Related papers: From topological strings to minimal models

We propose and demonstrate a limiting procedure in which, starting from the q-lifted version (or K-theoretic five dimensional version) of the (W)AGT conjecture to be assumed in this paper, the Virasoro/W block is generated in the r-th root…

We study Nekrasov's instanton partition function of four-dimensional N=2 gauge theories in the presence of surface operators. This can be computed order by order in the instanton expansion by using results available in the mathematical…

We study the 4d/2d AGT correspondence between four-dimensional instanton counting and two-dimensional conformal blocks for generalized SU(2) quiver gauge theories coming from punctured Gaiotto curves of arbitrary genus. We propose a…

The topological vertex formalism for 5d $\mathcal{N}=1$ gauge theories is not only a convenient tool to compute the instanton partition function of these theories, but it is also accompanied by a nice algebraic structure that reveals…

We study instanton partition functions for N=2 superconformal Sp(1) and SO(4) gauge theories. We find that they agree with the corresponding U(2) instanton partitions functions only after a non-trivial mapping of the microscopic gauge…

We consider the problem of computing (irregular) conformal blocks in 2d CFTs whose chiral symmetry algebra is the N=2 superconformal algebra. Our construction uses two ingredients: (i) the relation between the representation theories of the…

We construct confluent conformal blocks of the second kind of the Virasoro algebra. We also construct the Stokes transformations which map such blocks in one Stokes sector to another. In the BPZ limit, we verify explicitly that the…

We show how to map Grothendieck's dessins d'enfants to algebraic curves as Seiberg-Witten curves, then use the mirror map and the AGT map to obtain the corresponding 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric instanton partition functions and 2d…

We revisit the line of non-unitary theories that interpolate between the Virasoro minimal models. Numerical bootstrap applications have brought about interest in the four-point function involving the scalar primary of lowest dimension.…

Quantum toroidal algebras are obtained from quantum affine algebras by a further affinization, and, like the latter, can be used to construct integrable systems. These algebras also describe the symmetries of instanton partition functions…

We explain a construction of $G_2$-instantons on manifolds obtained by resolving $G_2$-orbifolds. This includes the case of $G_2$-instantons on resolutions of $T^7/\Gamma$ as a special case. The ingredients needed are a $G_2$-instanton on…

We give elementary constructions of manifold with corner structures and associative gluing maps on compactifications of spaces of infinite, half infinite, and finite Morse flow lines.

We study an analog of the AGT relation in five dimensions. We conjecture that the instanton partition function of 5D N=1 pure SU(2) gauge theory coincides with the inner product of the Gaiotto-like state in the deformed Virasoro algebra. In…

We give a general criterion for conformal embeddings of vertex operator algebras associated to affine Lie algebras at arbitrary levels. Using that criterion, we construct new conformal embeddings at admissible rational and negative integer…

We propose brane web configurations for $D$-type and $E$-type $\mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ little string theories based on a trivalent or quadrivalent gluing of 5-brane web diagrams. Tri-/quadri-valent gluing is a powerful way of computing 5d/6d…

We produce many new complete, constant Q-curvature metrics on finitely punctured spheres by gluing together known examples. In our construction we truncate one end of each summand and glue the two summands together "end-to-end," where we've…

Following a recent paper by Alday and Tachikawa, we compute the instanton partition function in the presence of the surface operator by the localization formula on the moduli space. For SU(2) theories we find an exact agreement with CFT…

We describe rules for building 2d theories labeled by 4-manifolds. Using the proposed dictionary between building blocks of 4-manifolds and 2d N=(0,2) theories, we obtain a number of results, which include new 3d N=2 theories T[M_3]…

We give a simple derivation of the conformal blocks of the singleton sector of compactifications of IIB string theory on spacetimes of the form X5 x Y5 with Y5 compact, while X5 has as conformal boundary an arbitrary 4-manifold M4. We…

We study the stringy instanton partition function of four dimensional ${\cal N}=2$ $U(N)$ supersymmetric gauge theory which was obtained by Bonelli et al in 2013. In type IIB string theory on $\mathbb{C}^2\times T^*\mathbb{P}^1\times…