BPS States Research Articles

BPS states in omega background and integrability

We reconsider string and domain wall central charges in N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories in four dimensions in presence of the Omega background in the Nekrasov-Shatashvili (NS) limit. Existence of these charges entails presence of the corresponding topological defects in the theory - vortices and domain walls. In spirit of the 4d/2d duality we discuss the worldsheet low energy effective theory living on the BPS vortex in N=2 Supersymmetric Quantum Chromodynamics (SQCD). We discuss some aspects of the brane realization of the dualities between various quantum integrable models. A chain of such dualities enables us to check the AGT correspondence in the NS limit.

Wall crossing, quivers and crystals

We study the spectrum of BPS D-branes on a Calabi-Yau manifold using the 0+1 dimensional quiver gauge theory that describes the dynamics of the branes at low energies. The results of Kontsevich and Soibelman predict how the degeneracies change. We argue that Seiberg dualities of the quiver gauge theories, which change the basis of BPS states, correspond to crossing the "walls of the second kind." There is a large class of examples, including local del Pezzo surfaces, where the BPS degeneracies of quivers corresponding to one D6 brane bound to arbitrary numbers of D4, D2 and D0 branes are counted by melting crystal configurations. We show that the melting crystals that arise are a discretization of the Calabi-Yau geometry. The shape of the crystal is determined by the Calabi-Yau geometry and the background B-field, and its microscopic structure by the quiver Q. We prove that the BPS degeneracies computed from Q and Q' are related by the Kontsevich Soibelman formula, using a geometric realization of the Seiberg duality in the crystal. We also show that, in the limit of infinite B-field, the combinatorics of crystals arising from the quivers becomes that of the topological vertex. We thus re-derive the Gromov-Witten/Donaldson-Thomas correspondence.

Matrix models and stochastic growth in Donaldson-Thomas theory

We show that the partition functions which enumerate Donaldson-Thomas invariants of local toric Calabi-Yau threefolds without compact divisors can be expressed in terms of specializations of the Schur measure. We also discuss the relevance of the Hall-Littlewood and Jack measures in the context of BPS state counting and study the partition functions at arbitrary points of the Kähler moduli space. This rewriting in terms of symmetric functions leads to a unitary one-matrix model representation for Donaldson-Thomas theory. We describe explicitly how this result is related to the unitary matrix model description of Chern-Simons gauge theory. This representation is used to show that the generating functions for Donaldson-Thomas invariants are related to tau-functions of the integrable Toda and Toeplitz lattice hierarchies. The matrix model also leads to an interpretation of Donaldson-Thomas theory in terms of non-intersecting paths in the lock-step model of vicious walkers. We further show that these generating functions can be interpreted as normalization constants of a corner growth/last-passage stochastic model.

Group-theoretical classification of BPS states in D= 4 conformal supersymmetry: the case of 1/N-BPS

In an earlier paper we gave the complete group-theoretical classification of BPS states of the N-extended D=4 conformal superalgebras su(2,2/N), but not all interesting cases were given in detail. In the present paper we spell out the interesting case of (1/N)-BPS and possibly protected states.

Orientifolds and the refined topological string

We study refined topological string theory in the presence of orientifolds by counting second-quantized BPS states in M-theory. This leads us to propose a new integrality condition for both refined and unrefined topological strings when orientifolds are present. We define the SO(2N) refined Chern-Simons theory which computes refined open string amplitudes for branes wrapping Seifert three-manifolds. We use the SO(2N) refined Chern-Simons theory to compute new invariants of torus knots that generalize the Kauffman polynomials. At large N, the SO(2N) refined Chern-Simons theory on the three-sphere is dual to refined topological strings on an orientifold of the resolved conifold, generalizing the Gopakumar-Sinha-Vafa duality. Finally, we use the (2,0) theory to define and solve refined Chern-Simons theory for all ADE gauge groups.

BPS states on M5-brane in large C-field background

We extensively study BPS solutions of the low energy effective theory of M5-brane in large C-field background. This provides us an opportunity to explore the interactions turned on by C-field background through the Nambu-Poisson structure. The BPS states considered in this paper include the M-waves, the self-dual string (M2 ending on M5), tilted M5-brane, holomorphic embedding of M5-brane and the intersection of two M5-branes along a 3-brane.

