arXiv research

A compact oriented 4-manifold is defined to be of ``superconformal simple type'' if certain polynomials in the basic classes (constructed using the Seiberg-Witten invariants) vanish identically. We show that all known 4-manifolds of $b_2^+>1$ are of superconformal simple type, and that the numerical invariants of 4-man…

We construct manifestly superconformal field theories in six dimensions which contain a non-Abelian tensor multiplet. In particular, we show how principal 3-bundles over a suitable twistor space encode solutions to these self-dual tensor field theories via a Penrose-Ward transform. The resulting higher or categorified …

A new algebraic method extracts symmetry anomalies from 5D SCFTs.

Superconformal geometries discussed in various spacetime dimensions using local supertwistor bundles.

Constructs local superconformal algebras on supermanifolds.

New mathematical proposal for TQFTs using TMF-modules.

We define a notion of stability for chiral ring of four dimensional N=1 theory by introducing test chiral rings and generalized a maximization. We conjecture that a chiral ring is the chiral ring of a superconformal field theory if and only if it is stable. We then study N=1 field theory derived from D3 branes probing …

We prove a general uniformization theorem for N=2 superconformal and N=1 superanalytic DeWitt super-Riemann surfaces, showing that in general an N=2 superconformal (resp. N=1 superanalytic) DeWitt super-Riemann surface is N=2 superconformally (resp., N=1 superanalytically) equivalent to a manifold with transition funct…

We propose a method to assign non-unitary TQFTs to certain SCFTs, deriving bounds and examples.

We decompose the de Rham Laplacian on Sasaki-Einstein manifolds as a sum over mostly positive definite terms. An immediate consequence are lower bounds on its spectrum. These bounds constitute a supergravity equivalent of the unitarity bounds in dual superconformal field theories. The proof uses a generalization of Kah…

New $G_2$-holonomy manifolds from 5d N=1 theories domain walls.

We show that the smooth geometry of a hyperbolic 3-manifold emerges from a classical spin system defined on a 2d discrete lattice, and moreover show that the process of this "dimensional oxidation" is equivalent with the dimensional reduction of a supersymmetric gauge theory from 4d to 3d. More concretely, we propose a…

To pave the way for the journey from geometry to conformal field theory (CFT), these notes present the background for some basic CFT constructions from Calabi-Yau geometry. Topics include the complex and Kaehler geometry of Calabi-Yau manifolds and their classification in low dimensions. I furthermore discuss CFT const…

3D dual field theories for Virasoro minimal models constructed using Seifert fiber spaces.

We study D3-brane theories that are dually described as deformations of two different $\mathcal{N}=2$ superconformal theories with massless monopoles and dyons. These arise at the self-intersection of a seven-brane in F-theory, which cuts out a link on a small three-sphere surrounding the self-intersection. The spectru…

We show that for every positive curvature Kahler-Einstein manifold in dimension 2n there is a countably infinite class of associated Sasaki-Einstein manifolds X_{2n+3} in dimension 2n+3. When n=1 we recover a recently discovered family of supersymmetric AdS_5 x X_5 solutions of type IIB string theory, while when n=2 we…

Proposes a new effective central charge for 3d N=2 theories.

We present a countably infinite number of new explicit co-homogeneity one Sasaki-Einstein metrics on S^2 x S^3, in both the quasi-regular and irregular classes. These give rise to new solutions of type IIB supergravity which are expected to be dual to N=1 superconformal field theories in four-dimensions with compact or…

We consider gauged twistor spinors which are supersymmetry generators of supersymmetric and superconformal field theories in curved backgrounds. We show that the spinor bilinears of gauged twistor spinors satify the gauged conformal Killing-Yano equation. We prove that the symmetry operators of the gauged twistor spino…

The correlation functions of supersymmetric gauge theories on a four-manifold X can sometimes be expressed in terms of topological invariants of X. We show how the existence of superconformal fixed points in the gauge theory can provide nontrivial information about four-manifold topology. In particular, in the example …

In this thesis we investigate a new formalism for supergeometry which focuses on the categorical properties of the theory. This approach is our main tool in the subsequent investigation of a global analytic approach to the construction of super Teichmueller spaces. These results should be of importance to various other…

We identify a large class R of three-dimensional N=2 superconformal field theories. This class includes the effective theories T_M of M5-branes wrapped on 3-manifolds M, discussed in previous work by the authors, and more generally comprises theories that admit a UV description as abelian Chern-Simons-matter theories w…

Three-dimensional N=2 superconformal field theories are constructed by compactifying M5-branes on three-manifolds. In the infrared the branes recombine, and the physics is captured by a single M5-brane on a branched cover of the original ultraviolet geometry. The branch locus is a tangle, a one-dimensional knotted subm…

We construct supersymmetric field theories on Riemannian three-manifolds M, focusing on N=2 theories with a U(1)_R symmetry. Our approach is based on the rigid limit of new minimal supergravity in three dimensions, which couples to the flat-space supermultiplet containing the R-current and the energy-momentum tensor. T…

The paper connects orbifold singularities to higher symmetries in SQFTs.

