Deformed Gauge Theories Research Articles

On classical and quantum deformations of gauge theories

We elaborate the generalizations of the approach to gauge-invariant deformations of the gauge theories developed in our previous work (Buchbinder and Lavrov in JHEP 06:097, 2021). In the given paper we construct the exact transformations defying the gauge-invariant deformed theory on the base of initial gauge theory with irreducible open gauge algebra. Like in [1], for the theories with open gauge algebras these transformations are the shifts of the initial gauge fields A rightarrow A+h(A), with the help of the arbitrary and in general non-local functions h(A). The results are applied to study the quantum aspects of the deformed theories. We derive the exact relation between the quantum effective actions for the above classical theories, where one is obtained from another with the help of the deformation.

Marginal deformations and quasi-Hopf algebras

We establish the existence of a quasi-Hopf algebraic structure underlying the Leigh–Strassler superconformal marginal deformations of the super-Yang–Mills theory. The scalar-sector R-matrix of these theories, which is related to their one-loop spin chain Hamiltonian, does not generically satisfy the quantum Yang–Baxter equation (QYBE). By constructing a Drinfeld twist which relates this R-matrix to that of the SYM theory, but also produces a non-trivial co-associator, we show that the generic Leigh–Strassler R-matrix satisfies the quasi-Hopf version of the QYBE. We also use the twist to define a suitable star product which directly relates the SYM superpotential to that of the marginally deformed gauge theories. We expect our results to be relevant to studies of integrability (and its breaking) in these theories, as well as to provide useful input for supergravity solution-generating techniques.

Extended gauge theory deformations from flux backgrounds

We consider supersymmetric deformations of gauge theories in various dimensions obtained from a String Theory realisation of branes embedded in flux backgrounds. In particular we obtain deformations which take the form of Wilson line defects, also obtained by a twisting of the R-symmetry into the gauge symmetry. Furthermore we construct higher-order generalisations, also expressed a twisting of the R-symmetry, that have symmetries associated to co-dimension two and three defects.

Topological defects in a deformed gauge theory

In this paper, we will analyse the topological defects in a deformation of a non-abelian gauge theory using the Polyakov variables. The gauge theory will be deformed by the existence of a minimum measurable length scale in the background spacetime. We will construct the Polyakov loops for this deformed non-abelian gauge theory, and use these deformed loop space variables for obtaining a deformed loop space curvature. It will be demonstrated that this curvature will vanish if the deformed Bianchi identities are satisfied. However, it is possible that the original Bianchi identities are satisfied, but the deformed Bianchi identities are violated at the leading order in the deformation parameter, due to some topological defects. Thus, topological defects could be produced purely from a deformation of the background geometry.

Wilson loops and chiral correlators on squashed spheres

After a very brief recollection of how my scientific collaboration with Ugo started, in this talk I will present some recent results obtained with localization: the deformed gauge theory partition function $Z(\vec\tau|q)$ and the expectation value of circular Wilson loops $W$ on a squashed four-sphere will be computed. The partition function is deformed by turning on $\tau_J \,{\rm tr} \, \Phi^J$ interactions with $\Phi$ the ${\cal N}=2$ superfield. For the ${\cal N}=4$ theory SUSY gauge theory exact formulae for $Z$ and $W$ in terms of an underlying $U(N)$ interacting matrix model can be derived thus replacing the free Gaussian model describing the undeformed ${\cal N}=4$ theory. These results will be then compared with those obtained with the dual CFT according to the AGT correspondence. The interactions introduced previously are in fact related to the insertions of commuting integrals of motion in the four-point CFT correlator and the chiral correlators are expressed as $\tau$-derivatives of the gauge theory partition function on a finite $\Omega$-background.

Wilson loops and chiral correlators on squashed spheres

We study chiral deformations of ${\cal N}=2$ and ${\cal N}=4$ supersymmetric gauge theories obtained by turning on $\tau_J \,{\rm tr} \, \Phi^J$ interactions with $\Phi$ the ${\cal N}=2$ superfield. Using localization, we compute the deformed gauge theory partition function $Z(\vec\tau|q)$ and the expectation value of circular Wilson loops $W$ on a squashed four-sphere. In the case of the deformed ${\cal N}=4$ theory, exact formulas for $Z$ and $W$ are derived in terms of an underlying $U(N)$ interacting matrix model replacing the free Gaussian model describing the ${\cal N}=4$ theory. Using the AGT correspondence, the $\tau_J$-deformations are related to the insertions of commuting integrals of motion in the four-point CFT correlator and chiral correlators are expressed as $\tau$-derivatives of the gauge theory partition function on a finite $\Omega$-background. In the so called Nekrasov-Shatashvili limit, the entire ring of chiral relations is extracted from the $\epsilon$-deformed Seiberg-Witten curve. As a byproduct of our analysis we show that $SU(2)$ gauge theories on rational $\Omega$-backgrounds are dual to CFT minimal models.

