2,386 research outputs found
Line defects and 5d instanton partition functions
We consider certain line defect operators in five-dimensional SUSY gauge
theories, whose interaction with the self-dual instantons is described by 1d
ADHM-like gauged quantum mechanics constructed by Tong and Wong. The partition
function in the presence of these operators is known to be a generating
function of BPS Wilson loops in skew symmetric tensor representations of the
gauge group. We calculate the partition function and explicitly prove that it
is a finite polynomial of the defect mass parameter , which is an essential
property of the defect operator and the Wilson loop generating function. The
relation between the line defect partition function and the qq-character
defined by N. Nekrasov is briefly discussed.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure; typos fixed, references corrected; version to be
published in JHE
Line defects and 5d instanton partition functions
We consider certain line defect operators in five-dimensional SUSY gauge theories, whose interaction with the self-dual instantons is described by 1d ADHM-like gauged quantum mechanics constructed by Tong and Wong. The partition function in the presence of these operators is known to be a generating function of BPS Wilson loops in skew symmetric tensor representations of the gauge group. We calculate the partition function and explicitly prove that it is a finite polynomial of the defect mass parameter x, which is an essential property of the defect operator and the Wilson loop generating function. The relation between the line defect partition function and the qq-character defined by N . Nekrasov is briefly discussed.1112Nsciescopu
Topological strings and 5d T_N partition functions
We evaluate the Nekrasov partition function of 5d gauge theories engineered
by webs of 5-branes, using the refined topological vertex on the dual
Calabi-Yau threefolds. The theories include certain non-Lagrangian theories
such as the T_N theory. The refined topological vertex computation generically
contains contributions from decoupled M2-branes which are not charged under the
5d gauge symmetry engineered. We argue that, after eliminating them, the
refined topological string partition function agrees with the 5d Nekrasov
partition function. We explicitly check this for the T_3 theory as well as
Sp(1) gauge theories with N_f = 2, 3, 4 flavors. In particular, our method
leads to a new expression of the Sp(1) Nekrasov partition functions without any
contour integrals. We also develop prescriptions to calculate the partition
functions of theories obtained by Higgsing the T_N theory. We compute the
partition function of the E_7 theory via this prescription, and find the E_7
global symmetry enhancement. We finally discuss a potential application of the
refined topological vertex to non-toric web diagrams.Comment: 79 pages, 27 figures; v2: minor improvements, references adde
Supersymmetric vacua of mass-deformed M2-brane theory
We count the supersymmetric vacua of mass-deformed N=6 U(N)xU(N) Chern-Simons-matter theory by calculating the Witten index. When the Chern-Simons level k is 1, our result perfectly agrees with that from the gravity dual, given by partitions of N. For general k, our index generalizes partitions of N, including additional degrees. We also comment on non-relativistic superconformal theories constructed from this model.1130sciescopu
Surface defects and instanton partition functions
We study the superconformal index of five-dimensional SCFTs and the sphere partition function of four-dimensional gauge theories with eight supercharges in the presence of co-dimension two half-BPS defects. We derive a prescription which is valid for defects which can be given a "vortex construction", i.e. can be defined by RG flow from vortex configurations in a larger theory. We test the prescription against known results and expected dualities. We employ our prescription to develop a general computational strategy for defects defined by coupling the bulk degrees of freedom to a Gauged Linear Sigma Model living in co-dimension two.1117Nsciescopu
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