Higher Poincare Lemma and Integrability

We prove the non-abelian Poincare lemma in higher gauge theory in two different ways. The first method uses a result by Jacobowitz which states solvability conditions for differential equations of a certain type. The second method extends a proof by Voronov and yields the explicit gauge parameters connecting a flat local connective structure to the trivial one. Finally, we show how higher flatness appears as a necessary integrability condition of a linear system which featured in recently developed twistor descriptions of higher gauge theories.Comment: 1+21 pages, presentation streamlined, section on integrability for higher linear systems significantly improved, published versio

A Deformation of Twistor Space and a Chiral Mass Term in N=4 Super Yang-Mills Theory

Super twistor space admits a certain (super) complex structure deformation that preserves the Poincare subgroup of the symmetry group PSL(4|4) and depends on 10 parameters. In a previous paper [hep-th/0502076], it was proposed that in twistor string theory this deformation corresponds to augmenting N=4 super Yang-Mills theory by a mass term for the left-chirality spinors. In this paper we analyze this proposal in more detail. We calculate 4-particle scattering amplitudes of fermions, gluons and scalars and show that they are supported on holomorphic curves in the deformed twistor space.Comment: 52 pages, 15 figure

Adding flavour to twistor strings

Twistor string theory is known to describe a wide variety of field theories at tree-level and has proved extremely useful in making substantial progress in perturbative gauge theory. We explore the twistor dual description of a class of N=2 UV-finite super-Yang-Mills theories with fundamental flavour by adding 'flavour' branes to the topological B-model on super-twistor space and comment on the appearance of these objects. Evidence for the correspondence is provided by matching amplitudes on both sides.Comment: 6 pages; contribution to the proceedings for the European Physical Society conference on High Energy Physics in Manchester, 19-25 July 2007. v3: Typos correcte

Cervicothoracic Intradural Arachnoid Cyst Misdiagnosed as Motor Neuron Disease

Recognizing syndromes which mimic ALS is crucial both to avoid giving this diagnosis erroneously and since there may be appropriate treatments. We report a 63-year-old woman diagnosed with possible ALS five years ago based on upper and lower motor neuron signs with typical electrophysiology and normal cranial MRI. At reassessment, spinal MRI revealed a cervicothoracic cyst with cord compression that was successfully treated neurosurgically. Histopathology confirmed an arachnoid origin as suspected from MRI. Spinal cysts may mimic ALS and need to be thoroughly excluded by appropriate imaging

Toric Calabi-Yau supermanifolds and mirror symmetry

We study mirror symmetry of supermanifolds constructed as fermionic extensions of compact toric varieties. We mainly discuss the case where the linear sigma A-model contains as many fermionic fields as there are U(1) factors in the gauge group. In the mirror super-Landau-Ginzburg B-model, focus is on the bosonic structure obtained after integrating out all the fermions. Our key observation is that there is a relation between the super-Calabi-Yau conditions of the A-model and quasi-homogeneity of the B-model, and that the degree of the associated superpotential in the B-model is given in terms of the determinant of the fermion charge matrix of the A-model.Comment: 20 pages, v2: references adde

Drinfeld-Twisted Supersymmetry and Non-Anticommutative Superspace

We extend the analysis of hep-th/0408069 on a Lorentz invariant interpretation of noncommutative spacetime to field theories on non-anticommutative superspace with half the supersymmetries broken. By defining a Drinfeld-twisted Hopf superalgebra, it is shown that one can restore twisted supersymmetry and therefore obtain a twisted version of the chiral rings along with certain Ward-Takahashi identities. Moreover, we argue that the representation content of theories on the deformed superspace is identical to that of their undeformed cousins and comment on the consequences of our analysis concerning non-renormalization theorems.Comment: 1+17 pages; typos fixed, minor correction

Fuzzy Scalar Field Theory as a Multitrace Matrix Model

We develop an analytical approach to scalar field theory on the fuzzy sphere based on considering a perturbative expansion of the kinetic term. This expansion allows us to integrate out the angular degrees of freedom in the hermitian matrices encoding the scalar field. The remaining model depends only on the eigenvalues of the matrices and corresponds to a multitrace hermitian matrix model. Such a model can be solved by standard techniques as e.g. the saddle-point approximation. We evaluate the perturbative expansion up to second order and present the one-cut solution of the saddle-point approximation in the large N limit. We apply our approach to a model which has been proposed as an appropriate regularization of scalar field theory on the plane within the framework of fuzzy geometry.Comment: 1+25 pages, replaced with published version, minor improvement

Instanton operators in five-dimensional gauge theories

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits any use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are creditedN.L. is supported in part by STFC grant ST/J002798/1. C.P. is a Royal Society Research Fellow.N.L. is supported in part by STFC grant ST/J002798/1. C.P. is a Royal Society Research Fellow.N.L. is supported in part by STFC grant ST/J002798/1. OPen Aceess funded by SCOAP

Fuzzy Scalar Field Theory as Matrix Quantum Mechanics

We study the phase diagram of scalar field theory on a three dimensional Euclidean spacetime whose spatial component is a fuzzy sphere. The corresponding model is an ordinary one-dimensional matrix model deformed by terms involving fixed external matrices. These terms can be approximated by multitrace expressions using a group theoretical method developed recently. The resulting matrix model is accessible to the standard techniques of matrix quantum mechanics.Comment: 1+17 pages, 4 figures, minor improvements, version published in JHE

On Local Calabi-Yau Supermanifolds and Their Mirrors

We use local mirror symmetry to study a class of local Calabi-Yau super-manifolds with bosonic sub-variety V_b having a vanishing first Chern class. Solving the usual super- CY condition, requiring the equality of the total U(1) gauge charges of bosons \Phi_{b} and the ghost like fields \Psi_{f} one \sum_{b}q_{b}=\sum_{f}Q_{f}, as \sum_{b}q_{b}=0 and \sum_{f}Q_{f}=0, several examples are studied and explicit results are given for local A_{r} super-geometries. A comment on purely fermionic super-CY manifolds corresponding to the special case where q_{b}=0, \forall b and \sum_{f}Q_{f}=0 is also made.\bigskipComment: 17 page