Topological self-dual vacua of deformed gauge theories

We propose a deformation principle of gauge theories in three dimensions that can describe topologically stable self-dual gauge fields, i.e., vacua configurations that in spite of their masses do not deform the background geometry and are locally undetected by charged particles. We interpret these systems as describing boundary degrees of freedom of a self-dual Yang-Mills field in 2 + 2 dimensions with mixed boundary conditions. Some of these fields correspond to Abrikosov-like vortices with an exponential damping in the direction penetrating into the bulk. We also propose generalizations of these ideas to higher dimensions and arbitrary p-form gauge connections.

Thermodynamics and phase diagram of anisotropic Chern-Simons deformed gauge theories

We consider 3+1-dimensional gauge theories at finite temperature and a finite density of charges which couple to a 2+1-dimensional Chern-Simons operator, giving rise to a theta-term with constant spatial gradient of theta. The strong-coupling limit of thermal N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory with this kind of anisotropic deformation has been used in the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence as a model for strongly coupled anisotropic quark-gluon plasma. In this paper we work out the thermodynamics and the (nontrivial) phase diagram in the limit of vanishing gauge coupling and compare with the corresponding strong-coupling results.

Thermal quenches in $ \mathcal{N} $ = 2* plasmas

We exploit gauge/gravity duality to study `thermal quenches' in a plasma of the strongly coupled N=2* gauge theory. Specifically, we consider the response of an initial thermal equilibrium state of the theory under variations of the bosonic or fermionic mass, to leading order in m/T<<1. When the masses are made to vary in time, novel new counterterms must be introduced to renormalize the boundary theory. We consider transitions the conformal super-Yang-Mills theory to the mass deformed gauge theory and also the reverse transitions. By construction, these transitions are controlled by a characteristic time scale \calt and we show how the response of the system depends on the ratio of this time scale to the thermal time scale 1/T. The response shows interesting scaling behaviour both in the limit of fast quenches with T\calt<<1 and slow quenches with T\calt>>1. In the limit that T\calt\to\infty, we observe the expected adiabatic response. For fast quenches, the relaxation to the final equilibrium is controlled by the lowest quasinormal mode of the bulk scalar dual to the quenched operator. For slow quenches, the system relaxes with a (nearly) adiabatic response that is governed entirely by the late time profile of the mass. We describe new renormalization scheme ambiguities in defining gauge invariant observables for the theory with time dependant couplings.

Mass deformation of the multiple M2-branes theory

Based on recent developments, in this paper we study the one parameter deformation of 2+1-dimensional gauge theories with scale invariance and \(\mathcal{N} = 8\) supersymmetry, which is expected to be the field theory living on a stack of M2-branes. The deformed gauge theory is defined by the Lagrangian and is based on an infinite set of novel 3-algebras constructed by relaxing the assumption that the invariant metric is positive definite. Under the Higgs mechanism, we can develop the D-branes world volume theory in the presence of background fluxes.

Finite-size effect for four-loop Konishi of the β-deformed [formula omitted] SYM

We propose that certain twists of the su ( 2 | 2 ) S-matrix elements describe the β-deformation of N = 4 supersymmetric Yang–Mills theory. We compute the perturbative four-loop anomalous dimension of the Konishi operator of the deformed gauge theory from the Lüscher formula based on these twisted S-matrix elements. The result agrees exactly with the perturbative gauge theory computations.

Instanton calculus in deformed 𝒩 = 4 super Yang-Mills theories

We study the instanton effective action of four-dimensional deformed = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in the presence of constant, self-dual Ramond-Ramond (R-R) 3-form background in type IIB superstring theory. We compare the instanton effective action with the low-energy effective action on D(-1)-branes in the D3-D(-1) system in the same background. We find that discrepancy appears at the second order of the R-R background, which was also observed in deformed = 2 theory. This discrepancy is resolved if the action of the deformed gauge theory is improved by introducing a term with coordinate-dependent gauge coupling. We obtain the same deformed instanton effective action from super Yang-Mills theory in ten-dimensional Ω-background by dimensional reduction. We also discuss another type of R-R 3-form background which corresponds to massive deformations of the instanton effective action.

On deformed gauge theories and their string/M-theory duals

We present general formulae for the TsT transformation (T-duality, shift, T-duality) of type II string backgrounds and open string boundary conditions. The TsT transformation provides a systematic procedure to find string theory duals of gauge theories with deformed products of fields in the lagrangian, and the duals can be analyzed by using transformed D-brane probes. As examples illustrating some features of the deformed theories, we consider the known backgrounds dual to non-commutative, dipole and β-deformed N = 4 Super Yang-Mills as well as new backgrounds dual to deformations of the recently proposed N = 6 Chern-Simons-matter theory living on multiple M2-branes on an orbifold. © 2008 SISSA.

