Related papers: Surface Defects from Fractional Branes -- I
The defect conformal field theory describing intersecting D3-branes at a C^2/Z_k orbifold is used to (de)construct the theory of intersecting M5-branes, as well as M5-branes wrapping the holomorphic curve xy=c. The possibility of a 't Hooft…
Using holography, we study non-perturbative effects in M-theory on orientifolds from the analysis of the S^3 partition functions of dual field theories. We consider the S^3 partition functions of N=4 Yang-Mills theory with O(n) gauge…
We consider two-dimensional Yang-Mills theories on arbitrary Riemann surfaces. We introduce a generalized Yang-Mills action, which coincides with the ordinary one on flat surfaces but differs from it in its coupling to two-dimensional…
In earlier work we proposed a string theory dual to two dimensional Yang-Mills theory at zero coupling (which can also be thought of as a $BF$ theory), given by a Polyakov-like generalization of Ho\v rava's topological rigid string theory,…
In this note we make a test of the open topological string version of the OSV conjecture, proposed in hep-th/0504054, in the toric Calabi-Yau manifold $X= O(-3)\to\mathbf{P}^2$ with background D4-branes wrapped on Lagrangian submanifolds.…
We study the relations between two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory on the torus, topological string theory on a Calabi-Yau threefold whose local geometry is the sum of two line bundles over the torus, and Chern-Simons theory on torus bundles.…
Recently Alday, Gaiotto and Tachikawa have proposed relation between 2- and 4-dimensional conformal field theories. The relation implies that the Nekrasov partition functions of N=2 superconformal gauge theories are equal to conformal…
String backgrounds of the form $\mathbb{M}_3 \times {\cal M}_7$ where $\mathbb{M}_3$ denotes $3$-dimensional Minkowski space while ${\cal M}_7$ is a $7$-dimensional G$_2$-manifold, are characterised by the property that the world-sheet…
We show that in the background field method (BFM) quantization of Yang-Mills theory the dependence of the vertex functional on the background field is controlled by a canonical transformation w.r.t. the Batalin-Vilkovisky bracket, naturally…
Two dimensional gauge theories with charged matter fields are useful toy models for studying gauge theory dynamics, and in particular for studying the duality of large $N$ gauge theories to perturbative string theories. A useful starting…
In flux compactifications of type IIB string theory with D3 and seven-branes, the negative induced D3 charge localized on seven-branes leads to an apparently pathological profile of the metric sufficiently close to the source. With the…
In this PhD thesis we review some aspects of integrable models related to string backgrounds or their deformations. In the first part we develop methods to obtain exact results in the AdS3/CFT2 correspondence. We consider the AdS_3 x S^3 x…
We study a bound state of fractional D3-branes localized inside the world-volume of fractional D7-branes on the orbifold C^3/Z_2 x Z_2. We determine the open string spectrum that leads to N=1 U(N1)xU(N2)xU(N3)xU(N4) gauge theory with matter…
We study the embedding of spacetime filling D7-branes in beta-deformed backgrounds which, according to the AdS/CFT dictionary, corresponds to flavoring beta-deformed N=4 super Yang-Mills. We consider supersymmetric and more general…
Attempts to solve Yang-Mills theory must eventually face the problem of analyzing the theory at intermediate values of the coupling constant. In this regime neither perturbation theory nor the gravity dual are adequate, and one must…
It is shown that supersymmetry is spontaneously broken in certain three-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories, by using the s-rule in their string theory realization as brane configurations. In particular, supersymmetry is broken in N=3…
The topological B-model with target the supertwistor space CP(3|4) is known to describe perturbative amplitudes of N=4 Super Yang-Mills theory. We review the extension of this correspondence to the superconformal gauge theories that arise…
We describe the construction of string theory models with semirealistic spectrum in a sector of (anti) D3-branes located at an orbifold singularity at the bottom of a highly warped throat geometry, which is a generalisation of the…
We consider the gauge dyonic string solution of the K3 compactified heterotic string theory in a four dimensional cosmological context. Since for this solution Green-Schwarz as well as Chern-Simons corrections have been taken into account…
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…