Related papers: Instanton Operators and the Higgs Branch at Infini…
We construct smooth asymptotically AdS_5xS^5 solutions of Type IIB supergravity corresponding to all the half-BPS surface operators in N=4 SYM. All the parameters labeling a half-BPS surface operator are identified in the corresponding…
We analyze the large $N$ spectrum of chiral primary operators of three dimensional fixed points of the renormalization group. Using the space-time picture of the fixed points and the correspondence between anti-de Sitter compactifications…
We further explore the correspondence between N=2 supersymmetric SU(2) gauge theory with four flavors on epsilon-deformed backgrounds and conformal field theory, with an emphasis on the epsilon-expansion of the partition function natural…
We explore the Higgs branches of five-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ quiver gauge theories at finite coupling from the paradigm of M-theory on local Calabi-Yau threefolds described as $\mathbb{C}^\ast$-fibrations over local K3's. By properly…
We present a new duality between the F-terms of supersymmetric field theories defined in two- and four-dimensions respectively. The duality relates N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories in four dimensions, deformed by an Omega-background in one…
In gauge theories with continuous groups there exist classical solutions whose energy vanishes in the thermodynamic limit (in any dimension). The existence of these super-instantons is intimately related to the fact that even at short…
We discuss non-linear instantons in supersymmetric field theories on curved spaces arising from D-branes. Focusing on D3-branes and four-dimensional field theories, we derive the supersymmetry conditions and show the intimate relation…
We compute the gravitational coupling $F_1$ for IIA string theory on $K3 \times T^2$ and use string-string duality to deduce the corresponding term for heterotic string on $T^6$. The latter is an infinite sum of gravitational instanton…
A $Z_2$ symmetry that extends the weak interaction, $SU(2)_L \rightarrow SU(2)_L \times SU(2)'$, and the Higgs sector, $H(2) \rightarrow H(2,1) + H'(1,2)$, yields a Standard Model quartic coupling that vanishes at scale $v' = <H'>~\gg~<H>$.…
The arcane ADHM construction of Yang-Mills instantons can be very naturally understood in the framework of D-brane dynamics in string theory. In this point-of-view, the mysterious auxiliary symmetry of the ADHM construction arises as a…
D-instanton calculus has proved to be able to probe the AdS near horizon geometry for $N$ D-branes systems which, when decoupled from gravity, yield four dimensional superconformal gauge theories with various matter content. In this work we…
Non-singular instantons are shown to exist on noncommutative R^4 even with a U(1) gauge group. Their existence is primarily due to the noncommutativity of the space. The relation between U(1) instantons on noncommutative R^4 and the…
Higher dimensional grand unified theories, with gauge symmetry breaking by orbifold compactification, possess SU(5) breaking at fixed points, and do not automatically lead to tree-level gauge coupling unification. A new framework is…
We construct and classify $SU(3)$-invariant primitive Hermitian Yang-Mills connections and $Sp(2)$-instantons with gauge groups $S = S^1$ and $S = SO(3)$ over the Calabi manifold $X = T^*CP^2$, the unique non-flat, complete,…
Recently, it was found that certain 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ Lagrangians experience supersymmetry enhancement at their IR fixed point, thereby giving a Lagrangian description for a plethora of Argyres-Douglas theories. A generic feature of these…
We find that tachyonic orbifold examples of AdS/CFT have corresponding instabilities at small radius, and can decay to more generic gauge theories. We do this by computing a destabilizing Coleman-Weinberg effective potential for twisted…
We report on the computation of the one-instanton contribution to the 16-point Green function of fermionic composite operators in N=4 Super YM theory. The remarkable agreement, initially found in the case of an SU(2) gauge group, with the…
We analyze the phases of supersymmetric chiral gauge theories with an antisymmetric tensor and (anti)fundamental flavors, in the presence of a classically marginal superpotential deformation. Varying the number of flavors that appear in the…
We analyze M5-instantons in F-theory, or equivalently D3-instantons with varying axio-dilaton, in the presence of 7-brane gauge groups. The chiral two-form on the M5-brane plays an important role, because it couples the M5-brane to vector…
We discuss three classes of solitonic solutions in string theory: instantons, monopoles and string-like solitons. Instantons may provide a nonperturbative understanding of the vacuum structure of string theory, while monopoles may appear in…