No Arabic abstract
Superconformal field theories (SCFT) are known to possess solvable yet nontrivial sectors in their full operator algebras. Two prime examples are the chiral algebra sector on a two dimensional plane in four dimensional $mathcal{N}=2$ SCFTs, and the topological quantum mechanics (TQM) sector on a line in three dimensional $mathcal{N}=4$ SCFTs. Under Weyl transformation, they respectively map to operator algebras on a great torus in $S^1times S^3$ and a great circle in $S^3$, and are naturally related by reduction along the $S^1$ factor, which amounts to taking the Cardy (high-temperature) limit of the four dimensional theory on $S^1times S^3$. We elaborate on this relation by explicit examples that involve both Lagrangian and non-Lagrangian theories in four dimensions, where the chiral algebra sector is generally described by a certain W-algebra, while the three dimensional descendant SCFT always has a (mirror) Lagrangian description. By taking into account a subtle R-symmetry mixing, we provide explicit dictionaries between selected operator product expansion (OPE) data in the four and three dimensional SCFTs, which we verify in the examples using recent localization results in four and three dimensions. Our methods thus provide nontrivial support for various chiral algebra proposals in the literature. Along the way, we also identify three dimensional mirrors for Argyres-Douglas theories of type $(A_1, D_{2n+1})$ reduced on $S^1$, and find more evidence for earlier proposals in the case of $(A_1, A_{2n-2})$, which both realize certain superconformal boundary conditions for the four dimensional $mathcal{N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills. This is a companion paper to arXiv:1911.05741.
In this note we address the question whether one can recover from the vertex operator algebra associated with a four-dimensional N=2 superconformal field theory the deformation quantization of the Higgs branch of vacua that appears as a protected subsector in the three-dimensional circle-reduced theory. We answer this question positively if the UV R-symmetries do not mix with accidental (topological) symmetries along the renormalization group flow from the four-dimensional theory on a circle to the three-dimensional theory. If they do mix, we still find a deformation quantization but at different values of its period.
Recently, Gaiotto and Rapcak proposed a generalization of $W_N$ algebra by considering the symmetry at the corner of the brane intersection (corner vertex operator algebra). The algebra, denoted as $Y_{L,M,N}$, is characterized by three non-negative integers $L, M, N$. It has a manifest triality automorphism which interchanges $L, M, N$, and can be obtained as a reduction of $W_{1+infty}$ through a pit in the plane partition representation. Later, Prochazka and Rapcak proposed a representation of $Y_{L,M,N}$ in terms of $L+M+N$ free bosons through a generalization of Miura transformation, where they use the fractional power differential operators. In this paper, we derive a $q$-deformation of their Miura transformation. It gives the free field representation for $q$-deformed $Y_{L,M,N}$, which is obtained as a reduction of the quantum toroidal algebra. We find that the $q$-deformed version has a simpler structure than the original one because of the Miki duality in the quantum toroidal algebra. For instance, one can find a direct correspondence between the operators obtained by the Miura transformation and those of the quantum toroidal algebra. Furthermore, we can show that the screening charges of both the symmetries are identical.
It was recently shown that multi-point conformal blocks in higher dimensional conformal field theory can be considered as joint eigenfunctions for a system of commuting differential operators. The latter arise as Hamiltonians of a Gaudin integrable system. In this work we address the reduced fourth order differential operators that measure the choice of 3-point tensor structures for all vertices of 3- and 4-dimensional comb channel conformal blocks. These vertices come associated with a single cross ratio. Remarkably, we identify the vertex operators as Hamiltonians of a crystallographic elliptic Calogero-Moser-Sutherland model that was discovered originally by Etingof, Felder, Ma and Veselov. Our construction is based on a further development of the embedding space formalism for mixed-symmetry tensor fields. The results thereby also apply to comb channel vertices of 5- and 6-point functions in arbitrary dimension.
We show that the four-dimensional Chern-Simons theory studied by Costello, Witten and Yamazaki, is, with Nahm pole-type boundary conditions, dual to a boundary theory that is a three-dimensional analogue of Toda theory with a novel 3d W-algebra symmetry. By embedding four-dimensional Chern-Simons theory in a partial twist of the five-dimensional maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory on a manifold with corners, we argue that this three-dimensional Toda theory is dual to a two-dimensional topological sigma model with A-branes on the moduli space of solutions to the Bogomolny equations. This furnishes a novel 3d-2d correspondence, which, among other mathematical implications, also reveals that modules of the 3d W-algebra are modules for the quantized algebra of certain holomorphic functions on the Bogomolny moduli space.
In this paper, the notion of operator means in the setting of JB-algebras is introduced and their properties are studied. Many identities and inequalities are established, most of them have origins from operators on Hilbert space but they have different forms and connotations, and their proofs require techniques in JB-algebras.