Related papers: Little String Origin of Surface Defects
There are at present two known string theories in $(2,2)$ dimensions. One of them is the well known $N=2$ string, and the other one is a more recently constructed $N=1$ spacetime supersymmetric string. They are both based on certain…
We develop a new approach to extracting the physical consequences of S-duality of four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills (SYM) and its string theory dual, based on $SL(2,\mathbb{Z})$ spectral theory. We observe that CFT…
We consider a 2-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT) obtained from twisted compactification of the 4-dimensional N=4 super Yang-Mills theory on a Riemann surface with boundary. We find the boundary conditions to preserve some of the…
By studying 2d string compactifications with half-maximal supersymmetry in a variety of duality frames, we find a natural physical setting for understanding Umbral moonshine. Near points in moduli space with enhanced gauge symmetry, we find…
I study the spontaneous breakdown of supersymmetry when higher-dimensional Yang-Mills or the type-I $SO(32)$ string theory are compactified on magnetized tori. Because of the universal gyromagnetic ratio $g=2$, the splittings of all…
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…
Input from QCD and string theory is used in order to elucidate basic features of the string theory dual of QCD, It is argued that the relevant string theory is a five-dimensional version of the type-0 superstring. The vacuum solution is…
We show that type 0B theory has a classical AdS_5 x S^5 solution and argue that it is stable at the string-theory level for small enough radius. The dual 4-d conformal field theory is the infrared limit of the theory on N electric D3-branes…
The AdS/CFT correspondence of elementary string theory has been recently suggested as a ``microscopic'' approach to QCD string theory in various dimensions. We use the microscopic theory to show that the ultraviolet regime on the string…
We study an exactly marginal deformation of N=4 SUSY Yang-Mills with gauge group U(N) using field theory and string theory methods. The classical theory has a Higgs branch for rational values of the deformation parameter. We argue that the…
Various recently developed connections between supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories in four dimensions and two dimensional integrable systems serve as crucial ingredients in improving our understanding of the AdS/CFT correspondence. In this…
We present a unified topological description of anomalies that generalizes the Chern-Simons formulation of Yang-Mills anomalies to encompass all 4-dimensional superconformal anomalies. The key innovation is our characterization of anomalies…
Taking the N=2 strings as the starting point, we discuss the equivalent self-dual field theories and analyse their symmetry structure in 2+2 dimensions. Restoring the full `Lorentz' invariance in the target space necessarily leads to an…
The four dimensional $\mathcal{N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills (SYM) theory exhibits rich dynamics in the presence of codimension-one conformal defects. The new structure constants of the extended operator algebra consist of one-point functions of…
We propose a bosonic string dual to large $N$ chiral Yang-Mills in two dimensions at finite 't Hooft coupling. The worldsheet theory is a $\beta$-$\gamma$ system deformed by a chiral Polchinski-Strominger term. We reproduce the partition…
A topological defect separating a pair of two-dimensional CFTs is a codimension one interface along which all components of the stress-energy tensor glue continuously. We study topological defects of the bosonic, (0,1)- and…
We explore the symmetry structure of Type II Little String Theories and their T-dualities. We construct these theories both from the bottom-up perspective starting with seed Superconformal Field Theories, and from the top-down using…
We describe a general method for deducing T-dualities of little string theories, which are dualities between these theories that arise when they are compactified on circle. The method works for both untwisted and twisted circle…
The AdS/dCFT correspondence is used to show that a planar q-dimensional superconformal CFT defect expands, under the addition of electric charge and angular momentum, to a supersymmetric higher-dimensional defect of geometry R^q x C, where…
We study little string theory (LST) compactified on $\mathbf{T}^2$, partially breaking supersymmetry by a discrete T-duality twist acting on both the K\"ahler and the complex structure of the torus. This setup gives raise to 4d…