1,335 research outputs found
On Type II strings in exact superconformal non-constant RR backgrounds
An explicitly exact superconformal description is provided to some classes of
Type II string theories in non constant RR backgrounds. This is done by
applying the manifest (2,2) approach of Berkovits and Maldacena to Type II
strings and by studying the condition of exact conformal invariance of certain
supersymmetric backgrounds. We find a new set of exact type IIA strings with
non constant RR 2-form and 4-form curvatures and for type IIB with non constant
3-form curvature.Comment: 15 pages; typos and a reference adde
G2 Hitchin functionals at one loop
We consider the quantization of the effective target space description of
topological M-theory in terms of the Hitchin functional whose critical points
describe seven-manifolds with G2 structure. The one-loop partition function for
this theory is calculated and an extended version of it, that is related to
generalized G2 geometry, is compared with the topological G2 string. We relate
the reduction of the effective action for the extended G2 theory to the Hitchin
functional description of the topological string in six dimensions. The
dependence of the partition functions on the choice of background G2 metric is
also determined.Comment: 58 pages, LaTeX; v2: Acknowledgments adde
Algebraic-geometrical formulation of two-dimensional quantum gravity
We find a volume form on moduli space of double punctured Riemann surfaces
whose integral satisfies the Painlev\'e I recursion relations of the genus
expansion of the specific heat of 2D gravity. This allows us to express the
asymptotic expansion of the specific heat as an integral on an infinite
dimensional moduli space in the spirit of Friedan-Shenker approach. We outline
a conjectural derivation of such recursion relations using the
Duistermaat-Heckman theorem.Comment: 10 pages, Latex fil
RG Flow Irreversibility, C-Theorem and Topological Nature of 4D N=2 SYM
We determine the exact beta function and a RG flow Lyapunov function for N=2
SYM with gauge group SU(n). It turns out that the classical discriminants of
the Seiberg-Witten curves determine the RG potential. The radial
irreversibility of the RG flow in the SU(2) case and the non-perturbative
identity relating the -modulus and the superconformal anomaly, indicate the
existence of a four dimensional analogue of the c-theorem for N=2 SYM which we
formulate for the full SU(n) theory. Our investigation provides further
evidence of the essentially topological nature of the theory.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX file. Discussion on WDVV and integrability. References
added. Version published in PR
Nonperturbative Relations in N=2 SUSY Yang-Mills and WDVV equation
We find the nonperturbative relation between , the prepotential and the
vevs in supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories with
gauge group . Nonlinear differential equations for including
the Witten -- Dijkgraaf -- Verlinde -- Verlinde equation are obtained. This
indicates that SYM theories are essentially topological field theories
and that should be seen as low-energy limit of some topological string theory.
Furthermore, we construct relevant modular invariant quantities, derive
canonical relations between the periods and investigate the structure of the
beta function by giving its explicit form in the moduli coordinates. In doing
this we discuss the uniformization problem for the quantum moduli space. The
method we propose can be generalized to supersymmetric Yang-Mills
theories with higher rank gauge groups.Comment: 12 pages, LaTex. Expanded version. New results, corrections,
references and acknowledgements adde
Taming open/closed string duality with a Losev trick
A target space string field theory formulation for open and closed B-model is
provided by giving a Batalin-Vilkovisky quantization of the holomorphic
Chern-Simons theory with off-shell gravity background. The target space
expression for the coefficients of the holomorphic anomaly equation for open
strings are obtained. Furthermore, open/closed string duality is proved from a
judicious integration over the open string fields. In particular, by
restriction to the case of independence on continuous open moduli, the shift
formulas of [7] are reproduced and shown therefore to encode the data of a
closed string dual.Comment: 22 pages, no figures; v.2 Refs. and a comment added
The stringy instanton partition function
We perform an exact computation of the gauged linear sigma model associated to a D1-D5 brane system on a resolved A 1 singularity. This is accomplished via supersymmetric localization on the blown-up two-sphere. We show that in the blow-down limit the partition function reduces to the Nekrasov partition function evaluating the equivariant volume of the instanton moduli space. For finite radius we obtain a tower of world-sheet instanton corrections, that we identify with the equivariant Gromov-Witten invariants of the ADHM moduli space. We show that these corrections can be encoded in a deformation of the Seiberg-Witten prepotential. From the mathematical viewpoint, the D1-D5 system under study displays a twofold nature: the D1-branes viewpoint captures the equivariant quantum cohomology of the ADHM instanton moduli space in the Givental formalism, and the D5-branes viewpoint is related to higher rank equivariant Donaldson-Thomas invariants
Decoupling A and B model in open string theory -- Topological adventures in the world of tadpoles
In this paper we analyze the problem of tadpole cancellation in open
topological strings. We prove that the inclusion of unorientable worldsheet
diagrams guarantees a consistent decoupling of A and B model for open
superstring amplitudes at all genera. This is proven by direct microscopic
computation in Super Conformal Field Theory. For the B-model we explicitly
calculate one loop amplitudes in terms of analytic Ray-Singer torsions of
appropriate vector bundles and obtain that the decoupling corresponds to the
cancellation of D-brane and orientifold charges. Local tadpole cancellation on
the worldsheet then guarantees the decoupling at all loops. The holomorphic
anomaly equations for open topological strings at one loop are also obtained
and compared with the results of the Quillen formula
Non-holomorphic terms in N=2 SUSY Wilsonian actions and RG equation
In this paper we first investigate the Ansatz of one of the present authors
for K(\Psi,\bar\Psi), the adimensional modular invariant non-holomorphic
correction to the Wilsonian effective Lagrangian of an N=2 globally
supersymmetric gauge theory. The renormalisation group beta-function of the
theory crucially allows us to express K(\Psi,\bar\Psi) in a form that easily
generalises to the case in which the theory is coupled to N_F hypermultiplets
in the fundamental representation of the gauge group. This function satisfies
an equation which should be viewed as a fully non-perturbative ``non-chiral
superconformal Ward identity". We also determine its renormalisation group
equation. Furthermore, as a first step towards checking the validity of this
Ansatz, we compute the contribution to K(\Psi,\bar\Psi) from instantons of
winding number k=1 and k=2. As a by-product of our analysis we check a
non-renormalisation theorem for N_F=4.Comment: 39 pages, LaTex file, no figure
Partonic description of a supersymmetric p-brane
We consider supersymmetric extensions of a recently proposed partonic
description of a bosonic p-brane which reformulates the Nambu-Goto action as an
interacting multi-particle action with Filippov-Lie algebra gauge symmetry. We
construct a worldline supersymmetric action by postulating, among others, a
p-form fermion. Demanding a local worldline supersymmetry rather than the full
worldvolume supersymmetry, we circumvent a known no-go theorem against the
construction of a Ramond-Neveu-Schwarz supersymmetric action for a p-brane of
p>1. We also derive a spacetime supersymmetric Green-Schwarz extension from the
preexisting kappa-symmetric action.Comment: 1+16 pages, no figure; References added and Concluding section
expanded. Final version to appear in JHE
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