Mutation symmetries in BPS quiver theories: building the BPS spectra

We study the basic features of BPS quiver mutations in 4D $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric quantum field theory with $G=ADE$ gauge symmetries.\ We show, for these gauge symmetries, that there is an isotropy group $\mathcal{G}_{Mut}^{G}$ associated to a set of quiver mutations capturing information about the BPS spectra. In the strong coupling limit, it is shown that BPS chambers correspond to finite and closed groupoid orbits with an isotropy symmetry group $\mathcal{G}_{strong}^{G}$ isomorphic to the discrete dihedral groups $Dih_{2h_{G}}$ contained in Coxeter$(G) $ with $% h_{G}$ the Coxeter number of G. These isotropy symmetries allow to determine the BPS spectrum of the strong coupling chamber; and give another way to count the total number of BPS and anti-BPS states of $\mathcal{N}=2$ gauge theories. We also build the matrix realization of these mutation groups $% \mathcal{G}_{strong}^{G}$ from which we read directly the electric-magnetic charges of the BPS and anti-BPS states of $\mathcal{N}=2$ QFT$_{4}$ as well as their matrix intersections. We study as well the quiver mutation symmetries in the weak coupling limit and give their links with infinite Coxeter groups. We show amongst others that $\mathcal{G}_{weak}^{su_{2}}$ is contained in ${GL}({2,}\mathbb{Z}) $; and isomorphic to the infinite Coxeter ${I_{2}^{\infty}}$. Other issues such as building $\mathcal{G}%_{weak}^{so_{4}}$ and $\mathcal{G}_{weak}^{su_{3}}$ are also studied.

Instanton Counting and Wall-Crossing for Orbifold Quivers

Noncommutative Donaldson–Thomas invariants for abelian orbifold singularities can be studied via the enumeration of instanton solutions in a six-dimensional noncommutative \({{\mathcal N}=2}\) gauge theory; this construction is based on the generalized McKay correspondence and identifies the instanton counting with the counting of framed representations of a quiver which is naturally associated with the geometry of the singularity. We extend these constructions to compute BPS partition functions for higher-rank refined and motivic noncommutative Donaldson–Thomas invariants in the Coulomb branch in terms of gauge theory variables and orbifold data. We introduce the notion of virtual instanton quiver associated with the natural symplectic charge lattice which governs the quantum wall-crossing behaviour of BPS states in this context. The McKay correspondence naturally connects our formalism with other approaches to wall-crossing based on quantum monodromy operators and cluster algebras.

Quiver invariants from intrinsic Higgs states

In study of four-dimensional BPS states, quiver quantum mechanics plays a central role. The Coulomb phases capture the multi-centered nature of such states, and are well understood in the context of wall-crossing. The Higgs phases are given typically by F-term-induced complete intersections in the ambient D-term-induced toric varieties, and the ground states can be far more numerous than the Coulomb phase counterparts. We observe that the Higgs phase BPS states are naturally and geometrically grouped into two parts, with one part given by the pulled-back cohomology from the D-term-induced ambient space. We propose that these pulled-back states are in one-to-one correspondence with the Coulomb phase states. This also leads us to conjecture that the index associated with the rest, intrinsic to the Higgs phase,is a fundamental invariant of quivers, independent of branches. For simple circular quivers, these intrinsic Higgs states belong to the middle cohomology and thus are all angular momentum singlets, supporting the single-center black hole interpretation.

Tailoring three-point functions and integrability III. Classical tunneling

We compute three-point functions between one large classical operator and two large BPS operators at weak coupling. We consider operators made out of the scalars of N=4 SYM, dual to strings moving in the sphere. The three-point function exponentiates and can be thought of as a classical tunneling process in which the classical string-like operator decays into two classical BPS states. From an Integrability/Condensed Matter point of view, we simplified inner products of spin chain Bethe states in a classical limit corresponding to long wavelength excitations above the ferromagnetic vacuum. As a by-product we solved a new long-range Ising model in the thermodynamic limit.

