Related papers: Junctions, Edge Modes, and $G_2$-Holonomy Orbifold…
Recent developments about the construction of standard $SO(10)$ and $SU(5)$ grand unified theories from 4-dimensional superstrings are presented. Explicit techniques involving higher level affine Lie algebras, for obtaining such stringGUTs…
Global symmetry anomalies of a quantum field theory (QFT) can be packaged as specific couplings of a higher-dimensional symmetry theory (SymTh). In this work we show that for 5D superconformal field theories (SCFTs) engineered from M-theory…
We consider an instance of the AdS/CFT duality where the bulk theory contains an open string tachyon, and study the instability from the viewpoint of the boundary field theory. We focus on the specific example of the AdS_5 X S^5 background…
We consider M-theory on the backgrounds AdS$_4\times S^7/\mathbb{Z}_{N_f}$ and AdS$_7\times S^4/\mathbb{Z}_2$, which have fixed point locii AdS$_{d+1}\times S^3$ for $d=3,6$. These theories are holographically dual to certain CFTs in…
The concept of orbifolds should unify differential geometry with equivariant homotopy theory, so that orbifold cohomology should unify differential cohomology with proper equivariant cohomology theory. Despite the prominent role that…
We construct Calabi-Yau geometries with wrapped D6 branes which realize ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetric $A_r$ quiver theories, and study the corresponding geometric transitions. This also yields new large $N$ dualities for topological strings…
We analyze topological mass terms of BF type arising in supersymmetric M-theory compactifications to $AdS_5$. These describe spontaneously broken higher-form gauge symmetries in the bulk. Different choices of boundary conditions for the BF…
In the context of the $AdS_{4}/CFT_{3}$ correspondence between higher spin fields and vector theories, we use the constructive bilocal fields based approach to this correspondence, to demonstrate, at the $IR$ critical point of the…
In this note we discuss a possible holographic dual of the two dimensional conformal field theory associated with the world-sheet of a macroscopic superstring in a compactification on four-torus. We assume the near horizon geometry of the…
We consider M-theory on (T^2\times R^2)/Z_n with M5 branes wrapped on R^2. One can probe this background with M5 branes wrapped on T^2. The theories on the probes provide many new examples of N=2 field theories without Lagrangian…
We study in detail the structure of Grand Unified Theories derived as the low-energy limit of orbifold four-dimensional strings. To this aim, new techniques for building level-two symmetric orbifold theories are presented. New classes of…
We consider 5 dimensional E_6 and E_7 supersymmetric grand unified theories (GUTs) on an orbifold S^1/Z_2, in which the Higgs fields arise from the 5th components of the 5D gauge fields. We introduce matter fields in 5 dimensions, then the…
We study the correspondence between boundary spectrum of non-chiral topological orders on an open manifold $\mathcal{M}$ with gapped boundaries and the entanglement spectrum in the bulk of gapped topological orders on a closed manifold. The…
A large class of 5d superconformal field theories (SCFTs) can be constructed by integrating out BPS particles from 6d SCFTs compactified on a circle. We describe a general method for extracting the flavor symmetry of any 5d SCFT lying in…
We study the dynamics of M-theory on G2 holonomy manifolds, and consider in detail the manifolds realized as the quotient of the spin bundle over S^3 by discrete groups. We analyse, in particular, the class of quotients where the triality…
We summarize some recent progress in constructing four-dimensional supersymmetric chiral models from Type II orientifolds. We present the construction a supersymmetric Standard-like Model and a supersymmetric GUT model to illustrate the new…
S-folds are generalizations of orientifolds in type IIB string theory, such that the geometric identifications are accompanied by non-trivial S-duality transformations. They were recently used by Garcia-Etxebarria and Regalado to provide…
Quantum field theories can exhibit various generalized symmetry structures, among which higher-group symmetries and non-invertible symmetry defects are particularly prominent. In this work, we explore a new general scenario in which these…
Bryant and Salamon gave a construction of metrics of G2 holonomy on the total space of the bundle of anti-self-dual (ASD) 2-forms over a 4-dimensional self-dual Einstein manifold. We generalise it by considering the total space of an SO(3)…
We analyze correlation functions of $SU(k) \times SU(2)_F$ flavor currents in a family of three-dimensional ${\cal N}=4$ superconformal field theories, combining analytic bootstrap methods with input from supersymmetric localization. Via…