Cosmologies with null singularities and their gauge theory duals

The web of dual gauge theories engineered from a class of toric Calabi-Yau threefolds is explored. In previous work, we have argued for a triality structure by compiling evidence for the fact that every such manifold XN,M (for given (N, M)) engineers three a priori different, weakly coupled quiver gauge theories in five dimensions. The strong coupling regime of the latter is in general described by Little String Theories. Furthermore, we also conjectured that the manifold XN,M is dual to XN ′,M ′ if NM = N′M′ and gcd(N, M) = gcd(N′, M′). Combining this result with the triality structure, we currently argue for a large number of dual quiver gauge theories, whose instanton partition functions can be computed explicitly as specific expansions of the topological partition function {mathcal{Z}}_{N,M} of XN,M. We illustrate this web of dual theories by studying explicit examples in detail. We also undertake first steps in further analysing the extended moduli space of XN,M with the goal of finding other dual gauge theories.

We revisit type IIB supergravity backgrounds with null and spacelike singularities with natural gauge theory duals proposed in [S. R. Das, J. Michelson, K. Narayan, and S. P. Trivedi, Phys. Rev. D 74, 026002 (2006)] and [S. R. Das, J. Michelson, K. Narayan, and S. P. Trivedi, Phys. Rev. D 75, 026002 (2007)]. We show that for these backgrounds there are always choices of the boundaries of these deformed ${\mathrm{AdS}}_{5}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{S}^{5}$ space-times, such that the dual gauge theories live on flat metrics and have space-time dependent couplings. We present a new time dependent solution of this kind where the effective string coupling is always bounded and vanishes at a spacelike singularity in the bulk, and the space-time becomes ${\mathrm{AdS}}_{5}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{S}^{5}$ at early and late times. The holographic energy momentum tensor calculated with a choice of flat boundary is shown to vanish for null backgrounds and to be generically nonzero for time dependent backgrounds.

We consider AdS/CFT correspondence for time-dependent \II B backgrounds in this paper. The supergravity solutions we construct are supersymmetric pp-waves on AdS and may have null singularity in the bulk. The dual gauge theory is also constructed explicitly and is given by a time-dependent supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory living on the boundary. Apart from the usual terms that are dictated by the geometry, our gauge theory action features also a time-dependent axion coupling and a time-dependent gauge coupling. Both of which are necessary due to the presence of a nontrivial dilaton and axion profile in the supergravity solution. The proposal is supported by a precise matching in the symmetries and functional dependence on the null coordinate of the two theories. As applications, we show how the bulk Einstein equation may be reproduced from the gauge theory. We also study and compare the behaviour of the field theory two-point functions. We find that the two-point function computed by using duality is different from that by doing a direct field theory computation. In particular the spacetime singularity is not seen in our gauge theory result, suggesting that the spacetime singularity may be resolved in the gauge theory.

This is an introductory review of the AdS/CFT correspondence and of the ideas that led to its formulation. We show how comparison of stacks of D3-branes with corresponding supergravity solutions leads to dualities between conformal large $N$ gauge theories in 4 dimensions and string backgrounds of the form $AdS_5\times X_5$ where $X_5$ is an Einstein manifold. The gauge invariant chiral operators of the field theory are in one-to-one correspondence with the supergravity modes, and their correlation functions at strong `t Hooft coupling are determined by the dependence of the supergravity action on AdS boundary conditions. The simplest case is when $X_5$ is a 5-sphere and the dual gauge theory is the ${\cal N}=4$ supersymmetric SU(N) Yang-Mills theory. We also discuss D3-branes on the conifold corresponding to $X_5$ being a coset space $T^{1,1}=(SU(2)\times SU(2))/U(1)$. This background is dual to a certain ${\cal N}=1$ superconformal field theory with gauge group $SU(N)\times SU(N)$.

In this article we explore the duality between the low energy effective theory of five-dimensional $ \mathcal{N} = {1}\,{\text{SU}}{(N)^{{M - {1}}}} $ and SU(M) N−1 linear quiver gauge theories compactified on S 1. The theories we study are the five-dimensional uplifts of four-dimensional superconformal linear quivers. We study this duality by comparing the Seiberg-Witten curves and the Nekrasov partition functions of the two dual theories. The Seiberg-Witten curves are obtained by minimizing the worldvolume of an M5-brane with nontrivial geometry. Nekrasov partition functions are computed using topological string theory. The result of our study is a map between the gauge theory parameters, i.e., Coulomb moduli, masses and UV coupling constants, of the two dual theories. Apart from the obvious physical interest, this duality also leads to compelling mathematical identities. Through the AGTW conjecture these five-dimentional gauge theories are related to q-deformed Liouville and Toda SCFTs in two-dimensions. The duality we study implies the relations between Liouville and Toda correlation functions through the map we derive.

Following [1] we study a QCD-like gauge theory using a non-supersymmetric setup in type IIB string theory. The setup includes an O3 plane and N D3 anti-branes and it realises a USp(2N) ‘electric’ gauge theory with four “quarks” in the two-index antisymmetric representation and six heavy scalars in the adjoint representation. Using S-duality we obtain a dual ‘magnetic’ theory that includes SO(2N−1) gauge theory with six scalars in the adjoint representation and four heavy “quarks” in the two-index symmetric representation. The dual theory provides a description of confinement and dynamical symmetry breaking of the form SU(4)→SO(4). We extend the results of [1] by adding masses to the quarks in the electric side and deriving parts of the chiral Lagrangian using the dual magnetic theory. In particular, we derive the Gell-Mann-Oakes-Renner (GMOR) relation for Nambu-Goldstone bosons (pions) using the magnetic theory.

