Related papers: The Hitchhiker's Guide to 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ Super…
I describe a project to open a new territory of quantum field theory where the fields live not on a space-time manifold but on certain complete metric spaces of (n-1)-dimensional objects (defects) in a 2n-dimensional space-time M. These…
In these lecture notes we first assemble the basic ingredients of supersymmetric gauge theories (particularly N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory), supergravity, and superstring theory. Brane solutions are surveyed. The geometry and symmetries of…
We construct 7-dimensional quantum field theories encoding the anomalies of conformal field theories with (2,0) supersymmetry in six dimensions. We explain how the conformal blocks of the (2,0) theories arise in this context. A result of…
An overview of matter-coupled ${\cal N}=2$ supergravity theories with 8 real supercharges, in 4,5 and 6 dimensions is given. The construction of the theories by superconformal methods is explained from basic principles. Special geometry is…
Two-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT) has several sources: the search for simple examples of quantum field theory, the description of surface critical phenomena, the study of (super)string vacua. In the present overview of the…
First steps are taken in a project to construct a general class of conformal and perhaps, eventually, non-conformal quantum field theories of (n-1)-dimensional extended objects in a d=2n dimensional conformal space-time manifold M. The…
The three dimensional N=2 supersymmetric Chern-Simons theory coupled to matter fields, possibly deformed by a superpotential, give rise to a large class of exactly conformal theories with Lagrangian descriptions. These theories can be…
We briefly review a class of four dimensional $\mathcal N=3$ field theories constructed by taking a quotient of $\mathcal N=4$ SYM with gauge group $U(N)$. The quotient involves a discrete symmetry that only exists for specific, order one,…
Using the $\mathcal{N}=1$ superfield formalism, we prove that the superconformal symmetry of $\mathcal{N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills theory is preserved in the quantum theory. We demonstrate that the $\mathcal{N}=1$ calculation is sufficient to…
In this work we initiate the conformal bootstrap program for ${\mathcal N}=2$ superconformal field theories in four dimensions. We promote an abstract operator-algebraic viewpoint in order to unify the description of Lagrangian and…
Four-dimensional N-extended superconformal symmetry and correlation functions of quasi-primary superfields are studied within the superspace formalism. A superconformal Killing equation is derived and its solutions are classified in terms…
In this thesis we study classical aspects of superconformal field theory via symmetry principles. Specifically, by employing the powerful setup of conformal superspace, we obtain a plethora of new results in the fields of geometric and…
We realize four-dimensional N=2 superconformal quiver gauge theories with alternating SO and USp gauge groups as compactifications of the six-dimensional D_N theory with defects. The construction can be used to analyze infinitely…
We show that the large $N$ limit of certain conformal field theories in various dimensions include in their Hilbert space a sector describing supergravity on the product of Anti-deSitter spacetimes, spheres and other compact manifolds. This…
Various nonsupersymmetric theories at large but finite $N$ are argued to permit light scalars and large hierarchies without fine-tuning. In a dual string description, the hierarchy results from competition between classical and quantum…
Building on the superspace formulation for four-dimensional N=2 matter-coupled supergravity developed in arXiv:0805.4683, we elaborate upon a general setting for field theory in N=2 conformally flat superspaces, and concentrate specifically…
We present a new duality between the F-terms of supersymmetric field theories defined in two- and four-dimensions respectively. The duality relates N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories in four dimensions, deformed by an Omega-background in one…
We investigate the concept of superconformal symmetry in six dimensions, applied to the interacting theory of (2,0) tensor multiplets and self-dual strings. The action of a superconformal transformation on the superspace coordinates is…
We construct a large new family of four-dimensional N=1 superconformal field theories by coupling Gaiotto's T_N theories to N=1 vector multiplets. In particular, we consider theories in which various T_N blocks are linked together via…
We study the four-dimensional N=2 superconformal field theories that describe D3-branes probing the recently constructed N=2 S-folds in F-theory. We introduce a novel, infinite class of superconformal field theories related to S-fold…