Counting BPS Operators in Gauge Theories: Quivers, Syzygies and Plethystics

We develop a systematic and efficient method of counting single-trace and multi-trace BPS operators with two supercharges, for world-volume gauge theories of $N$ D-brane probes for both $N \to \infty$ and finite $N$. The techniques are applicable to generic singularities, orbifold, toric, non-toric, complete intersections, et cetera, even to geometries whose precise field theory duals are not yet known. The so-called ``Plethystic Exponential'' provides a simple bridge between (1) the defining equation of the Calabi-Yau, (2) the generating function of single-trace BPS operators and (3) the generating function of multi-trace operators. Mathematically, fascinating and intricate inter-relations between gauge theory, algebraic geometry, combinatorics and number theory exhibit themselves in the form of plethystics and syzygies.Comment: 59+1 pages, 7 Figure

M2-Branes and Fano 3-folds

A class of supersymmetric gauge theories arising from M2-branes probing Calabi-Yau 4-folds which are cones over smooth toric Fano 3-folds is investigated. For each model, the toric data of the mesonic moduli space is derived using the forward algorithm. The generators of the mesonic moduli space are determined using Hilbert series. The spectrum of scaling dimensions for chiral operators is computed.Comment: 128 pages, 39 figures, 42 table

Quiver gauge theories: beyond reflexivity

Reflexive polygons have been extensively studied in a variety of contexts in mathematics and physics. We generalize this programme by looking at the 45 different lattice polygons with two interior points up to SL(2,ℤ) equivalence. Each corresponds to some affine toric 3-fold as a cone over a Sasaki-Einstein 5-fold. We study the quiver gauge theories of D3-branes probing these cones, which coincide with the mesonic moduli space. The minimum of the volume function of the Sasaki-Einstein base manifold plays an important role in computing the R-charges. We analyze these minimized volumes with respect to the topological quantities of the compact surfaces constructed from the polygons. Unlike reflexive polytopes, one can have two fans from the two interior points, and hence give rise to two smooth varieties after complete resolutions, leading to an interesting pair of closely related geometries and gauge theories

Graph Zeta Function and Gauge Theories

Along the recently trodden path of studying certain number theoretic properties of gauge theories, especially supersymmetric theories whose vacuum manifolds are non-trivial, we investigate Ihara's Graph Zeta Function for large classes of quiver theories and periodic tilings by bi-partite graphs. In particular, we examine issues such as the spectra of the adjacency and whether the gauge theory satisfies the strong and weak versions of the graph theoretical analogue of the Riemann Hypothesis.Comment: 35 pages, 7 Figure

Mesonic Chiral Rings in Calabi-Yau Cones from Field Theory

We study the half-BPS mesonic chiral ring of the N=1 superconformal quiver theories arising from N D3-branes stacked at Y^pq and L^abc Calabi-Yau conical singularities. We map each gauge invariant operator represented on the quiver as an irreducible loop adjoint at some node, to an invariant monomial, modulo relations, in the gauged linear sigma model describing the corresponding bulk geometry. This map enables us to write a partition function at finite N over mesonic half-BPS states. It agrees with the bulk gravity interpretation of chiral ring states as cohomologically trivial giant gravitons. The quiver theories for L^aba, which have singular base geometries, contain extra operators not counted by the naive bulk partition function. These extra operators have a natural interpretation in terms of twisted states localized at the orbifold-like singularities in the bulk.Comment: Latex, 25pgs, 12 figs, v2: minor clarification

Calabi-Yau Volumes and Reflexive Polytopes

We study various geometrical quantities for Calabi–Yau varieties realized as cones over Gorenstein Fano varieties, obtained as toric varieties from reflexive polytopes in various dimensions. Focus is made on reflexive polytopes up to dimension 4 and the minimized volumes of the Sasaki–Einstein base of the corresponding Calabi–Yau cone are calculated. By doing so, we conjecture new bounds for the Sasaki–Einstein volume with respect to various topological quantities of the corresponding toric varieties. We give interpretations about these volume bounds in the context of associated field theories via the AdS/CFT correspondence