Related papers: Large N dualities and transitions in geometry
We consider gauge theories of non-Abelian $finite$ groups, and discuss the 1+1 dimensional lattice gauge theory of the permutation group $S_N$ as an illustrative example. The partition function at finite $N$ can be written explicitly in a…
We review the relation between Chern-Simons gauge theory and topological string theory on noncompact Calabi-Yau spaces. This relation has made possible to give an exact solution of topological string theory on these spaces to all orders in…
We cast M-brane interactions including intersecting membranes and five-branes in manifestly gauge invariant form using an arrangement of higher dimensional Dirac surfaces. We show that the noncommutative gauge symmetry present in the…
We construct an explicit example of a generalized Lie 3-algebra from the octonions. In combination with the result of arXiv:0807.0808, this gives rise to a three-dimensional N=2 Chern-Simons-matter theory with exceptional gauge group G_2…
We describe special supersymmetric gauge theories in three, five, seven and nine dimensions, whose compactification on two-, four-, six- and eight-folds produces a supersymmetric quantum mechanics on moduli spaces of holomorphic bundles…
We use conformal embeddings involving exceptional affine Kac-Moody algebras to derive new dualities of three-dimensional topological field theories. These generalize the familiar level-rank duality of Chern-Simons theories based on…
We find exact relations among the sphere partition functions of three-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=4$ superconformal Chern-Simons theories with circular quiver diagrams. These relations suggest new dualities in gauge theories which are the…
Supersymmetric gauge theories have played a central role in applications of quantum field theory to mathematics. Topologically twisted supersymmetric gauge theories often admit a rigorous mathematical description: for example, the Donaldson…
Type II string theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau manifold, with a singularity modeled by a hypersurface in an orbifold, is considered. In the limit of vanishing string coupling, one expects a non gravitational theory concentrated at the…
There is significant evidence for a duality between (non-supersymmetric) U(N) Chern-Simons theories at level k coupled to fermions, and U(k) Chern-Simons theories at level N coupled to scalars. Most of the evidence comes from the large N 't…
The phase structure of QCD-like gauge theories with fermions in various representations is an interesting but generally analytically intractable problem. One way to ensure weak coupling is to define the theory in a small finite volume, in…
A gauge system is a classical field theory where among the fields there are connections in a principal G-bundle over the space-time manifold and the classical action is either invariant or transforms appropriately with respect to the action…
We study, using a gravity dual, the finite temperature dynamics of $SU(N_c)$ gauge theory for large $N_c$, with fundamental quark flavours in a quenched approximation, in the presence of a fixed R--charge under a global R--current. We…
We consider $\mathcal{N} = 2$ superconformal gauge theories in four dimensions. We explain how these quiver gauge theories arise as low-energy worldvolume theories of D3-branes on orientifolds. Then, we examine their associated chiral…
We report on a broad new class of N=1 gauge theory dualities which relate the worldvolume gauge theories of D3 branes probing different orientifolds of the same Calabi-Yau singularity. In this paper, we focus on the simplest example of…
In this work we study some properties of the three dimensional $U(N)$ SUSY Chern-Simons coupled to a scalar field in the fundamental representation in the large $N$ limit. For large $N$ we show that the theory has two phases, one which is…
We clarify certain important issues relevant for the geometric interpretation of a large class of N = 2 superconformal theories. By fully exploiting the phase structure of these theories (discovered in earlier works) we are able to clearly…
We study non-perturbative aspects of the large N duality between Chern-Simons theory and topological strings, and we find a rich structure of large N phase transitions in the complex plane of the 't Hooft parameter. These transitions are…
These notes of a course given at IRMA in April 2009 cover some aspects of the representation theory of fundamental groups of manifolds of dimension at most 3 in compact Lie groups, mainly $\su$. We give detailed examples, develop the…
We construct invertible field theories generalizing abelian prequantum spin Chern-Simons theory to manifolds of dimension 4k+3 endowed with a Wu structure of degree 2k+2. After analysing the anomalies of a certain discrete symmetry, we…