Related papers: Wilson loops and topological phases in closed stri…

We consider a pure U(1) quantum gauge field theory on a general Riemannian compact four manifold. We compute the partition function with Abelian Wilson loop insertions. We find its duality covariance properties and derive topological…

Phases of SU(N) gauge theories in which the global Z(N) symmetry breaks spontaneously to a subgroup Z(L) can be realized by adding appropriate Wilson line terms to the gauge action. These phases are partially confining, in the sense that…

In earlier work we proposed a string theory dual to two dimensional Yang-Mills theory at zero coupling (which can also be thought of as a $BF$ theory), given by a Polyakov-like generalization of Ho\v rava's topological rigid string theory,…

In a gauge theory, the gauge invariant Hilbert space is unchanged by the coupling to arbitrary local operators. In the presence of Wilson loops, though, the physical Hilbert space must be enlarged by adding test electric charges along the…

We show that almost all string theories, including the bosonic string, the superstring and $W$-string theories, possess a twisted N=2 superconformal symmetry. This enables us to establish a connection between topological gravity and the…

We consider coupling an ordinary quantum field theory with an infinite number of degrees of freedom to a topological field theory. On R^d the new theory differs from the original one by the spectrum of operators. Sometimes the local…

String theories should reduce to ordinary four-dimensional field theories at low energies. Yet the formulation of the two are so different that such a connection, if it exists, is not immediately obvious. With the Schwinger proper-time…

It is shown that the Topological Massive and ``Self-dual'' theories, which are known to provide locally equivalent descriptions of spin 1 theories in 2+1 dimensions, have different global properties when formulated over topologically…

We present results for Wilson loops in strongly coupled gauge theories. The loops may be taken around an arbitrarily shaped contour and in any field theory with a dual IIB geometry of the form M x S^5. No assumptions about supersymmetry are…

We show that the classic results of Schwinger on the exact propagation of particles in the background of constant field-strengths and plane waves can be readily extended to the case of non-commutative QED. It is shown that non-perturbative…

In this paper we use trivial defects to define global taffy-like operations on string worldsheets, which preserve the field theory. We fold open and closed strings on a space X into open strings on products of multiple copies of X, and…

The duality found by Aharonov and Casher for topological phases in the electromagnetic field is generalized to an arbitrary linear interaction. This provides a heuristic principle for obtaining a new solution of the field equations from a…

The derivation of the explicit formula for the vacuum expectation value of the Wilson loop functional for an arbitrary gauge group on an arbitrary orientable two-dimensional manifold is considered both in the continuum case and on the…

In a general superstring vacuum configuration, the `internal' space (sector) varies in spacetime. When this variation is non-trivial only in two space-like dimensions, the vacuum contains static cosmic strings with finite energy per unit…

In 1948, Schwinger developed a local Lorentz covariant formulation of relativistic quantum electrodynamics in space-time which is fundamentally inconsistent with any delocalized interpretation of quantum mechanics. An interpretation…

We study topological field theory describing gapped phases of gauge theories where the gauge symmetry is partially Higgsed and partially confined. The TQFT can be formulated both in the continuum and on the lattice and generalizes…

This note is devoted to the study of the open string description of Wilson loops and quarks in non-relativistic QFT.

We study the relation between topological string theory and singularity theory using the partition function of $A_{N-1}$ topological string defined by matrix integral of Kontsevich type. Genus expansion of the free energy is considered, and…

We first study the temporal Wilson loop in the finite-temperature non-commutative dipole field theory from the string/gauge correspondence. The associated dual supergravity background is constructed from the near-horizon geometry of…

We construct a manifestly SO(4) x SO(4) invariant, supersymmetric extension of the closed string cubic interaction vertex and dynamical supercharges in light-cone string field theory on the plane wave space-time. We find that the effective…