stability

We propose a general way to complete supersymmetric theories with operators below the unitarity bound, adding gauge-singlet fields that enforce the decoupling of such operators. This makes it possible to perform all usual computations, and to compactify on a circle. We concentrate on a duality between an N=1 SU(2) gauge theory and the N=2 A_3 Argyres-Douglas theory, mapping the moduli space and chiral ring of the completed N=1 theory to those of the A_3 model. We reduce the completed gauge theory to 3D, finding a 3D duality with N=4 supersymmetric QED (SQED) with two flavors. The naive dimensional reduction is instead N=2 SQED. Crucial is a concept of chiral ring stability, which modifies the superpotential and allows for a 3D emergent global symmetry

Domain Walls in SQCD and Flags

We consider supersymmetric domain walls of four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}\!=\!1$ $Sp(N)$ SQCD with $F > N$ fundamentals, adding flavors to the existing literature. First, we study numerically the differential equations defining the walls. When the number of flavors $F = N+1, \, N+2$, we classify all solutions. For $F \geq N+3$, we find interesting solutions that break the global symmetry to a product of more than two simple factors, so the moduli space of such solutions is a flag manifold. Second, for $F = N+1, \, N+2$, we discuss the $3d$ $\mathcal{N}\!=\!1$ Chern-Simons-matter theories that should describe the effective dynamics on the walls. These proposals pass various tests, including dualities and matching of the vacua of the massive $3d$ theory with the $4d$ analysis. However, for $F=N+2$, the semiclassical analysis of the vacua is only partially successful, suggesting that yet-to-be-understood strong coupling phenomena are into play in our $3d$ $\mathcal{N}\!=\!1$ gauge theories.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figure