No Arabic abstract
We study supersymmetric AdS$_7$ vacua of massive type IIA string theory, which were argued to describe the near-horizon limit of NS5/D6/D8-brane intersections and to be holographically dual to 6D $(1,0)$ theories. We show, for the case without D8-brane charges, that such vacua do not admit any supersymmetry-breaking deformations. Our result implies that the dual $(1,0)$ theories do not have a conformal manifold, thus extending previously known results for supersymmetric deformations. It is also in line with the recent conjecture that non-supersymmetric AdS vacua are in the swampland.
The Bagger-Witten line bundle is a line bundle over moduli spaces of two-dimensional SCFTs, related to the Hodge line bundle of holomorphic top-forms on Calabi-Yau manifolds. It has recently been a subject of a number of conjectures, but concrete examples have proven elusive. In this paper we collect several results on this structure, including a proposal for an intrinsic geometric definition over moduli spaces of Calabi-Yau manifolds and some additional concrete examples. We also conjecture a new criterion for UV completion of four-dimensional supergravity theories in terms of properties of the Bagger-Witten line bundle.
We propose new five-dimensional gauge theory descriptions of six-dimensional $mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ superconformal field theories arising from type IIA brane configurations including an $ON^0$-plane. The new five-dimensional gauge theories may have $SO$, $Sp$, and $SU$ gauge groups and further broaden the landscape of ultraviolet complete five-dimensional $mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmetric gauge theories. When we include an $O8^-$-plane in addition to an $ON^0$-plane, T-duality yields two $O7^-$-planes at the intersections of an $ON^0$-plane and two $O5^0$-planes. We propose a novel resolution of the $O7^-$-plane with four D7-branes in such a configuration, which enables us to obtain three different types of five-dimensional gauge theories, depending on whether we resolve either none or one or two $O7^-$-planes. Such different possibilities yield a new five-dimensional duality between a D-type $SU$ quiver and an $SO-Sp$ quiver theories. We also claim that a twisted circle compactification of a six-dimensional superconformal field theory may lead to a five-dimensional gauge theory different from those obtained by a simple circle compactification.
Recent work has established a uniform characterization of most 6D SCFTs in terms of generalized quivers with conformal matter. Compactification of the partial tensor branch deformation of these theories on a $T^2$ leads to 4D $mathcal{N} = 2$ SCFTs which are also generalized quivers. Taking products of bifundamental conformal matter operators, we present evidence that there are large R-charge sectors of the theory in which operator mixing is captured by a 1D spin chain Hamiltonian with operator scaling dimensions controlled by a perturbation series in inverse powers of the R-charge. We regulate the inherent divergences present in the 6D computations with the associated 5D Kaluza--Klein theory. In the case of 6D SCFTs obtained from M5-branes probing a $mathbb{C}^{2}/mathbb{Z}_{K}$ singularity, we show that there is a class of operators where the leading order mixing effects are captured by the integrable Heisenberg $XXX_{s=1/2}$ spin chain with open boundary conditions, and similar considerations hold for its $T^2$ reduction to a 4D $mathcal{N}=2$ SCFT. In the case of M5-branes probing more general D- and E-type singularities where generalized quivers have conformal matter, we argue that similar mixing effects are captured by an integrable $XXX_{s}$ spin chain with $s>1/2$. We also briefly discuss some generalizations to other operator sectors as well as little string theories.
We study twisted circle compactification of 6d $(2,0)$ SCFTs to 5d $mathcal{N} = 2$ supersymmetric gauge theories with non-simply-laced gauge groups. We provide two complementary approaches towards the BPS partition functions, reflecting the 5d and 6d point of view respectively. The first is based on the blowup equations for the instanton partition function, from which in particular we determine explicitly the one-instanton contribution for all simple Lie groups. The second is based on the modular bootstrap program, and we propose a novel modular ansatz for the twisted elliptic genera that transform under the congruence subgroups $Gamma_0(N)$ of $text{SL}(2,mathbb{Z})$. We conjecture a vanishing bound for the refined Gopakumar-Vafa invariants of the genus one fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds, upon which one can determine the twisted elliptic genera recursively. We use our results to obtain the 6d Cardy formulas and find universal behaviour for all simple Lie groups. In addition, the Cardy formulas remain invariant under the twist once the normalization of the compact circle is taken into account.
We consider compactifications of $6d$ minimal $(D_{N+3},D_{N+3})$ type conformal matter SCFTs on a generic Riemann surface. We derive the theories corresponding to three punctured spheres (trinions) with three maximal punctures, from which one can construct models corresponding to generic surfaces. The trinion models are simple quiver theories with $mathcal{N}=1$ $SU(2)$ gauge nodes. One of the three puncture non abelian symmetries is emergent in the IR. The derivation of the trinions proceeds by analyzing RG flows between conformal matter SCFTs with different values of $N$ and relations between their subsequent reductions to $4d$. In particular, using the flows we first derive trinions with two maximal and one minimal punctures, and then we argue that collections of $N$ minimal punctures can be interpreted as a maximal one. This suggestion is checked by matching the properties of the $4d$ models such as `t Hooft anomalies, symmetries, and the structure of the conformal manifold to the expectations from $6d$. We then use the understanding that collections of minimal punctures might be equivalent to maximal ones to construct trinions with three maximal punctures, and then $4d$ theories corresponding to arbitrary surfaces, for $6d$ models described by two $M5$ branes probing a $mathbb{Z}_k$ singularity. This entails the introduction of a novel type of maximal puncture. Again, the suggestion is checked by matching anomalies, symmetries and the conformal manifold to expectations from six dimensions. These constructions thus give us a detailed understanding of compactifications of two sequences of six dimensional SCFTs to four dimensions.