Related papers: Spin-four N=7 W-Supergravity: S-fold and Double Co…
This paper studies in great detail a family of supersymmetric Wilson loop operators in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory we have recently found. For a generic curve on an S^3 in space-time the loops preserve two supercharges but we will…
We provide a new class of exactly solvable superconformal field theories that corresponds to type II compactification on manifolds with exceptional holonomies. We combine N=1 Liouville field and N=1 coset models and construct modular…
The construction of effective field theories describing M-theory compactified on $S^1/{\bf Z}_2$ is revisited, and new insights into the parameters of the theory are explained. Particularly, the web of constraints which follow from…
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…
We consider the conditions necessary for obtaining perturbative maximal supergravity in d dimensions as a decoupling limit of type II superstring theory compactified on a (10 -- d)-torus. For dimensions d = 2 and d = 3 it is possible to…
A discussion of the number of degrees of freedom, and their dynamical properties, in higher derivative gravitational theories is presented. The complete non-linear sigma model for these degrees of freedom is exhibited using the method of…
We investigate M-theory and heterotic compactifications to 7 and 3 dimensions. In 7 dimensions we discuss a class of massive supergravities that arise from M-theory on K3 and point out obstructions to realizing these theories in a dual…
We consider the double copy of massive Yang-Mills theory in four dimensions, whose decoupling limit is a nonlinear sigma model. The latter may be regarded as the leading terms in the low energy effective theory of a heavy Higgs model, in…
We introduce a class of four dimensional field theories constructed by quotienting ordinary $\mathcal{N}=4$ $U(N)$ SYM by particular combinations of R-symmetry and $SL(2,\mathbb{Z})$ automorphisms. These theories appear naturally on the…
We construct a twistor space action for N=4 super Yang-Mills theory and show that it is equivalent to its four dimensional spacetime counterpart at the level of perturbation theory. We compare our partition function to the original…
Topological euclidean gravity is built in eight dimensions for manifolds with $Spin(7) \subset SO(8)$ holonomy. In a previous work, we considered the construction of an eight-dimensional topological theory describing the graviton and one…
An extended field theory is presented that captures the full SL(2) x O(6,6+n) duality group of four-dimensional half-maximal supergravities. The theory has section constraints whose two inequivalent solutions correspond to minimal D=10…
N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with gauge group SU(n) (n>=3) is believed to have two exactly marginal deformations which break the supersymmetry to N=1. We discuss the construction of the string theory dual to these deformations, in…
The role of duality symmetries in the construction of counterterms for maximal supergravity theories is discussed in a field-theoretic context from different points of view. These are: dimensional reduction, the question of whether…
We consider the most general form for eleven dimensional supersymmetry compatible with on-shell superfields. This allows for the introduction of a conformal Spin(1,10) connection. In eleven dimensional Minkowski space this modification is…
Making use of the exact solutions of the $N=2$ supersymmetric gauge theories we construct new classes of superconformal field theories (SCFTs) by fine-tuning the moduli parameters and bringing the theories to critical points. SCFTs we have…
We compute and analyse a variety of four-derivative gravitational terms in the effective action of six- and four-dimensional type II string ground states with N=4 supersymmetry. In six dimensions, we compute the relevant perturbative…
Half-maximal gauged supergravity in seven dimensions coupled to $n$ vector multiplets contains $n+3$ vectors and $3n+1$ scalars parametrized by $\mathbb{R}^+\times SO(3,n)/SO(3)\times SO(n)$ coset manifold. The two-form field in the gravity…
Superconformal field theory with $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetry in four dimensional spacetime provides a prime playground to study strongly coupled phenomena in quantum field theory. Its rigid structure ensures valuable analytic control over…
Possible ways of constructing extended fermionic strings with $N=4$ world-sheet supersymmetry are reviewed. String theory constraints form, in general, a non-linear quasi(super)conformal algebra, and can have conformal dimensions $\geq 1$.…