Related papers: Non-orientable surfaces and electric-magnetic dual…
We consider Kaluza Klein reductions of M-theory on the Z_N orbifold of the spin bundle over S^3 along two different U(1) isometries. The first one gives rise to the familiar ``large N duality'' of the N=1 SU(N) gauge theory in which the UV…
We study (3+1)-dimensional N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory on a spatial three-torus. The low energy spectrum consists of a number of continua of states of arbitrarily low energies. Although the theory has no mass-gap, it appears that…
A popular way to study N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories is to realize them geometrically in string theory, as suspended brane constructions, D-branes wrapping cycles in Calabi-Yau manifolds, orbifolds, and otherwise. Among the applications…
We continue our studies of the low-energy spectrum of N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory on a spatial three-torus. In two previous papers, we computed the spectrum of normalizable zero-energy states for all choices of gauge group and all values of…
The Goddard, Nuyts and Olive conjecture for electric-magnetic duality in Yang-Mills theory with an arbitrary gauge group G is extended by including a non-vanishing vacuum angle $\theta$. This extended S-duality conjecture includes the case…
We consider $\mathcal{N} = 2$ superconformal gauge theories in four dimensions. We explain how these quiver gauge theories arise as low-energy worldvolume theories of D3-branes on orientifolds. Then, we examine their associated chiral…
We present an orientifold of a toric singularity allowing for a configuration of fractional branes which corresponds to a gauge theory that dynamically breaks supersymmetry in a stable vacuum. This model represents the first such instance…
We apply some methods of homology and K-theory to special classes of branes wrapping homologically nontrivial cycles. We treat the classification of four-geometries in terms of compact stabilizers (by analogy with Thurston's classification…
5-branes of nontrivial topology are associated in the Diaconescu-Hanany-Witten-Witten (DHWW) approach with the Seiberg-Witten (SW) theory of low-energy effective actions. There are two different "pictures", related to the IIA and IIB phases…
We analyze the moduli space of the low-energy limit of 3-dimensional N=3 Maxwell-Chern-Simons theories described by circular quiver diagrams, as for 4-dimensional elliptic models. We define the theories by using D3-NS5-(k,1)5-brane systems…
Gauge/gravity dualities are investigated from the worldsheet point of view. In [arXiv:0706.1163] and [arXiv:0708.2463], a duality between 4d SYM and supergravity on AdS_5xS^5 has been partly explained by using an anisotropic scale…
We propose a method for constructing pairs of nonsupersymmetric gauge theories related by S-duality. Starting from a known S-duality of supersymmetric theories realized on the worldvolume of D3 branes in type IIB string theory, a new…
This thesis presents a thorough analysis of the links between the N=4 supersymmetric gauge theory in four dimensions and its three topological twisted counterparts. Special emphasis is put in deriving explicit results in terms of the vacuum…
Let $N=(\Omega,\sigma)$ and $M=(\Omega^*,\rho)$ be doubly connected Riemann surfaces and assume that $\rho$ is a smooth metric with bounded Gauss curvature $\mathcal{K}$ and finite area. The paper establishes the existence of homeomorphisms…
We study the IIB engineering of N=1 gauge theories with unitary gauge group and matter in the adjoint and (anti)symmetric representations. We show that such theories can be obtained as Z2 orientifolds of Calabi-Yau A2 fibrations, and…
We engineer a brane picture for the reduction of Seiberg dualities from 4D to 3D, valid also in the presence of orientifold planes. We obtain effective 3D dualities on the circle by T-duality, geometrizing the non-perturbative…
We improve our previously proposed two Higgs doublet model of six-dimensional $SU(4)$ gauge theory compactified on an orbifold $T^2/Z_2$ by introducing the brane localized gauge kinetic terms. Since two Higgs doublets are identified with…
We construct orientifolds of type IIA string theory. The theory is compactified on a T^6/Z_N times Z_M orbifold. In addition worldsheet parity in combination with a reflection of three compact directions is modded out. Tadpole cancellation…
The Higgs branches of the world-volume theories for multiple M5 branes on an $A_k$ or $D_k$-type ALE space are known to host a variety of fascinating properties, such as the small $E_8$ instanton transition or the discrete gauging…
We calculate from M-theory the two-dimensional low energy effective dynamics of various brane configurations. In the first part we study configurations that have a dual description in type IIA string theory as two-dimensional (4,0)…