We study Wilson-'t Hooft loop operators in a class of N=2 superconformal field theories recently introduced by Gaiotto. In the case that the gauge group is a product of SU(2) groups, we classify all possible loop operators in terms of their electric and magnetic charges subject to the Dirac quantization condition. We t…

We study 4d superconformal indices for a large class of N=1 superconformal quiver gauge theories realized combinatorially as a bipartite graph or a set of "zig-zag paths" on a two-dimensional torus T^2. An exchange of loops, which we call a "double Yang-Baxter move", gives the Seiberg duality of the gauge theory, and t…

We develop a description of higher gauge theory with higher groupoids as gauge structure from first principles. This approach captures ordinary gauge theories and gauged sigma models as well as their categorifications on a very general class of (higher) spaces comprising presentable differentiable stacks, as e.g. orbif…

New geometric approach realizes 5D bulk theories with 4D edge modes.

This article is a summary of some of the author's work on Sasaki-Einstein geometry. A rather general conjecture in string theory known as the AdS/CFT correspondence relates Sasaki-Einstein geometry, in low dimensions, to superconformal field theory; properties of the latter are therefore reflected in the former, and vi…

Extract anomalies from 5D SCFTs using extra-dimensional η-invariants.

We study the general structure of the AdS_5/CFT_4 correspondence in type IIB string theory from the perspective of generalized geometry. We begin by defining a notion of "generalized Sasakian geometry," which consists of a contact structure together with a differential system for three symplectic forms on the four-dime…

The paper describes superconformal structures on super Riemann surfaces using fatgraphs.

We use the conformal invariance and the holographic correspondence to fully specify the dependence of entanglement entropy on the extrinsic geometry of the 2d surface $Σ$ that separates two subsystems of quantum strongly coupled ${\mathcal{N}}=4$ SU(N) superconformal gauge theory. We extend this result and calculate en…

We show that the superconformal symmetries of the (1,1) sigma model decompose into a set of more refined symmetries when the target space admits projectors $P_{\pm}$, and the orthogonal complements $Q_{\pm}$, covariantly constant with respect to the two natural torsionful connections $\nabla^{(\pm)}$ that arise in the …

We consider BPS states in a large class of d=4, N=2 field theories, obtained by reducing six-dimensional (2,0) superconformal field theories on Riemann surfaces, with defect operators inserted at points of the Riemann surface. Further dimensional reduction on S^1 yields sigma models, whose target spaces are moduli spac…

The paper generalizes Yang-Mills theory to study four-manifold topology.

Superconformal surfaces in Euclidean space are the ones for which the ellipse of curvature at any point is a nondegenerate circle. They can be characterized as the surfaces for which a well-known pointwise inequality relating the intrinsic Gauss curvature with the extrinsic normal and mean curvatures, due to Wintgen (\…

We show how to construct an N=1 superconformal vertex algebra (SCVA) from any Riemannian manifold. When the Riemannian manifold has special holonomy groups, we discuss the extended supersymmetry. When the manifold is complex or Kähler, we also generalize the construction to obtain N=2 SCVA's. We study the BRST cohomolo…

We argue that the relevant higher gauge group for the non-abelian generalization of the self-dual string equation is the string 2-group. We then derive the corresponding equations of motion and discuss their properties. The underlying geometric picture is a string structure, i.e. a categorified principal bundle with co…

Maps links in 3-manifolds to links in branched covers, relating quantum field theories.

It is shown that a superconformal surface with arbitrary codimension in flat Euclidean space has a (necessarily unique) dual superconformal surface if and only if the surface is S-Willmore, the latter a well-known necessary condition to allow a dual as shown by Ma \cite{ma}. Duality means that both surfaces envelope th…

This is the sixth in a series of papers constructing examples of special Lagrangian m-folds in C^m. We present a construction of special Lagrangian cones in C^3 involving two commuting o.d.e.s, motivated by the first two papers of the series. Then we generalize it to a construction of non-conical special Lagrangian 3-f…

We give an explicit construction of any simply-connected superconformal surface $φ\colon M^2\to \R^4$ in Euclidean space in terms of a pair of conjugate minimal surfaces $g,h\colon M^2\to\R^4$. That $φ$ is superconformal means that its ellipse of curvature is a circle at any point. We characterize the pairs $(g,h)$ of …

For an arbitrary positive integer $n$ and a pair $(p, q)$ of coprime integers, consider $n$ copies of a torus $(p,q)$ knot placed parallel to each other on the surface of the corresponding auxiliary torus: we call this assembly a torus $n$-link. We compute economical presentations of knot groups for torus links using t…

This is the written version of a talk given on 1 July 2009 at the XXV Max Born Symposium: the Planck Scale, held in Wroclaw, Poland. I review the possible transverse geometries to supersymmetric M2-brane configurations and discuss the representation-theoretic description of their conjectured dual superconformal Chern-S…

Study of IR phases in 3D class R theories linked to non-hyperbolic 3-manifolds.

We demonstrate the agreement between the Higgs branches of two N=2 theories proposed by Argyres and Seiberg to be S-dual, namely the SU(3) gauge theory with six quarks, and the SU(2) gauge theory with one pair of quarks coupled to the superconformal theory with E_6 flavor symmetry. In mathematical terms, we demonstrate…