Related papers: M-strings, Elliptic Genera and N=4 String Amplitud…
We study a family of 2d N=(0,4) gauge theories which describes at low energy the dynamics of E-strings, the M2-branes suspended between a pair of M5 and M9 branes. The gauge theory is engineered using a duality with type IIA theory, leading…
In this paper, we explicitly construct string theory backgrounds that realise the so-called $\mathcal N=2^\star$ gauge theory. We prove the consistency of our models by calculating their partition function and obtaining the correct gauge…
We consider M-theory in the presence of M parallel M5-branes probing a transverse A_{N-1} singularity. This leads to a superconformal theory with (1,0) supersymmetry in six dimensions. We compute the supersymmetric partition function of…
We construct two-dimensional N=(2,2) supersymmetric gauge theories with orthogonal and symplectic groups using branes and orientifold planes in Type IIA string theory. A number of puzzles regarding the construction, including the effect of…
We study the topological string partition function of a class of toric, double elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds $X_{N,M}$ at a generic point in the K\"ahler moduli space. These manifolds engineer little string theories in five…
We compute partition functions of the deformed multiple M5-branes theory on $K3\times T^2$ using the refined topological vertex formalism and the Borcherds lift. The deformation is related to the mass deformation in the corresponding four…
We investigate the physics of the E-string theory and its compactifications as well as their applications to four-dimensional topology. In particular, we compute the partition function of the topologically twisted theory on $M_4\times T^2$,…
We evaluate the Nekrasov partition function of 5d gauge theories engineered by webs of 5-branes, using the refined topological vertex on the dual Calabi-Yau threefolds. The theories include certain non-Lagrangian theories such as the T_N…
The partition function of type IIA and B strings on R^6xK3, in the T^4/Z_2 orbifold limit, is explicitly computed as a modular invariant sum over spin strutures required by perturbative unitarity in order to extend the analysis to include…
We propose a novel string theory propagating in a non-commutative deformation of the four dimensional space T* T^2 whose scattering states correspond to superconformal theories in 5 dimensions and the scattering amplitudes compute…
We calculate gauge instanton corrections to a class of higher derivative string effective couplings introduced in [1]. We work in Type I string theory compactified on K3xT2 and realise gauge instantons in terms of D5-branes wrapping the…
A formula was recently proposed for the perturbative partition function of certain $\mathcal N=1$ gauge theories on the round four-sphere, using an analytic-continuation argument in the number of dimensions. These partition functions are…
M2 branes suspended between adjacent parallel M5 branes lead to light strings, the `M-strings'. In this paper we compute the elliptic genus of M-strings, twisted by maximally allowed symmetries that preserve 2d (2,0) supersymmetry. In a…
We investigate the structure of the higher genus topological string amplitudes on the quintic hypersurface. It is shown that the partition functions of the higher genus than one can be expressed as polynomials of five generators. We also…
We compute the Nekrasov partition function of gauge theories on the (resolved) toric singularities C^2/\Gamma in terms of blow-up formulae. We discuss the expansion of the partition function in the \epsilon_1,\epsilon_2 \to 0 limit along…
A deformation of the N=2 topological string partition function is analyzed by considering higher dimensional F-terms of the type W^{2g}*Upsilon^n, where W is the chiral Weyl superfield and each Upsilon factor stands for the chiral…
We consider two generalizations of the N=6 superconformal Chern-Simons-matter theories with gauge group U(N)xU(N). The first generalization is to N=6 superconformal U(M)xU(N) theories, and the second to N=5 superconformal O(2M)xUSp(2N) and…
We consider the topological string partition function, including the Nekrasov deformation, for type IIB geometries with an A_{n-1} singularity over a Riemann surface. These models realize the N=2 SU(n) superconformal gauge systems recently…
The $R^2 F^{2g-2}$ terms of Type IIA strings on Calabi-Yau 3-folds, which are given by the corresponding topological string amplitudes (a worldsheet instanton sum for all genera), are shown to have a simple M-theory interpretation. In…
We show how the topological string partition function, which is known to capture the degeneracies of a gas of BPS spinning M2-branes in M-theory compactified to 5 dimensions, is related to a 4-dimensional D-brane system that consists of…