Related papers: Eight dimensional physics and the Langlands progra…
We consider N=1 dualities in four dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories as a geometrical realization of wrapping D 6-branes around 3-cycles of Calabi-Yau threefolds in type IIA string theory. By extending the recent work of Ooguri and…
We build nearly topological quantum field theories in various dimensions. We give special attention to the case of 8 dimensions for which we first consider theories depending only on Yang-Mills fields. Two classes of gauge functions exist…
Maximally supersymmetric gauge theory in four dimensions admits local boundary conditions which preserve half of the bulk supersymmetries. The S-duality of the bulk gauge theory can be extended in a natural fashion to act on such half-BPS…
By analyzing super-torsion and brane super-cocycles, we derive a new duality in M-theory, which takes the form of a higher version of T-duality in string theory. This involves a new topology change mechanism abelianizing the 3-sphere…
We consider the local F-theory set-up corresponding to four D7 branes in type I' theory, in which the exact axio-dilaton background tau(z) is identified with the low-energy effective coupling of the four-dimensional N=2 super Yang-Mills…
The duality cascade, and its dual description as string theory on the warped deformed conifold, brings together several sophisticated topics, some of which are not widely known. These lectures, which contain a number of previously…
We show that only by performing generalized dimensional reductions all possible brane configurations are taken into account and one gets the complete lower-dimensional theory. We apply this idea to the reduction of type IIB supergravity in…
We review some aspects of the gravity duals of supersymmetric gauge theories, arising in the world-volume of D-branes wrapping supersymmetric cycles of special holonomy manifolds, within the framework of lower dimensional gauged…
The M-9-brane Wess-Zumino action is constructed, and by using it, consistency of the relation of p-branes for $p \ge 8$, suggested on the basis of superalgebra, is discussed.
We consider geometric engineering of N=1 supersymmetric QFTs with matter in terms of a local model for compactification of F-theory on Calabi-Yau fourfold. By bringing 3-branes near 7-branes we engineer N=1 supersymmetric $SU(N_c)$ gauge…
A particular two-parameter class of little string theories can be described by $M$ parallel M5-branes probing a transverse affine $A_{N-1}$ singularity. We previously discussed the duality between the theories labelled by $(N,M)$ and…
The Swampland Cobordism Conjecture successfully predicts the supersymmetric spectrum of 7-branes of IIB / F-theory. Including reflections on the F-theory torus, it also predicts the existence of new non-supersymmetric objects, which we dub…
We consider the D-branes that occur in IIA/IIB string theory compactified on a torus. We review how a general expression for the Wess-Zumino term of such branes is derived. We also review the method to determine the D-brane Wess-Zumino term…
These notes are based on lectures given in Wuhan (China) in July 2007. Their aim is to provide an introduction to Langlands philosophy.
Duality, the equivalence between seemingly distinct quantum systems, is a curious property that has been known for at least three quarters of a century. In the past two decades it has played a central role in mapping out the structure of…
We review the reduction of four-dimensional N=1 Seiberg duality to three dimensions focusing on the D brane engineering approach. We start with an overview of four-dimensional Seiberg duality for theories with various types of gauge groups…
We investigate a particle physics model in a six-dimensional spacetime, where two extra dimensions form a torus. Particles with Standard Model charges are confined by interactions with a scalar field to four four-dimensional branes, two…
Starting from the type IIB Dirichlet 3-brane action, we obtain a Nambu-Goto action. It is interpreted as the world volume action of a fundamental 3-brane, and its target space theory as F-theory. The target space is twelve dimensional, with…
We explicitly derive a complementary pair of four-dimensional M-theory brane-world models, linked by a five-dimensional bulk, each of which has a unique anomaly-free chiral spectrum. This is done via resolution of local consistency…
Deformations of the original F-theory background are proposed. These lead to multiple new dualities and physical phenomena. We concentrate on one model where we let seven-branes wrap a multi-centered Taub-NUT space instead of R4. This…