Related papers: Higher-Group Symmetries and Weak Gravity Conjectur…
A fundamental problem in formulating higher Chern-Simons theories is the construction of a consistent higher gauge theory that circumvents the fake-flatness constraint. Here, we propose a solution to this problem using adjusted higher…
We examine six-dimensional quantum field theories through the lens of higher-form global symmetries. Every Yang-Mills gauge theory in six dimensions, with field strength $f^{(2)}$, naturally gives rise to a continuous 1-form global symmetry…
We construct and study a new topological field theory in three dimensions. It is a hybrid between Chern-Simons and Rozansky-Witten theory and can be regarded as a topologically-twisted version of the N=4 d=3 supersymmetric gauge theory…
It was demonstrated recently that there is an upper bound of the Chern-Simons coupling of the five-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell theory, beyond which the electrically charged AdS_2 \times S^3 vacuum solution becomes unstable. We generalize…
The purpose of this article is to study the correspondence between $3d$-gravity and the Chern-Simons field theory from the perspective of geometric mechanics, specifically in the case where the structure group is the general affine group.…
We consider (2+1)-dimensional (N, M)-extended higher-spin anti-de Sitter supergravity and study its asymptotic symmetries. The theory is described by the Chern-Simons action based on a real, infinite-dimensional higher-spin superalgebra. We…
Chern-Simons models for gravity are interesting because they provide with a truly gauge-invariant action principle in the fiber-bundle sense. So far, their main drawback has largely been the perceived remoteness from standard General…
Orientifold vacua allow the simultaneous presence of supersymmetric bulks, with one or more gravitinos, and non-supersymmetric combinations of BPS branes. This ``brane supersymmetry breaking'' raises the issue of consistency for the…
There is a great number of higher-spin gravities in $3d$ that can have both finite and infinite spectra of fields and can be formulated as Chern-Simons theories. It was believed that this is impossible in higher dimensions, where…
The electric Weak Gravity Conjecture demands that axions with large decay constant $f$ couple to light instantons. The resulting large instantonic corrections pose problems for natural inflation. We explore an alternative argument based on…
Magical supergravities are a very special class of supergravity theories whose symmetries and matter content in various dimensions correspond to symmetries and underlying algebraic structures of the remarkable geometries of the Magic Square…
The notion of global higher-form symmetries has received much attention, but leaves room for a more systematic mathematical formulation. In this article, we highlight the concept of higher automorphism bundles from the field of higher…
We explore the dynamics of three-dimensional Chern-Simons gauge theories with N=2 supersymmetry and matter in the fundamental and adjoint representations of the gauge group. Realizing the gauge theories of interest in a setup of threebranes…
We study the Weak Gravity Conjecture in the presence of scalar fields. The Weak Gravity Conjecture is a consistency condition for a theory of quantum gravity asserting that for a U(1) gauge field, there is a particle charged under this…
We draw attention to a class of generalized global symmetries, which we call "Chern-Weil global symmetries," that arise ubiquitously in gauge theories. The Noether currents of these Chern-Weil global symmetries are given by wedge products…
We study the tetrad formulation of Chern-Simons (CS) modified gravity, which adds a Pontryagin term to the Einstein-Hilbert action with a spacetime-dependent coupling field. We first verify that CS modified gravity leads to a theory with…
We study gravity duals of the minimal $N=2$ super Yang-Mills (SYM) gauge theories in five dimensions using the matter coupled $F(4)$ gauged supergravity in six dimensions. The $F(4)$ gauged supergravity coupled to $n$ vector multiplets…
Four-dimensional field equations are determined for perturbations of the quotient seven-sphere size and squashing parameter in eleven-dimensional supergravity. The quotient seven-sphere is a S^1-bundle over the CP^3 which is regarded as a…
The triangle anomalies in conformal field theory, which can be used to determine the central charge a, correspond to the Chern-Simons couplings of gauge fields in AdS under the gauge/gravity correspondence. We present a simple geometrical…
We construct three dimensional Chern-Simons-matter theories with gauge groups U(N)xU(N) and SU(N)xSU(N) which have explicit N=6 superconformal symmetry. Using brane constructions we argue that the U(N)xU(N) theory at level k describes the…