Superconformal Indices for Orbifold Chern-Simons Theories

We calculate the superconformal indices of recently discovered three-dimensional N=4,5 Chern-Simons-matter theories and compare them with the corresponding indices of supergravity on AdS4 times orbifolds of S7. We find perfect agreement in the large N and large k limit, provided that the twisted sector contributions at the fixed loci of the orbifolds are properly taken into account. We also discuss the index for the so-called "dual ABJM" proposal.Comment: 27 pages, 1 figure; v2. reference added, minor correction

Open Superstring Star as a Continuous Moyal Product

By diagonalizing the three-string vertex and using a special coordinate representation the matter part of the open superstring star is identified with the continuous Moyal product of functions of anti-commuting variables. We show that in this representation the identity and sliver have simple expressions. The relation with the half-string fermionic variables in continuous basis is given.Comment: Latex, 19 pages; more comments added and notations are simplifie

The Morphology of N=6 Chern-Simons Theory

We tabulate various properties of the language of N=6 Chern-Simons Theory, in the sense of Polyakov. Specifically we enumerate and compute character formulas for all syllables of up to four letters, i.e. all irreducible representations of OSp(6|4) built from up to four fundamental fields of the ABJM theory. We also present all tensor product decompositions for up to four singletons and list the (cyclically invariant) four-letter words, which correspond to single-trace operators of length four. As an application of these results we use the two-loop dilatation operator to compute the leading correction to the Hagedorn temperature of the weakly-coupled planar ABJM theory on R \times S^2.Comment: 41 pages, 1 figure; v2: minor correction

Transcriptome analysis reveals putative genes involved in the lipid metabolism of chaulmoogra oil biosynthesis in Carpotroche brasiliensis (Raddi) A.Gray, a tropical tree species

Chaulmoogra oil is found in the seeds of Carpotroche brasiliensis (Raddi) Endl. (syn. Mayna brasiliensis Raddi), an oil tree of the Achariaceae family and native to Brazil’s Atlantic Forest biome, which is considered the fifth most important biodiversity hotspot in the world. Its main constituents are cyclopentenic fatty acids. Chaulmoogra oil has economic potential because of its use in the cosmetics industry and as a drug with anti-tumor activity. The mechanisms related to the regulation of oil biosynthesis in C. brasiliensis seeds are not fully understood, especially from a tissue-specific perspective. In this study, we applied a de novo transcriptomic approach to investigate the transcripts involved in the lipid pathways of C. brasiliensis and to identify genes involved in lipid biosynthesis. Comparative analysis of gene orthology, expression analysis and visualization of metabolic lipid networks were performed, using data obtained from high-throughput sequencing (RNAseq) of 24 libraries of vegetative and reproductive tissues of C. brasiliensis. Approximately 10.4 million paired-end reads (Phred (Q) > 20) were generated and re-assembled into 107,744 unigenes, with an average length of 340 base pairs (bp). The analysis of transcripts from different tissues identified 1131 proteins involved in lipid metabolism and transport and 13 pathways involved in lipid biosynthesis, degradation, transport, lipid bodies, and lipid constituents of membranes. This is the first transcriptome study of C. brasiliensis, providing basic information for biotechnological applications of great use for the species, which will help understand chaulmoogra oil biosynthesis

AdS_4/CFT_3 duals from M2-branes at hypersurface singularities and their deformations

We construct three-dimensional N=2 Chern-Simons-quiver theories which are holographically dual to the M-theory Freund-Rubin solutions AdS_4 x V_{5,2}/Z_k (with or without torsion G-flux), where V_{5,2} is a homogeneous Sasaki-Einstein seven-manifold. The global symmetry group of these theories is generically SU(2) x U(1) x U(1)_R, and they are hence non-toric. The field theories may be thought of as the n=2 member of a family of models, labelled by a positive integer n, arising on multiple M2-branes at certain hypersurface singularities. We describe how these models can be engineered via generalized Hanany-Witten brane constructions. The AdS_4 x V_{5,2}/Z_k solutions may be deformed to a warped geometry R^{1,2} x T^* S^4/Z_k, with self-dual G-flux through the four-sphere. We show that this solution is dual to a supersymmetric mass deformation, which precisely modifies the classical moduli space of the field theory to the deformed geometry.Comment: 62 pages, 7 figure