Equivalence of Carter diagrams

We introduce the equivalence relation ρ on the set of Carter diagrams and construct an explicit transformation of any Carter diagram containing l-cycles with l>4 to an equivalent Carter diagram containing only 4-cycles. Transforming one Carter diagram Γ₁ to another Carter diagram Γ₂ we can get a certain intermediate diagram Γ′ which is not necessarily a Carter diagram. Such an intermediate diagram is called a connection diagram. The relation ρ is the equivalence relation on the set of Carter diagrams and connection diagrams. The properties of connection and Carter diagrams are studied in this paper. The paper contains an alternative proof of Carter's classification of admissible diagrams

On Arnold's 14 `exceptional' N=2 superconformal gauge theories

We study the four-dimensional superconformal N=2 gauge theories engineered by the Type IIB superstring on Arnold's 14 exceptional unimodal singularities (a.k.a. Arnold's strange duality list), thus extending the methods of 1006.3435 to singularities which are not the direct sum of minimal ones. In particular, we compute their BPS spectra in several `strongly coupled' chambers. From the TBA side, we construct ten new periodic Y-systems, providing additional evidence for the existence of a periodic Y-system for each isolated quasi-homogeneous singularity with $\hat c<2$ (more generally, for each N=2 superconformal theory with a finite BPS chamber whose chiral primaries have dimensions of the form N/l).Comment: 73 pages, 7 figure

Categorical Tinkertoys for N=2 Gauge Theories

In view of classification of the quiver 4d N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories, we discuss the characterization of the quivers with superpotential (Q,W) associated to a N=2 QFT which, in some corner of its parameter space, looks like a gauge theory with gauge group G. The basic idea is that the Abelian category rep(Q,W) of (finite-dimensional) representations of the Jacobian algebra $\mathbb{C} Q/(\partial W)$ should enjoy what we call the Ringel property of type G; in particular, rep(Q,W) should contain a universal `generic' subcategory, which depends only on the gauge group G, capturing the universality of the gauge sector. There is a family of 'light' subcategories $\mathscr{L}_\lambda\subset rep(Q,W)$, indexed by points $\lambda\in N$, where $N$ is a projective variety whose irreducible components are copies of $\mathbb{P}^1$ in one--to--one correspondence with the simple factors of G. In particular, for a Gaiotto theory there is one such family of subcategories, $\mathscr{L}_{\lambda\in N}$, for each maximal degeneration of the corresponding surface $\Sigma$, and the index variety $N$ may be identified with the degenerate Gaiotto surface itself: generic light subcategories correspond to cylinders, while closed-point subcategories to `fixtures' (spheres with three punctures of various kinds) and higher-order generalizations. The rules for `gluing' categories are more general that the geometric gluing of surfaces, allowing for a few additional exceptional N=2 theories which are not of the Gaiotto class.Comment: 142 pages, 8 figures, 5 table

4d N=2 Gauge Theories and Quivers: the Non-Simply Laced Case

We construct the BPS quivers with superpotential for the 4d N=2 gauge theories with non-simply laced Lie groups (B_n, C_n, F_4 and G_2). The construction is inspired by the BIKMSV geometric engineering of these gauge groups as non-split singular elliptic fibrations. From the categorical viewpoint of arXiv:1203.6743, the fibration of the light category L(g) over the (degenerate) Gaiotto curve has a monodromy given by the action of the outer automorphism of the corresponding unfolded Lie algebra. In view of the Katz--Vafa `matter from geometry' mechanism, the monodromic idea may be extended to the construction of (Q, W) for SYM coupled to higher matter representations. This is done through a construction we call specialization.Comment: 42 pages, 2 figure