Differential calculus and gauge transformations on a deformed space

We consider a formalism by which gauge theories can be constructed on noncommutative space time structures. The coordinates are supposed to form an algebra, restricted by certain requirements that allow us to realise the algebra in terms of star products. In this formulation it is useful to define derivatives and to extend the algebra of coordinates by these derivatives. The elements of this extended algebra are deformed differential operators. We then show that there is a morphism between these deformed differential operators and the usual higher order differential operators acting on functions of commuting coordinates. In this way we obtain deformed gauge transformations and a deformed version of the algebra of diffeomorphisms. The deformation of these algebras can be clearly seen in the category of Hopf algebras. The comultiplication will be twisted. These twisted algebras can be realised on noncommutative spaces and allow the construction of deformed gauge theories and deformed gravity theory.

Deformed Gauge Theories

Gauge theories are studied on a space of functions with the Moyal-Weyl product. The development of these ideas follows the differential geometry of the usual gauge theories, but several changes are forced upon us. The Leibniz rule has to be changed such that the theory is now based on a twisted Hopf algebra. Nevertheless, this twisted symmetry structure leads to conservation laws. The symmetry has to be extended from Lie algebra valued to enveloping algebra valued and new vector potentials have to be introduced. As usual, field equations are subjected to consistency conditions that restrict the possible models. Some examples are studied.

Instanton test of non-supersymmetric deformations of theAdS5×S5

We consider instanton effects in a non-supersymmetric gauge theory obtained by marginal deformations of the N=4 SYM. This gauge theory is expected to be dual to type IIB string theory on the AdS_5 times deformed-S^5 background. From an instanton calculation in the deformed gauge theory we extract the prediction for the dilaton-axion field \tau in dual string theory. In the limit of small deformations where the supergravity regime is valid, our instanton result reproduces the expression for \tau of the supergravity solution found by Frolov.

Non-anticommutative chiral singlet deformation of [formula omitted] gauge theory

We study the SO ( 4 ) × SU ( 2 ) invariant Q-deformation of Euclidean N = ( 1 , 1 ) gauge theories in the harmonic superspace formulation. This deformation preserves chirality and Grassmann harmonic analyticity but breaks N = ( 1 , 1 ) to N = ( 1 , 0 ) supersymmetry. The action of the deformed gauge theory is an integral over the chiral superspace, and only the purely chiral part of the covariant superfield strength contributes to it. We give the component form of the N = ( 1 , 0 ) supersymmetric action for the gauge groups U(1) and U ( n > 1 ) . In the U(1) and U(2) cases, we find the explicit nonlinear field redefinition (Seiberg–Witten map) relating the deformed N = ( 1 , 1 ) gauge multiplet to the undeformed one. This map exists in the general U ( n ) case as well, and we use this fact to argue that the deformed U ( n ) gauge theory can be nonlinearly reduced to a theory with the gauge group SU ( n ) .

Gauge theories on the $\kappa$ -Minkowski spacetime

This study of gauge field theories on $\kappa$ -deformed Minkowski spacetime extends previous work on field theories on this example of a non-commutative spacetime. We construct deformed gauge theories for arbitrary compact Lie groups using the concept of enveloping algebra-valued gauge transformations and the Seiberg-Witten formalism. Derivative-valued gauge fields lead to field strength tensors as the sum of curvature- and torsion-like terms. We construct the Lagrangians explicitly to first order in the deformation parameter. This is the first example of a gauge theory that possesses a deformed Lorentz covariance.

SOLITONIC ASPECTS OF q-FIELD THEORIES

We have examined the deformation of a generic non-Abelian gauge theory obtained by replacing its Lie group by the corresponding quantum group. This deformed gauge theory has more degrees of freedom than the theory from which it is derived. By going over from point particles in the standard theory to solitonic particles in the deformed theory, it is proposed that we interpret the new degrees of freedom as being descriptive of the non-locality of the deformed theory. It also turns out that the original Lie algebra gets replaced by two dual algebras, one of which lies close to and approaches the original Lie algebra in a correspondence limit, while the second algebra is new and disappears in this same correspondence limit. The exotic field particles associated with the second algebra can be interpreted as quark-like constituents of the solitons, which are themselves described as point particles in the first algebra. These ideas are explored for q-deformed SU(2) and GL q(3).

The &lt;i&gt;C&lt;/i&gt;-deformation of gluino and non-planar diagrams

We consider a deformation of N = 1 supersymmetric gauge theories in four dimensions, which we call the C-deformation, where the gluino field satisfies a Clifford-like algebra dictated by a self-dual two-form, instead of the standard Grassmannian algebra. The superpotential of the deformed gauge theory is computed by the full partition function of an associated matrix model (or more generally a bosonic gauge theory), including non-planar diagrams. In this identification, the strength of the two-form controls the genus expansion of the matrix model partition function. For the case of pure N = 1 Yang-Mills this deformation leads to the identification of the all genus partition function of c non-critical bosonic string at self-dual radius as the glueball superpotential. Though the C-deformation violates Lorentz invariance, the deformed F-terms are Lorentz invariant and the Lorentz violation is screened in the IR.