arXiv research

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

Constructs local superconformal algebras on supermanifolds.

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…

The dynamics of an N=4 spinning particle in a curved background is described using the N=4 superfield formalism. The $SU(2)_{local}\times SU(2)_{global}$ N=4 superconformal symmetry of the particle action requires the background to be a real "Kähler-like" manifold whose metric is generated by a sigma-model superpotenti…

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…

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

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 …

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 study a family of fermionic extensions of the Camassa-Holm equation. Within this family we identify three interesting classes: (a) equations, which are inherently hamiltonian, describing geodesic flow with respect to an H^1 metric on the group of superconformal transformations in two dimensions, (b) equations which …

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…

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 …

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…

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 …

Researchers link vertex algebras to non-Kähler solutions of the Hull-Strominger system.

Local supertwistors help study 6D conformal supergravity.

We show that the SO(3) monopole cobordism formula from Feehan and Leness (2002) implies that all smooth, closed, oriented four-manifolds with $b^1=0$ and $b^+\geq 3$ and odd with Seiberg-Witten simple type satisfy the superconformal simple type condition defined by Marino, Moore, and Peradze (1999) This implies the low…

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 …

The geometry arising from Michelson & Strominger's study of N=4B supersymmetric quantum mechanics with superconformal D(2,1;alpha)-symmetry is a hyperKaehler manifold with torsion (HKT) together with a special homothety. It is shown that different parameters alpha are related via changes in potentials for the HKT targe…

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

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 review the map between hypercomplex manifolds that admit a closed homothetic Killing vector (i.e. `conformal hypercomplex' manifolds) and quaternionic manifolds of 1 dimension less. This map is related to a method for constructing supergravity theories using superconformal techniques. An explicit relation between th…

These are notes for four lectures on higher structures in M-theory as presented at workshops at the Erwin Schroedinger Institute and Tohoku University. The first lecture gives an overview of systems of multiple M5-branes and introduces the relevant mathematical structures underlying a local description of higher gauge …

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…

Let $M$ be a super Riemann surface with holomorphic distribution $\mathcal{D}$ and $N$ a symplectic manifold with compatible almost complex structure $J$. We call a map $Φ\colon M\to N$ a super $J$-holomorphic curve if its differential maps the almost complex structure on $\mathcal{D}$ to $J$. Such a super $J$-holomorp…

We study a class of exceptional minimal surfaces in spheres for which all Hopf differentials are holomorphic. Extending results of Eschenburg and Tribuzy \cite{ET0}, we obtain a description of exceptional surfaces in terms of a set of absolute value type functions, the $a$-invariants, that determine the geometry of the…

We derive the 2-component Camassa-Holm equation and corresponding N=1 super generalization as geodesic flows with respect to the $H^1$ metric on the extended Bott-Virasoro and superconformal groups, respectively.

We develop semistrict higher gauge theory from first principles. In particular, we describe the differential Deligne cohomology underlying semistrict principal 2-bundles with connective structures. Principal 2-bundles are obtained in terms of weak 2-functors from the Cech groupoid to weak Lie 2-groups. As is demonstrat…

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 study N=2 nonlinear two dimensional sigma models with boundaries and their massive generalizations (the Landau-Ginzburg models). These models are defined over either Kahler or bihermitian target space manifolds. We determine the most general local N=2 superconformal boundary conditions (D-branes) for these sigma mod…

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

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…

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…

Let $X$ be a smooth, closed, connected, orientable four-manifold with $b^1(X)=0$ and $b^+(X)\geq 3$ and odd. We show that if $X$ has Seiberg-Witten simple type, then the SO(3)-monopole cobordism formula of Feehan and Leness (2002) implies Witten's Conjecture relating the Donaldson and Seiberg-Witten invariants.

In this paper we show that all totally real superconformal minimal tori in $CP^2$ correspond with doubly-periodic finite gap solutions of the Tzitzeica equation $ω_{z{\overline z}}=e^{-2ω}-e^ω$ Using the results on the Tzitzeica equation in integrable system theory, we describe explicitly all these tori by Prym-theta…

New mathematical proposal for TQFTs using TMF-modules.

We show that all superconformal harmonic immersions from genus one surfaces into de Sitter spaces $S ^ {2n}_1$ with globally defined harmonic sequence are of finite-type and hence result merely from solving a pair of ordinary differential equations. As an application, we prove that all Willmore tori in $S ^ 3$ with…

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…

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 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 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 study characterizes surfaces with specific harmonic properties in pseudo-conformal geometry.

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…

We analyse the moduli spaces of superconformal field theories (SCFTs). For N=2 we find an enhanced moduli space which in geometrical terms corresponds to tori with two independent complex structures. To explain the precise relation with the moduli space of SCFTs on K3 surfaces as described by Aspinwall and Morrison, we…

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…

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…

In this article we show that some of the recent results of Marino, Moore, and Peradze (math.DG/9812042, hep-th/9812055) -- in particular their conjecture that all closed, smooth four-manifolds with b_2^+ > 1 (and Seiberg-Witten simple type) are of `superconformal simple type' -- can be understood using a simple mathema…

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…

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