Related papers: D2-brane Chern-Simons theories: F-maximization = a…
Three-dimensional supersymmetric Chern-Simons Matter (CSM) theories typically preserve $ \mathcal{N}=3$ supersymmetry but can exhibit enhanced $\mathcal{N}=4$ supersymmetry under special conditions. A detailed understanding of the moduli…
We discuss the N=2 superspace formulation of the N=8 superconformal Bagger-Lambert-Gustavsson theory, and of the N=6 superconformal Aharony-Bergman-Jafferis-Maldacena U(N)xU(N) Chern-Simons theory. In particular, we prove the full SU(4)…
The superconformal index of quiver gauge theories realized on D3-branes in toric Calabi-Yau cones is investigated. We use the AdS/CFT correspondence and study D3-branes wrapped on supersymmetric cycles. We focus on brane configurations in…
We study the classical geometry associated to fractional D3-branes of type IIB string theory on R^4/Z_2 which provide the gravitational dual for N=2 super Yang-Mills theory in four dimensions. As one can expect from the lack of conformal…
We explore the spectrum of lower-dimensional anti-de Sitter (AdS) solutions in $F(4)$ gauged supergravity in six dimensions. The ansatz employed corresponds to D4-branes partially wrapped on various supersymmetric cycles in special holonomy…
In this note, we calculate the $S^3$ free energy $F$ of 3-d ${\cal N}\geq 4$ supersymmetric gauge theories with $U(N)$, $O(N)$, and $USp(2N)$ gauge groups and matter hypermultiplets in the fundamental and two-index tensor representations.…
We consider configurations of D7-branes and whole and fractional D3-branes with N=2 supersymmetry. On the supergravity side these have a warp factor, three-form flux and a nonconstant dilaton. We discuss general IIB solutions of this type…
We derive new crystal melting models from Chern-Simons theory on the three-sphere. Via large N duality, these models compute amplitudes for A-model on the resolved conifold. The crystal is bounded by two walls whose distance corresponds to…
Recently Aharony, Bergman and Jafferis (ABJ) have argued that a 3d U(N+M)xU(N) Chern-Simons gauge theory at level (k,-k) may have a vacuum with N=6 supersymmetry only if M<k+1 and if a certain period of the B-field in a IIA background is…
We provide a general set of rules for extracting the data defining a quiver gauge theory from a given toric Calabi-Yau singularity. Our method combines information from the geometry and topology of Sasaki-Einstein manifolds, AdS/CFT,…
We study N=1 dualities in four dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories by D 6-branes wrapping around 3-cycles of Calabi-Yau threefolds in the type IIA string theory. We consider the models involving $SU(N_{c1})\times SU(N_{c2})$ product…
We find novel bound states of NS5, D6 and D8-branes in massive Type IIA string theory. As the NS gauge transformations can change the Chern class of the RR field these configurations should be thought of as nonlocal objects called gerbes.…
We describe a technique which enables one to quickly compute an infinite number of toric geometries and their dual quiver gauge theories. The central object in this construction is a ``brane tiling,'' which is a collection of D5-branes…
We consider D7-branes in the gauge theory/string theory correspondence, using a probe approximation. The D7-branes have four directions embedded holomorphically in a non-compact Calabi-Yau 3-fold (which for specificity we take to be the…
We derive the general form for a three-dimensional scale-invariant field theory with N=6 supersymmetry, SU(4) R-symmetry and a U(1) global symmetry. The results can be written in terms of a 3-algebra in which the triple product is not…
We discuss fractional D3-branes on the orbifold C^3/Z_2*Z_2. We study the open and the closed string spectrum on this orbifold. The corresponding N=1 theory on the brane has, generically, a U(N_1)*U(N_2)*U(N_3)*U(N_4) gauge group with…
In this review article we study type IIB superstring compactifications in the presence of space-time filling D-branes while preserving N=1 supersymmetry in the effective four-dimensional theory. This amount of unbroken supersymmetry and the…
We obtain N=1 SU(N)^k gauge theories with bifundamental matter and a quartic superpotential as the low energy theory on D3-branes at singular points. These theories generalize that on D3-branes at a conifold point, studied recently by…
We study a class of compactifications of M-theory to three dimensions that preserve N=2 supersymmetry and which have the defining feature that a probe space-time filling M2 brane feels a non-trivial potential on the internal manifold. Using…
While M- and F-theory compactifications describe a much larger class of vacua than perturbative string compactifications, they typically need singularities to generate non-abelian gauge fields and charged matter. The physical explanation…