BPS state counting on singular varieties

We define new partition functions for theories with targets on toric singularities via products of old partition functions on crepant resolutions. We compute explicit examples and show that the new partition functions turn out to be homogeneous on MacMahon factors.

One-loop BPS amplitudes as BPS-state sums

AbstractRecently, we introduced a new procedure for computing a class of one-loop BPS-saturated amplitudes in String Theory, which expresses them as a sum of one-loop contributions of all perturbative BPS states in a manifestly T-duality invariant fashion. In this paper, we extend this procedure toallBPS-saturated amplitudes of the form ∫FΓd+k,dΦ, withΦbeing a weak (almost) holomorphic modular form of weight − k/2. We use the fact that any suchΦcan be expressed as a linear combination of certain absolutely convergent Poincaré series, against which the fundamental domain F can be unfolded. The resulting BPS-state sum neatly exhibits the singularities of the amplitude at points of gauge symmetry enhancement, in a chamber-independent fashion. We illustrate our method with concrete examples of interest in heterotic string compactifications.

BPS spectrum, indices and wall crosscxhing in $ \mathcal{N} $ = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories

BPS states in N=4 supersymmetric SU(N) gauge theories in four dimensions can be represented as planar string networks with ends lying on D3-branes. We introduce several protected indices which capture information on the spectrum and various quantum numbers of these states, give their wall crossing formula and describe how using the wall crossing formula we can compute all the indices at all points in the moduli space.

Argyres-Douglas loci, singularity structures and wall-crossings in pure $ \mathcal{N} = 2 $ gauge theories with classical gauge groups

N=2 Seiberg-Witten theories allow an interesting interplay between the Argyres-Douglas loci, singularity structures and wall-crossing formulae. In this paper we investigate this connection by first studying the singularity structures of hyper-elliptic Seiberg-Witten curves for pure N=2 gauge theories with SU(r+1) and Sp(2r) gauge groups, and propose new methods to locate the Argyres-Douglas loci in the moduli space, where multiple mutually non-local BPS states become massless. In a region of the moduli space, we compute dyon charges for all 2r+2 and 2r+1 massless dyons for SU(r+1) and Sp(2r) gauge groups respectively for rank r>1. From here we elucidate the connection to the wall-crossing phenomena for pure Sp(4) Seiberg-Witten theory near the Argyres-Douglas loci, despite our emphasis being only at the massless sector of the BPS spectra. We also present 2r-1 candidates for the maximal Argyres-Douglas points for pure SO(2r+1) Seiberg-Witten theory.

D0–D6 States Counting and GW Invariants

We describe a correspondence between the Donaldson-Thomas enu- merating D0-D6 bound states on a Calabi-Yau 3-fold and certain Gromov-Witten invari- ants counting rational curves in a family of blowups of weighted projective planes. This is a variation on a correspondence found by Gross-Pandharipande, with D0-D6 bound states replacing representations of generalised Kronecker quivers. We build on a small part of the theories developed by Joyce-Song and Kontsevich-Soibelman for wall-crossing for- mulae and by Gross-Pandharipande-Siebert for factorisations in the tropical vertex group. Along the way we write down an explicit formula for the BPS state counts which arise up to rank 3 and prove their integrality. We also compare with previous noncommutative DT invariants computations in the physics literature.

Quantum states to brane geometries via fuzzy moduli spaces of giant gravitons

Eighth-BPS local operators in N=4 SYM are dual to quantum states arising from the quantization of a moduli space of giant gravitons in AdS5xS5. Earlier results on the quantization of this moduli space give a Hilbert space of multiple harmonic oscillators in 3 dimensions. We use these results, along with techniques from fuzzy geometry, to develop a map between quantum states and brane geometries. In particular there is a map between the oscillator states and points in a discretization of the base space in the toric fibration of the moduli space. We obtain a geometrical decomposition of the space of BPS states with labels consisting of U(3) representations along with U(N) Young diagrams and associated group theoretic multiplicities. Factorization properties in the counting of BPS states lead to predictions for BPS world-volume excitations of specific brane geometries. Some of our results suggest an intriguing complementarity between localisation in the moduli space of branes and localisation in space-time.

