Related papers: Twisting E8 Five-Branes
We construct a novel orientifold of type IIB string theory that breaks all supersymmetries. It is a closed string theory without open sector and it can be understood as a Scherk-Schwarz deformation in which supersymmetry is restored at…
Certain classes of chiral four-dimensional gauge theories may be obtained as the worldvolume theories of D5-branes suspended between networks of NS5-branes, the so-called brane box models. In this paper, we derive the stringy consistency…
We show that there exist two 27 and one 27 bar of E6, net one D=4, N=1 chiral matter supermultiplet as zero modes localized on the intersection of two 5-branes in the E8 x E8 heterotic string theory. The smeared intersecting 5-brane…
We study brane configurations which correspond to N=1 field theories in four dimensions. By inverting the order of the NS 5-branes and D6-branes, a check on dualities in four dimensional theories can be made. We consider a brane…
A variant of the topological twist, involving SL(2,Z) dualities and hence named topological duality twist, is introduced and explicitly applied to describe a U(1) N=4 super Yang-Mills theory on a Kaehler space with holomorphically…
The actions, anomalies, and quantization conditions allow the M2-brane and the M5-brane to support, in a natural way, structures beyond Spin on their worldvolumes. The main examples are twisted String structures. This also extends to…
We obtain a large class of new 4d Argyres-Douglas theories by classifying irregular punctures for the 6d (2,0) superconformal theory of ADE type on a sphere. Along the way, we identify the connection between the Hitchin system and…
We develop an approach to Khovanov homology of knots via gauge theory (previous physics-based approches involved other descriptions of the relevant spaces of BPS states). The starting point is a system of D3-branes ending on an NS5-brane…
It is emphasized that compactified little string theories have compact moduli spaces of vacua, which globally probe compact string geometry. Compactifying various little string theories on T^3 leads to 3d theories with exact, quantum…
We review and extend the progress made over the past few years in understanding the structure of toric quiver gauge theories; those which are induced on the world-volume of a stack of D3-branes placed at the tip of a toric Calabi-Yau cone,…
We formulate a worldsheet description of string theory in the background of a single decoupled NS5-brane, which is a particularly simple example of ``little string'' holography. The worldsheet theory involves a gauged Wess-Zumino-Witten…
In this PhD thesis the low energy effective actions for D-branes and the M5-brane are used to analyze the dynamics of brane probes moving in the geometry created by diverse supergravity backgrounds. It begins with an introduction to string…
We study the spectrum of BPS particles on the Coulomb branch of five-dimensional superconformal field theories (5d SCFTs) compactified on a circle. By engineering these theories in M-theory on ${\mathbf X} \times S^1 $, for ${\mathbf X}$ an…
It is well-known that the SO(32) and $E_8\times E_8$ heterotic strings can be continuously connected to each other in nine dimensions. Since the strong-coupling duals of these theories are respectively the SO(32) Type I theory and M-theory…
We conjecture a topology changing transition in M-theory on a non-compact asymptotically conical Spin(7) manifold, where a 5-sphere collapses and a CP(2) bolt grows. We argue that the transition may be understood as the condensation of…
We propose a novel approach to the brane worldvolume theory based on the geometry of extended field theories: double field theory and exceptional field theory. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach by showing that one can…
We find novel bound states of NS5, D6 and D8-branes in massive Type IIA string theory. As the NS gauge transformations can change the Chern class of the RR field these configurations should be thought of as nonlocal objects called gerbes.…
We give an explicit formula for the Higgs and Coulomb branch Hilbert series for the class of 3d N=4 superconformal gauge theories T^{\sigma}_{\rho}(G) corresponding to a set of D3 branes ending on NS5 and D5-branes, with or without O3…
A realization of E_{n+1} monopoles in string theory is given. The NS five brane stuck to an Orientifold eight plane is identified as the 't Hooft Polyakov monopole. Correspondingly, the moduli space of many such NS branes is identified with…
The effective action for five-dimensional heterotic M-theory in the presence of five-branes is systematically derived from Horava-Witten theory coupled to an M5-brane world-volume theory. This leads to a five-dimensional N=1 gauged…