Related papers: Exotic instanton counting and heterotic/type I' du…
We analyze the vector multiplet prepotential of d=4, N=2 type IIA compactifications. We find that the worldsheet instanton corrections have a natural interpretation as one-loop corrections in five dimensions, with the extra dimension being…
We present new evidence for the conjecture that BPS correlation functions in the N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories are described by an auxiliary two dimensional conformal field theory. We study deformations of the N=2 supersymmetric gauge…
By means of the heterotic/type IIB duality, we study properties of junctions on backgrounds with a positively charged orientifold seven-plane and D-branes, which are expected to give seven dimensional Sp(r) gauge theories. We give a…
We study D1-branes on the fourfold $\C^4/(\Z_2\times\Z_2\times\Z_2)$, in the presence of discrete torsion. Discrete torsion is incorporated in the gauge theory of the D1-branes by considering a projective representation of the finite group…
In this contribution we describe how to obtain instanton effects in four dimensional gauge theories by computing string scattering amplitudes in D3/D(-1) brane systems. In particular we show that the disks with mixed boundary conditions,…
We use string field theory to fix the normalization of the D-instanton corrections to the superpotential involving the moduli fields of type II string theory compactified on an orientifold of a Calabi-Yau threefold in the absence of fluxes.…
In recent years, it has been widely argued that the duality transformations of string and M-theory naturally imply the existence of so-called `exotic branes'---low codimension objects with highly non-perturbative tensions, scaling as…
We revisit curious objects in string and M-theory called exotic brane---objects that are highly non-perturbative, possessing a tension that scales less than $g_s^{-2}$ and are generically of low-codimension. They are non-geometric in the…
In this expository paper we summarize the connection between random partitions and 4-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories discovered in hep-th/0306238. There is also a brief section about how this extends to 3-dimensional partitions…
We compute the elliptic genus of the D1/D7 brane system in flat space, finding a non-trivial dependence on the number of D7 branes, and provide an F-theory interpretation of the result. We show that the JK-residues contributing to the…
We analyse the non-perturbative superpotential due to M5-brane instantons in F-theory compactifications on Calabi-Yau fourfolds. The M5 partition function is obtained via holomorphic factorisation by explicitly performing the sum over…
We study limits of infinite distance in the moduli space of 4d $\mathcal{N} = 2$ string compactifications, in which instanton effects dominate. We first consider trajectories in the hypermultiplet moduli space of type IIB Calabi-Yau…
Effective field theories in type I and II superstring theories for D-branes located at points in the orbifold C^2/Z_n are supersymmetric gauge theories whose field content is conveniently summarized by a `quiver diagram,' and whose…
We consider systems of magnetized D9 branes on orbifolds supporting N=1 gauge theories. In such realizations, the matter multiplets arise from "twisted" strings connecting different stacks of branes. The introduction of Euclidean 5-branes…
In my lecture I consider integrals over moduli spaces of supersymmetric gauge field configurations (instantons, Higgs bundles, torsion free sheaves). The applications are twofold: physical and mathematical; they involve supersymmetric…
We calculate the D-instanton corrections (with all D-instanton numbers) to the quantum moduli space metric of a single matter hypermultiplet with toric isometry, in the effective N=2 supergravity arising in type-IIA superstrings…
We study the super instanton solution in the gauge theory with U$(n_{+}| n_{-})$ gauge group. Based on the ADHM construction generalized to the supergroup theory, we derive the instanton partition function from the super instanton moduli…
The moduli space of k G-instantons on R^4 for a classical gauge group G is known to be given by the Higgs branch of a supersymmetric gauge theory that lives on Dp branes probing D(p + 4) branes in Type II theories. For p = 3, these (3 + 1)…
It is shown that magnetic seven-branes previously considered as different objects are members of a one-parametric family of supersymmetric seven branes. We enlarge the class of seven-branes by constructing new magnetically and also…
We calculate some non-perturbative (D-instanton) quantum corrections to the moduli space metric of several (n>1) identical matter hypermultiplets for the type-IIA superstrings compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold, near conifold…