Liouville/Toda central charges from M5-branes

We show that the central charge of the Liouville and ADE Toda theories can be reproduced by equivariantly integrating the anomaly eight-form of the corresponding six-dimensional N=(0,2) theories, which describe the low-energy dynamics of M5-branes.Comment: 9 page

Nilpotent orbits and codimension-two defects of 6d N=(2,0) theories

We study the local properties of a class of codimension-2 defects of the 6d N=(2,0) theories of type J=A,D,E labeled by nilpotent orbits of a Lie algebra \mathfrak{g}, where \mathfrak{g} is determined by J and the outer-automorphism twist around the defect. This class is a natural generalisation of the defects of the 6d theory of type SU(N) labeled by a Young diagram with N boxes. For any of these defects, we determine its contribution to the dimension of the Higgs branch, to the Coulomb branch operators and their scaling dimensions, to the 4d central charges a and c, and to the flavour central charge k.Comment: 57 pages, LaTeX2

Singular points in N=2 SQCD

We revisit the study of singular points in N=2 SQCD with classical gauge groups. Using a technique proposed recently by Gaiotto, Seiberg and Tachikawa we find that the low-energy physics at the maximally singular point involves two superconformal sectors coupled to an infrared free SU(2) gauge group. When one softly breaks extended supersymmetry to N=1 adding a mass term for the chiral multiplet in the adjoint representation, a finite number of vacua remain and the theory becomes confining. Our analysis allows to identify the low-energy physics at these distinguished points in the moduli space. In some cases, which we will describe in detail, two sectors coupled to an infrared free SU(2) gauge group emerge as before. For USp and SO gauge groups one of these sectors is always free, contrary to the SU case.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figure

N=2 S-duality via Outer-automorphism Twists

Compactification of 6d N=(2,0) theory of type G on a punctured Riemann surface has been effectively used to understand S-dualities of 4d N=2 theories. We can further introduce branch cuts on the Riemann surface across which the worldvolume fields are transformed by the discrete symmetries associated to those of the Dynkin diagram of type G. This allows us to generate more S-dualities, and in particular to reproduce a couple of S-dual pairs found previously by Argyres and Wittig.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Rigid Limit in N=2 Supergravity and Weak-Gravity Conjecture

We analyze the coupled N=2 supergravity and Yang-Mills system using holomorphy, near the rigid limit where the former decouples from the latter. We find that there appears generically a new mass scale around g M_{pl} where g is the gauge coupling constant and M_{pl} is the Planck scale. This is in accord with the weak-gravity conjecture proposed recently. We also study the scale dependence of the gauge theory prepotential from its embedding into supergravity.Comment: 17 pages, minor correction

Mean-field Approach to the Derivation of Baryon Superpotential from Matrix Model

We discuss how to obtain the superpotential of the baryons and mesons for SU(N) gauge theories with N flavour matter fields from matrix integral. We apply the mean-field approximation for the matrix integral. Assuming the planar limit of the self-consistency equation, we show that the result almost agrees with the field theoretical result.Comment: rev2. ref. and related comments included, typos correcte

(2,0) theory on circle fibrations

We consider (2,0) theory on a manifold M_6 that is a fibration of a spatial S^1 over some five-dimensional base manifold M_5. Initially, we study the free (2,0) tensor multiplet which can be described in terms of classical equations of motion in six dimensions. Given a metric on M_6 the low energy effective theory obtained through dimensional reduction on the circle is a Maxwell theory on M_5. The parameters describing the local geometry of the fibration are interpreted respectively as the metric on M_5, a non-dynamical U(1) gauge field and the coupling strength of the resulting low energy Maxwell theory. We derive the general form of the action of the Maxwell theory by integrating the reduced equations of motion, and consider the symmetries of this theory originating from the superconformal symmetry in six dimensions. Subsequently, we consider a non-abelian generalization of the Maxwell theory on M_5. Completing the theory with Yukawa and phi^4 terms, and suitably modifying the supersymmetry transformations, we obtain a supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory which includes terms related to the geometry of the fibration.Comment: 24 pages, v2 References added, typos correcte

Conserved current for the Cotton tensor, black hole entropy and equivariant Pontryagin forms

The Chern-Simons lagrangian density in the space of metrics of a 3-dimensional manifold M is not invariant under the action of diffeomorphisms on M. However, its Euler-Lagrange operator can be identified with the Cotton tensor, which is invariant under diffeomorphims. As the lagrangian is not invariant, Noether Theorem cannot be applied to obtain conserved currents. We show that it is possible to obtain an equivariant conserved current for the Cotton tensor by using the first equivariant Pontryagin form on the bundle of metrics. Finally we define a hamiltonian current which gives the contribution of the Chern-Simons term to the black hole entropy, energy and angular momentum.Comment: 13 page

Super Yang-Mills With Flavors From Large N_f Matrix Models

We consider the exact effective superpotential of N=1 U(N_c) super Yang-Mills theory with N_f massive flavors an additional adjoint Higgs field. We use the proposal of Dijkgraaf and Vafa to calculate the superpotential in terms of a matrix model with a large number of flavors. We do this by gauging the flavor symmetry and forcing this sector in a classical vacuum. This gives rise to a 2-matrix model of ADE type A_2, and large flavors. This approach allows us to add an arbitrary polynomial tree level superpotential for the Higgs field, and use strict large N methods in the matrix model.Comment: 17 p. LaTeX, 17 p. v2: ref added, typos corrected. v3: typos corrected. v4: typos corrected, extended discussion on classical solution

New Seiberg Dualities from N=2 Dualities

We propose a number of new Seiberg dualities of N=1 quiver gauge theories. The new Seiberg dualities originate in new S-dualities of N=2 superconformal field theories recently proposed by Gaiotto. N=2 S-dual theories deformed by suitable mass terms flow to our N=1 Seiberg dual theories. We show that the number of exactly marginal operators is universal for these Seiberg dual theories and the 't Hooft anomaly matching holds for these theories. These provide strong evidence for the new Seiberg dualities. Furthermore, we study in detail the Klebanov-Witten type theory and its dual as a concrete example. We show that chiral operators and their non-linear relations match between these theories. These arguments also give non-trivial consistency checks for our proposal.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figures. v2:version to appear in JHE