Related papers: Branched Coverings and Interacting Matrix Strings …
We quantize pure 2d Yang-Mills theory on an arbitrary Riemann surface in the gauge where the field strength is diagonal. Twisted sectors originate, as in Matrix string theory, from permutations of the eigenvalues around homotopically…
We present a complex matrix gauge model defined on an arbitrary two-dimensional orientable lattice. We rewrite the model's partition function in terms of a sum over representations of the group U(N). The model solves the general…
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…
We explain, in a slightly modified form, an old construction allowing to reformulate the U(N) gauge theory defined on a D-dimensional lattice as a theory of lattice strings (a statistical model of random surfaces). The world surface of the…
Branched n-coverings of Riemann surfaces are described by a 2d lattice gauge theory of the symmetric group S(n) defined on a cell discretization of the surface. We study the theory in the large-n limit, and we find a rich phase diagram with…
The U(N) gauge theory on a D-dimensional lattice is reformulated as a theory of lattice strings (a statistical model of random surfaces). The Boltzmann weights of the surfaces can have both signs and are tuned so that the longitudinal modes…
We formulate and solve a class of two-dimensional matrix gauge models describing ensembles of non-folding surfaces covering an oriented, discretized, two-dimensional manifold. We interpret the models as string theories characterized by a…
We calculate the partition function of the $SU(N)$ ( and $U(N)$) generalized $YM_2$ theory defined on an arbitrary Riemann surface. The result which is expressed as a sum over irreducible representations generalizes the Rusakov formula for…
We discuss the equivalence between a string theory and the two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory with SU(N) gauge group for finite N. We find a sector which can be interpreted as a sum of covering maps from closed string world-sheets to the…
We study the two-dimensional gauge theory of the symmetric group S_n describing the statistics of branched n-coverings of Riemann surfaces. We consider the theory defined on the disk and on the sphere in the large-n limit. A non trivial…
For correlators in $\mathcal{N}=4$ Super Yang-Mills preserving half the supersymmetry, we manifestly recast the gauge theory Feynman diagram expansion as a sum over dual closed strings. Each individual Feynman diagram maps on to a Riemann…
We consider compactifications of the matrix model of M-theory on $S^1/Z_2\times T^d$ for $d>0$, and interpret them as orbifolds of the supersymmetric U(N) Yang-Mills theory on $R\times T^{d+1}$. The orbifold group acts both on the gauge…
The Matrix String Theory, i.e. the two dimensional U(N) SYM with N=(8,8) supersymmetry, has classical BPS solutions that interpolate between an initial and a final string configuration via a bordered Riemann surface. The Matrix String…
We write down all orders large $N$ expansions for the dimensions of irreducible representations of $O(N)$ and $Sp(N)$. We interpret all the terms in these expansions as symmetry factors for singular worldsheet configurations, involving…
We construct the matrix description for a twisted version of the IIA string theory on S^1 with fermions antiperiodic around a spatial circle. The result is a 2+1-dimensional U(N) x U(N) nonsupersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with fermionic…
We show that two-dimensional SO(N) and Sp(N) Yang-Mills theories without fermions can be interpreted as closed string theories. The terms in the 1/N expansion of the partition function on an orientable or nonorientable manifold M can be…
We study two dimensional $N=(4,4)$ supersymmetric gauge theories with various gauge groups and various hypermultiplets in the fundamental as well as bi-fundamental and adjoint representations. They have " mirror theories " which become…
We generalize the Gervais-Neveu gauge to four-dimensional N=1 superspace. The model describes an N=2 super Yang-Mills theory. All chiral superfields (N=2 matter and ghost multiplets) exactly cancel to all loops. The remaining hermitian…
A well-known connection between n strings winding around a circle and permutations of n objects plays a fundamental role in the string theory of large N two dimensional Yang Mills theory and elsewhere in topological and physical string…
I explain two applications of the relationship between four dimensional N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories, zero dimensional gauged matrix models, and geometric transitions in string theory. The first is related to the spectrum of BPS domain…