Superconformal Index Research Articles

Modified Elliptic Gamma Functions and 6d Superconformal Indices

We construct a modified double elliptic gamma function which is well defined when one of the base parameters lies on the unit circle. A model consisting of 6d hypermultiplets coupled to a gauge field theory living on a 4d defect is proposed whose superconformal index uses the double elliptic gamma function and obeys W(E 7)-group symmetry.

Elliptic Hypergeometry of Supersymmetric Dualities II. Orthogonal Groups, Knots, and Vortices

We consider Seiberg electric-magnetic dualities for 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ SYM theories with SO(N) gauge group. For all such known theories we construct superconformal indices (SCIs) in terms of elliptic hypergeometric integrals. Equalities of these indices for dual theories lead both to proven earlier special function identities and new conjectural relations for integrals. In particular, we describe a number of new elliptic beta integrals associated with the s-confining theories with the spinor matter fields. Reductions of some dualities from SP(2N) to SO(2N) or SO(2N+1) gauge groups are described. Interrelation of SCIs and the Witten anomaly is briefly discussed. Possible applications of the elliptic hypergeometric integrals to a two-parameter deformation of 2d conformal field theory and related matrix models are indicated. Connections of the reduced SCIs with the state integrals of the knot theory, generalized AGT duality for (3+3)d theories, and a 2d vortex partition function are described.

On the 5d instanton index as a Hilbert series

The superconformal index for N=2 5d theories contains a non-perturbative part arising from 5d instantonic operators which coincides with the Nekrasov instanton partition function. In this article, for pure gauge theories, we elaborate on the relation between such instanton index and the Hilbert series of the instanton moduli space. We propose a non-trivial identification of fugacities allowing the computation of the instanton index through the Hilbert series. We show the agreement of our proposal with existing results in the literature, as well as use it to compute the exact index for a pure U(1) gauge theory.

A new pentagon identity for the tetrahedron index

Recently Kashaev, Luo and Vartanov, using the reduction from a four-dimensional superconformal index to a three-dimensional partition function, found a pentagon identity for a special combination of hyperbolic Gamma functions. Following their idea we have obtained a new pentagon identity for a certain combination of so-called tetrahedron indices arising from the equality of superconformal indices of dual three-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric theories and give a mathematical proof of it.

Refined stable pair invariants for E-, M- and [p, q]-strings

We use mirror symmetry, the refined holomorphic anomaly equation and modularity properties of elliptic singularities to calculate the refined BPS invariants of stable pairs on non-compact Calabi-Yau manifolds, based on del Pezzo surfaces and elliptic surfaces, in particular the half K3. The BPS numbers contribute naturally to the five-dimensional N=1 supersymmetric index of M-theory, but they can be also interpreted in terms of the superconformal index in six dimensions and upon dimensional reduction the generating functions count N=2 Seiberg-Witten gauge theory instantons in four dimensions. Using the M/F-theory uplift the additional information encoded in the spin content can be used in an essential way to obtain information about BPS states in physical systems associated to small instantons, tensionless strings, gauge symmetry enhancement in F-theory by [p,q]-strings as well as M-strings.

Surface defects, the superconformal index and q-deformed Yang-Mills

Recently a prescription to compute the four-dimensional N = 2 superconformal index in the presence of certain BPS surface defects has been given. These surface defects are labelled by symmetric representations of SU(N). In the present paper we give a prescription to compute the superconformal index in the presence of surface defects labelled by arbitrary representations of SU(N). Furthermore, we extend the dictionary between the N = 2 superconformal Schur-index and correlators of q-deformed Yang-Mills to incorporate such surface defects.

Seiberg-like dualities for 3d $ \mathcal{N}=2 $ theories with SU(N) gauge group

We work out Seiberg-like dualities for 3d $\mathcal{N}=2$ theories with SU(N) gauge group. We use the $SL(2,\mathbb{Z})$ action on 3d conformal field theories with U(1) global symmetry. One of generator S of $SL(2,\mathbb{Z})$ acts as gauging of the U(1) global symmetry. Utilizing $S=S^{-1}$ up to charge conjugation, we obtain Seiberg-like dual of SU(N) theories by gauging topological U(1) symmetry of the Seiberg-like dual of U(N) theories with the same matter content. We work out the Aharony dualities for SU(N) gauge theory with $N_f$ fundamental/anti-fundamnetal flavors, with/without one adjoint matter with the superpotential. We also work out the Giveon-Kutasov dualities for SU(N) gauge theory with Chern-Simons term and with $N_f$ fundamental/anti-fundamental flavors. For all the proposed dualities, we give various evidences such as chiral ring matching and the superconformal index computations. We find the perfect matchings.

