No Arabic abstract
We present a novel global E_7(7) symmetry in five-dimensional maximal supergravity as well as an E_8(8) symmetry in d=4. These symmetry groups which are known to be present after reduction to d=4 and d=3, respectively, appear as conformal extensions of the respective well-known hidden-symmetry groups. A global scaling symmetry of the Lagrangian is the key to enhancement of E_6(6) to E_7(7) in d=5 and E_7(7) to E_8(8) in d=4. The group action on the physical fields is induced by conformal transformations in auxiliary spaces of dimensions 27 and 56, respectively. The construction is analogous to the one where the conformal group of Minkowski space acts on the boundary of AdS_5 space. A geometrical picture underlying the action of these ``conformal duality groups is given.
We show that it is in principle possible to construct dualities between commutative and non-commutative theories in a systematic way. This construction exploits a generalization of the exact renormalization group equation (ERG). We apply this to the simple case of the Landau problem and then generalize it to the free and interacting non-canonical scalar field theory. This constructive approach offers the advantage of tracking the implementation of the Lorentz symmetry in the non-commutative dual theory. In principle, it allows for the construction of completely consistent non-commutative and non-local theories where the Lorentz symmetry and unitarity are still respected, but may be implemented in a highly non-trivial and non-local manner.
We use the superspace formulation of supergravity in eleven and ten dimensions to compute fermion couplings on the M2-brane and on D$p$-branes. In this formulation fermionic couplings arise naturally from the $theta$-expansion of the superfields from which the brane actions are constructed. The techniques we use and develop can in principle be applied to determine the fermionic couplings to general background fields up to arbitrary order. Starting with the superspace formulation of 11-dimensional supergravity, we use a geometric technique known as the `normal coordinate method to obtain the $theta$-expansion of the M2-brane action. We then present a method which allows us to translate the knowledge of fermionic couplings on the M2-brane to knowledge of such couplings on the D2-brane, and then to any D$p$-brane. This method is based on superspace generalizations of both the compactification taking 11-dimensional supergravity to type IIA supergravity and the T-duality rules connecting the type IIA and type IIB supergravities.
We revisit the question whether the worldsheet theory of a string admits a global O(d,d) symmetry. We consider the truncation of the target space theory in which fields are independent of d coordinates, which is O(d,d,R) invariant. The worldsheet theory is not O(d,d,R) invariant, unless it is truncated by setting winding and center-of-mass momenta to zero. We prove consistency of this truncation and give a manifestly O(d,d,R) invariant action, generalizing a formulation due to Tseytlin by including all external and internal target space fields. It is shown that, due to chiral bosons, this symmetry is anomalous. The anomaly is cancelled by a Green-Schwarz mechanism that utilizes the external B-field.
Using the superconformal (SC) indices techniques, we construct Seiberg type dualities for $mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmetric field theories outside the conformal windows. These theories are physically distinguished by the presence of chiral superfields with small or negative $R$-charges.
When one of the space-time dimension is compactified on $S^1$, the QCD exhibits the chiral phase transition at some critical radius. When we further turn on a background $theta$ term which depends on the $S^1$ compactified coordinate, a topological ordered phase appears at low energy via the winding of $theta$. We discuss what kind of theories can describe the physics near the critical point by requiring the matching of topological field theories in the infrared. As one of the possibilities, we propose a scenario where the $rho$ and $omega$ mesons form a $U(N_f)$ gauge theory near the critical point. In the phase where the chiral symmetry is restored, they become the dual gauge boson of the gluon related by the level-rank duality between the three dimensional gauge theories, $SU(N)_{N_f}$ and $U(N_f)_{-N}$.