We analyze the spectra of non-chiral and chiral bifundamental mesons arising on intersecting D7-branes in AdS 5 × S 5. In the absence of magnetic flux on the curve of intersection, the spectrum is non-chiral, and the dual gauge theory is conformal in the quenched/probe approximation. For this case we calculate the dimensions of the bifundamental mesonic operators. We then consider magnetization of the D7-branes, which deforms the dual theory by an irrelevant operator and renders the mesons chiral. The magnetic flux spoils the conformality of the dual theory, and induces a D3-brane charge that becomes large in the ultraviolet, where the non-normalizable bifundamental modes are rapidly divergent. An ultraviolet completion is therefore necessary to calculate the correlation functions in the chiral case. On the other hand, the normalizable modes are very well localized in the infrared, leading to new possibilities for local model-building on intersecting D7-branes in warped geometries.

A bstract We study electric-magnetic duality in Lorentz invariant symmetric tensor gauge theories, where immobile charged particles — fractons — arise due to the generalized current conservation ∂ μ ∂ ν J μν = 0 and the fracton gauge principle. We show that the duality in the symmetric gauge theories holds only in four-dimensional spacetime. In higher dimensions, the duality does not hold with only the symmetric gauge fields but tensor fields with more complex symmetries come into play. Furthermore, we show that a hierarchy for the symmetric gauge field theories of higher ranks is interpreted by the bi-form calculus. We also discuss the restricted immobility of p -branes in the mixed symmetric gauge theories. As a byproduct, we find that novel self-duality conditions are defined as BPS equations in the four-dimensional Euclidean space.

We provide non-trivial checks of $ \mathcal{N} $ = 4, D = 3 mirror symmetry in a large class of quiver gauge theories whose Type IIB (Hanany-Witten) descriptions involve D3 branes ending on orbifold/orientifold 5-planes at the boundary. From the M-theory perspective, such theories can be understood in terms of coincident M2 branes sitting at the origin of a product of an A-type and a D-type ALE (Asymtotically Locally Euclidean) space with G-fluxes. Families of mirror dual pairs, which arise in this fashion, can be labeled as (A m−1 , D n ), where m and n are integers. For a large subset of such infinite families of dual theories, corresponding to generic values of n ≥ 4, arbitrary ranks of the gauge groups and varying m, we test the conjectured duality by proving the precise equality of the S 3 partition functions for dual gauge theories in the IR as functions of masses and FI parameters. The mirror map for a given pair of mirror dual theories can be read off at the end of this computation and we explicitly present these for the aforementioned examples. The computation uses non-trivial identities of hyperbolic functions including certain generalizations of Cauchy determinant identity and Schur’s Pfaffian identity, which are discussed in the paper.

We use localization techniques to study several duality proposals for supersymmetric gauge theories in three dimensions reminiscent of Seiberg duality. We compare the partition functions of dual theories deformed by real mass terms and FI parameters. We find that Seiberg-like duality for mathcal{N} = 3 Chern-Simons gauge theories proposed by Giveon and Kutasov holds on the level of partition functions and is closely related to level-rank duality in pure Chern-Simons theory. We also clarify the relationship between the Giveon-Kutasov duality and a duality in theories of fractional M2 branes and propose a generalization of the latter. Our analysis also confirms previously known results concerning decoupled free sectors in mathcal{N} = 4 gauge theories realized by monopole operators.

We study the thermodynamics of AdS–Schwarzschild black hole in the presence of an external string cloud. We observe that, at any temperature, the black hole configuration is stable with nonzero entropy. We further notice that when the value of the curvature constant equals to one, if the string cloud density has less than a critical value, within a certain range of temperature three black holes configurations exist. One of these black holes is unstable and other two are stable. At a critical temperature, a transition between these two stable black holes takes place which leads us to conclude that the bound state of quark and antiquark pairs may not exist. By studying the corresponding dual gauge theory, we confirm the instability of the bound state of quark and antiquark pair in the dual gauge theory.

On a deformation of 3-branes

Five easy pieces: The dynamics of quarks in strongly coupled plasmas

A central problem in any quantum theory of gravity is to explain the emergence of the classical spacetime geometry in some limit of a more fundamental, microscopic description of nature. The gauge/gravity-correspondence provides a framework in which this problem can, in principle, be addressed. This is a holographic correspondence which relates a supergravity theory in five-dimensional Anti-deSitter space to a strongly coupled superconformal gauge theory on its 4-dimensional flat Minkowski boundary. In particular, the classical geometry should therefore emerge from some quantum state of the dual gauge theory. Here we confirm this by showing how the classical metric emerges from a canonical state in the dual gauge theory. In particular, we obtain approximations to the Sasaki-Einstein metric underlying the supergravity geometry, in terms of an explicit integral formula involving the canonical quantum state in question. In the special case of toric quiver gauge theories we show that our results can be computationally simplified through a process of tropicalization.

In this paper, we explore the relation between crossing symmetry and modular invariance in conformal field theory and $S$ duality in gauge theory. It is shown that partition functions of different $S$ dual theories of $N=2$ $SU(2)$ gauge theory with four fundamentals can be derived from the crossing symmetry of the Liouville four-point function. We also show that the partition function of $N=4$ $SU(2)$ gauge theory can be derived from the Liouville partition function on torus.