From little string free energies towards modular graph functions

Abstract

We study the structure of the non-perturbative free energy of a one-parameter class of little string theories (LSTs) of A-type in the so-called unrefined limit. These theories are engineered by N M5-branes probing a transverse flat space. By analysing a number of examples, we observe a pattern which suggests to write the free energy in a fashion that resembles a decomposition into higher-point functions which can be presented in a graphical way reminiscent of sums of (effective) Feynman diagrams: to leading order in the instanton parameter of the LST, the N external states are given either by the fundamental building blocks of the theory with N = 1, or the function that governs the counting of BPS states of a single M5-brane coupling to one M2-brane on either side. These states are connected via an effective coupling function which encodes the details of the gauge algebra of the LST and which in its simplest (non-trivial) form is captured by the scalar Greens function on the torus. More complicated incarnations of this function show certain similarities with so-called modular graph functions, which have appeared in the study of Feynman amplitudes in string- and field theory. Finally, similar structures continue to exist at higher instanton orders, which, however, also contain contributions that can be understood as the action of (Hecke) operators on the leading instanton result.