Related papers: Small Instantons, Little Strings and Free Fermions
A surprising connection between N=2 gauge theory instanton partition functions and conformal blocks has been recently proposed. We illustrate through simple examples the generalization to asymptotically free N=2 gauge theories
Using D3/D(-1) brane set-up in type IIB string theory we introduce gauge-stringy instantons in N=2 U(N) supersymmetry theories with one matter multiplet in symmetric representation. In addition to the gauge and stringy moduli there exist…
In this contribution we describe how to obtain instanton effects in four dimensional gauge theories by computing string scattering amplitudes in D3/D(-1) brane systems. In particular we study a system of fractional D3/D(-1) branes in a Z_2…
We discuss a string model where a conformal four-dimensional N=2 gauge theory receives corrections to its gauge kinetic functions from "stringy" instantons. These contributions are explicitly evaluated by exploiting the localization…
This paper concerns instanton contributions to two-point correlation functions of BMN operators in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills that vanish in planar perturbation theory. Two-point functions of operators with even numbers of fermionic…
In the so-called (2,2) theory, which is the U(N)^4 circular quiver superconformal Chern-Simons theory with levels (k,0,-k,0), it was known that the instanton effects are described by the free energy of topological strings whose…
Nonperturbative terms in the free energy of Chern-Simons gauge theory play a key role in its duality to the closed topological string. We show that these terms are reproduced by performing a double scaling limit near the point where the…
We apply a recently developed dilaton-pion effective field theory for asymptotically free gauge theories near the conformal window to the $SU(3)$ gauge theory with $N_f=8$ fermions in the fundamental representation. Numerical data for this…
The theory of a massless two-dimensional scalar field with a periodic boundary interaction is considered. At a critical value of the period this system defines a conformal field theory and can be re-expressed in terms of free fermions,…
This is the 13th article in the collection of reviews "Exact results in N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories", ed. J. Teschner. It discusses the relation between the instanton partition functions and the partition function of the topological…
In these lecture notes duality tests and instanton effects in supersymmetric vacua of string theory are discussed. A broad overview of BPS-saturated terms in the effective actions is first given. Their role in testing the consistency of…
We propose a relation between correlation functions in the 2d A_{N-1} conformal Toda theories and the Nekrasov instanton partition functions in certain conformal N=2 SU(N) 4d quiver gauge theories. Our proposal generalises the recently…
We study the non-perturbative effects induced by stringy instantons on N=2 SU}(N) gauge theories in four dimensions, realized on fractional D3 branes in a C^3/Z_3 orientifold. The stringy instantons, corresponding to D(-1) branes that…
An extended free fermionic construction of the internal N=1 world sheet supercurrent for four-dimensional superstring theory is given. We show how it can describe theories with massless fermions, and we discuss the corresponding N=2…
We study a class of Little String Theories (LSTs) of A type, described by $N$ parallel M5-branes spread out on a circle and which in the low energy regime engineer supersymmetric gauge theories with $U(N)$ gauge group. The BPS states in…
We study the duality between theories of a fundamental scalar or fermion coupled to $U(N)$ Chern-Simons gauge theory at the level of the three-sphere partition function, or equivalently entanglement entropy across a circle. The duality…
The counting of microstates of BPS black-holes on local Calabi-Yau of the form ${\mathcal O}(p-2)\oplus{\mathcal O}(-p) \longrightarrow S^2$ is explored by computing the partition function of q-deformed Yang-Mills theory on $S^2$. We…
The partition function of type IIA and B strings on R^6xK3, in the T^4/Z_2 orbifold limit, is explicitly computed as a modular invariant sum over spin strutures required by perturbative unitarity in order to extend the analysis to include…
We apply the localization technique to compute the free energy on four-sphere and the circular BPS Wilson loop in the four-dimensional $\cal N$=2 superconformal $Sp(2N)$ gauge theory containing vector multiplet coupled to four…
The low energy effective couplings of a four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric gauge theory to topological invariants of the background gravitational field are described by two functions $A$ and $B$. These two functions play an…