Related papers: Defects, nested instantons and comet shaped quiver…
Without recourse to the sophisticated machinery of twisted group algebras, projective character tables and explicit values of 2-cocycles, we here present a simple algorithm to study the gauge theory data of D-brane probes on a generic…
We investigate the D-brane bound states from the viewpoint of the unstable D/\bar{D}-system and their tachyon condensation. We consider two systems; a system of k D(-1)-branes and N D3-branes with open strings connecting them and a system…
Both brane tilings and exceptional collections are useful tools for describing the low energy gauge theory on a stack of D3-branes probing a Calabi-Yau singularity. We provide a dictionary that translates between these two heretofore…
We construct novel $7d$ supersymmetric gauge theories which include a Chern-Simons-like term on curved spaces. In order to so, we examine the supersymmetry constraints for E7-branes in type IIA$^*$ theory, rather than making use of an…
We present an introduction to the use of noncommutative geometry for gauge theories with emphasis on a construction of instantons for a class of four dimensional toric noncommutative manifolds. These instantons are solutions of self-duality…
This paper is a continuation of hepth/0507224 where open topological B-models describing D-branes on 2-cycles of local Calabi--Yau geometries with conical singularities were studied. After a short review, the paper expands in particular on…
We study rank $r$ cohomological Donaldson-Thomas theory on a toric Calabi-Yau orbifold of $\mathbb{C}^4$ by a finite abelian subgroup $\mathsf\Gamma$ of $\mathsf{SU}(4)$, from the perspective of instanton counting in cohomological gauge…
We study instanton contributions to the superpotential of local F-theory compactifications which could potentially be used to engineer models of dynamical supersymmetry breaking. These instantons correspond to Euclidean 3-branes which form…
Adjusting conventional Chern-Simons theory to ${\rm G}_2$-manifolds, one describes ${\rm G}_2$-instantons on bundles over a certain class of $7$-dimensional flat tori which fiber non-trivially over $T^4$, by a pullback argument. Moreover,…
In \cite{Garcia-Etxebarria:2017crf}, it was found that the system of $k$ D7-branes probing an $O7^+$-plane suffers from an $\mathfrak{sp}(k)$ gauge anomaly when $k>1$. These authors then conjectured that this 8D $\mathcal{N}=1$ gauge theory…
We compactify four-dimensional N=1 gauged supergravity theories on a circle including fluxes for shift-symmetric scalars. Four-dimensional Taub-NUT gravitational instantons universally correct the three-dimensional superpotential in the…
We discuss a string model where a conformal four-dimensional N=2 gauge theory receives corrections to its gauge kinetic functions from "stringy" instantons. These contributions are explicitly evaluated by exploiting the localization…
D-brane probes, Hanany-Witten setups and geometrical engineering stand as a trichotomy of the currently fashionable techniques of constructing gauge theories from string theory. Meanwhile, asymptotic freedom, finitude and IR freedom pose as…
We study D-branes on smooth noncompact toric Calabi-Yau manifolds that are resolutions of abelian orbifold singularities. Such a space has a distinguished basis {S_i} for the compactly supported K-theory. Using local mirror symmetry we…
We consider ADHM instantons in product group gauge theories that arise from D3-branes located at points in the orbifold R^6/Z_p. At finite N we argue that the ADHM construction and collective coordinate integration measure can be deduced…
We compute the elliptic genus of abelian 2d (0,2) gauge theories corresponding to brane brick models. These theories are worldvolume theories on a single D1-brane probing a toric Calabi-Yau 4-fold singularity. We identify a match with the…
Supersymmetric D-brane bound states on a Calabi-Yau threefold $X$ are counted by generalized Donaldsdon-Thomas invariants $\Omega_Z(\gamma)$, depending on a Chern character (or electromagnetic charge) $\gamma\in H^*(X)$ and a stability…
In this note, we describe a connection between the enumerative geometry of curves in K3 surfaces and the chiral ring of an auxiliary superconformal field theory. We consider the invariants calculated by Yau--Zaslow (capturing the Euler…
F-theoretic constructions can alternatively be understood as consequences of certain N = 2 Seiberg-Witten theories via type IIB r D3s probing the quantum corrected orientifold backgrounds. We present four models that come out from such…
We study surface defects in 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ $SU(N)$ superconformal gauge theories of class $\mathcal{S}_k$ obtained from the 6d (1,0) theories of type $A_{N-1}$, which are worldvolume theories on $N$ M5-branes at…