BKM superalgebras from counting dyons in [formula omitted] supersymmetric type II compactifications

We study the degeneracy of quarter BPS dyons in N=4 type II compactifications of string theory. We find that the genus-two Siegel modular forms generating the degeneracies of the quarter BPS dyons in the type II theories can be expressed in terms of the genus-two Siegel modular forms generating the degeneracies of quarter BPS dyons in the CHL theories and the heterotic string. This helps us in understanding the algebra structure underlying the degeneracy of the quarter BPS states. The Conway group, Co0, plays a role similar to Mathieu group, M24, in the CHL models with eta quotients appearing in the place of eta products. We construct BKM Lie superalgebra structures for the ZN (for N=2,3,4) orbifolds of the type II string compactified on a six-torus.

Semiclassical correlators of three states with largeS5charges in string theory inAdS5×S5

We consider semiclassical computation of 3-point correlation functions of (BPS or non-BPS) string states represented by vertex operators carrying large charges in S5. We argue that the AdS5 part of the construction of relevant semiclassical solution involves the two basic ingredients: (i) configuration of three glued geodesics in AdS2 suggested by Klose and McLoughlin in arXiv:1106.0495 and (ii) a particular Schwarz-Christoffel map of the 3-geodesic solution in cylindrical (tau, sigma) domain into the complex plane with three marked points. This map is constructed using the expression for the AdS2 string stress tensor which is uniquely determined by the 3 scaling dimensions as noted by Janik and Wereszczynski in arXiv:1109.6262 (our solution, however, is different from theirs). We also find the S5 part of the solution and thus the full expression for the semiclassical part of the 3-point correlator for several examples: extremal and non-extremal correlators of BPS states and a particular correlator of "small" circular spinning strings in S3 part of S5. We demonstrate that for the BPS correlators the results agree with the large charge limit of the corresponding supergravity and free gauge theory expressions.

Direct integration for general Ω backgrounds

We extend the direct integration method of the holomorphic anomaly equations to general Ω backgrounds ǫ1 6= −ǫ2 for pure SU(2) N=2 Super-Yang-Mills theory and topological string theory on non-compact Calabi-Yau threefolds. We find that an extension of the holomorphic anomaly equation, modularity and boundary conditions provided by the perturbative terms as well as by the gap condition at the conifold are sufficient to solve the generalized theory in the above cases. In particular we use the method to solve the topological string for the general Ω backgrounds on non-compact toric Calabi-Yau spaces. The conifold boundary condition follows from that the N=2 Schwinger-Loop calculation with BPS states coupled to a self-dual and an anti-self-dual field strength. We calculate such BPS states also for the decompactification limit of Calabi-Yau spaces with regular K3 fibrations and half K3s embedded in Calabi-Yau backgrounds. minxin.huang@ipmu.jp aklemm@th.physik.uni-bonn.de

On the arithmetic of D-brane superpotentials: lines and conics on the mirror quintic

Irrational invariants from D-brane superpotentials are pursued on the mirror quintic, systematically according to the degree of a representative curve. Lines are completely understood: the contribution from isolated lines vanishes. All other lines can be deformed holomorphically to the van Geemen lines, whose superpotential is determined via the associated inhomogeneous Picard-Fuchs equation. Substantial progress is made for conics: the families found by Mustat¸ya contain conics reducible to isolated lines, hence they have a vanishing superpotential. The search for all conics invariant under a residual Z2 symmetry reduces to an algebraic problem at the limit of our computational capabilities. The main results are of arithmetic flavor: the extension of the moduli space by the algebraic cycle splits in the large complex structure limit into groups each governed by an algebraic number field. The expansion coefficients ofthe superpotential around large volume remain irrational. The integrality of those coefficients is revealed by a new, arithmetic twist of the di-logarithm: the D-logarithm. There are several options for attempting to explain how these invariants could arise from the A-model perspective. A successful spacetime interpretation will require spaces of BPS states to carry number theoretic structures, such as an action of the Galois group.