Related papers: Brane Splitting via Quantum Tunneling
D-instantons are used to probe the near-horizon geometry of D3-branes systems on orbifold spaces. For fractional D3-branes, D-instanton calculus correctly reproduces the gauge beta-function and U(1)_R anomaly of the corresponding N=2…
We discuss various aspects of multi-instanton configurations in generic multi-cut matrix models. Explicit formulae are presented in the two-cut case and, in particular, we obtain general formulae for multi-instanton amplitudes in the…
In this letter we describe an infinite family of new N=1 AdS_5/CFT_4 dual pairs which arise from M5-branes wrapping Riemann surfaces in Calabi-Yau threefolds. We use the relevant brane constructions to compute the central charges of the…
The superconformal index $Z$ of the 6d (2,0) theory on $S^5 \times S^1$ (which is related to the localization partition function of 5d SYM on $S^5$) should be captured at large $N$ by the quantum M2 brane theory in the dual M-theory…
We study instanton contributions to the superpotential of local F-theory compactifications which could potentially be used to engineer models of dynamical supersymmetry breaking. These instantons correspond to Euclidean 3-branes which form…
Following the observation of Banks and Green that the D-instantons in AdS_5 correspond to the instantons in 4-dimensional supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, we study in more detail this correspondence for individual instantons. The…
We refine a previous proposal for obtaining the multi-instanton partition function from the supersymmetric index of the 1d supersymmetric gauge theory on the worldline of D0-branes. We provide examples where the refinements are crucial for…
In this note I review the construction of higher-dimensional instantons and heterotic NS5-branes on Ricci-flat cones from arXiv:1109.3552, as well as fractional strings from arXiv:1202.5046. The focus is on methods and interpretation. I…
Multicenter supergravity solutions corresponding to Higgs phases of supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories are considered. For NS5 branes we identify three cases where there is a description in terms of exact conformal field theories. Other…
We obtain new results for consistent braneworld Kaluza-Klein reductions, showing how we can derive four-dimensional N=2 gauged supergravity ``localised on the AdS_4 brane'' as an exact embedding in five-dimensional N=4 gauged supergravity.…
We analyse the non-perturbative superpotential due to M5-brane instantons in F-theory compactifications on Calabi-Yau fourfolds. The M5 partition function is obtained via holomorphic factorisation by explicitly performing the sum over…
We consider giant graviton probes of 11-dimensional supergravity solutions which are lifts of arbitrary solutions of 4-dimensional U(1)^4 and 7-dimensional U(1)^2 gauged supergravities. We show that the structure of the lift ansatze is…
We consider the dynamics of p anti-D3 branes inside the Klebanov-Strassler geometry, the deformed conifold with M units of RR 3-form flux around the S^3. We find that for p<<M the system relaxes to a nonsupersymmetric NS 5-brane ``giant…
In this note we review the construction of topologically gauged M2 branes with 6 supersymmetries and discuss some of its properties. This is done using the 3-algebra formulation thereby covering all possible gauge groups. We will elaborate…
We construct geometries describing the quantum backreaction of thermal fields in AdS$_3$. The solutions are obtained from branes in a four-dimensional AdS C-metric. They can be viewed as solutions of the semiclassical effective theory on…
We construct local solutions to eleven-dimensional supergravity describing M2-branes intersecting and/or ending on M5-branes, in the near-horizon limit of the M2-branes. Global solutions describing these theories should have 16 supercharges…
In the light of the duality between physics in the bulk of anti-de Sitter space and a conformal field theory on the boundary, we review the M2, D3 and M5 branes and how their near-horizon geometry yields the compactification of D=11…
We study top-down embeddings of massive Anti-de Sitter (AdS) gravity in type-IIB string theory. The supergravity solutions have a AdS$_4$ fiber warped over a manifold M$_6$ whose shape resembles that of scottish bagpipes: The `bag' is a…
Recently it was suggested that a graviton in $AdS_5 \times S^5$ with a large momentum along the sphere can blow up into a spherical D-brane in $S^5$. In this paper we show that the same graviton can also blow up into a spherical D-brane in…
For the 11-dimensional supergravity over AdS_4 x S^7/Z_k, beginning with a general 4-from ansatz and the main geometry unchanged, we get a tower of massive and tachyonic pseudoscalars. Indeed, the resultant equations can be assigned to the…