New $ \mathcal{N} $ = 1 dualities from orientifold transitions Part I: field theory

Abstract We report on a broad new class of $ \mathcal{N} $ = 1 gauge theory dualities which relatethe worldvolume gauge theories of D3 branes probing different orientifolds of the sameCalabi-Yau singularity. In this paper, we focus on the simplest example of these newdualities, arising from the orbifold singularity $ {{\mathbb{C}}^3}/{{\mathbb{Z}}_3} $ . We present extensive checks of theduality, including anomaly matching, partial moduli space matching, matching of discretesymmetries, and matching of the superconformal indices between the proposed duals. Wethen present a related duality for the dP 1 singularity, as well as dualities for the $ {{\mathbb{F}}_0} $ and Y 4,0 singularities, illustrating the breadth of this new class of dualities. In a companion paper, we show that certain infinite classes of geometries which include $ {{\mathbb{C}}^3}/{{\mathbb{Z}}_3} $ and dP 1 all exhibit such dualities, and argue that their ten-dimensional origin is the SL(2, $ \mathbb{Z} $ ) self-duality oftype IIB string theory.

5d superconformal indices at large N and holography

We propose a general formula for the perturbative large N superconformal index of 5d quiver fixed point theories that have an AdS(6)xS(4)/Z(n) supergravity dual. This index is obtained from the parent theory by projecting to orbifold-invariant states and adding the twisted sector contributions. Our result agrees with expectations from the dual supergravity description. We test our formula against the direct computation of the index for Z(2) and Z(3) and find complete agreement.

BPS states and their reductions

Abstract We develop a method to identify the BPS states in the Hilbert space of a supersymmetric field theory on a generic curved space which preserves at least two real supercharges. We also propose a one-to-one map between BPS states in d-dimensional field theories and states that contribute to the supersymmetric partition function of a corresponding (d − 1)-dimensional field theory. As an application we obtain the superconformal index on rounded and squashed three spheres, and we show a natural reduction of the respective indices to the three-dimensional exact partition functions. We discuss the validity of the correspondence both at the perturbative and at the non-perturbative level and exploit the idea to uplift the computation of the exact supersymmetric partition function on a general manifold to a higher dimensional index.

Extended global symmetries for 4D SQCD theories

In Spiridonov and Vartanov (2010 Nucl. Phys. B 824 192) the authors, using the superconformal index technique, found that four-dimensional SQCD theory with SU(2) gauge group and four flavors has 72 dual representations. Recently, in Dimofte and Gaiotto (2012 J. High Energy Phys. JHEP10(2012)129), the authors showed that these dual theories when coupled to five-dimensional (5D) hypermultiplets with specific boundary conditions have an extended E7 global symmetry. In this work, we find that for a reduced theory with three flavors the explicit SU(6) global symmetry is enhanced to an E6 symmetry in the presence of 5D hypermultiplets. We also show connections between indices of different theories in three and four dimensions.

Aharony dualities for 3d theories with adjoint matter

We study Aharony dualities for 3d N = 2 gauge theories of classical gauge group with one adjoint and fundamental matters. We work out the 3d superconformal index for the dual pairs to find the perfect matchings. Along with it, we enumerate the independent monopole operators parametrizing the Coulomb branches and confirm the nonperturbative truncation of the chiral rings, consistent with the proposed dualities.

On S-duality of the superconformal index on lens spaces and 2d TQFT

We consider the 4d superconformal index for ${\cal N}=2$ gauge theories on $S^1 \times L(r,1)$, where $L(r,1)$ is a Lens space. We focus on a one-parameter slice of the three-dimensional fugacity space and in that sector we show S-duality. We do so by rewriting the index in a way that resembles a correlation function of a 2d TFT, which however, we do not identify.

2d TQFT structure of the superconformal indices with outer-automorphism twists

We study the superconformal indices of 4d theories coming from 6d N=(2,0) theory of type \Gamma on a Riemann surface, with the action of the outer-automorphism \sigma in the trace. We find that the indices are given by the partition function of a deformed 2d Yang-Mills on the Riemann surface with gauge group G which is S-dual to the subgroup of \Gamma fixed by \sigma. In the 2-parameter deformed version, we find that it is governed not by Macdonald polynomials of type G, but by Macdonald polynomials associated to twisted affine root systems.

Four-dimensional superconformal index reloaded

We consider the four-dimensional N≥1 superconformal index and its generalization to the lens space. We discuss reductions of the latter to the three-dimensional N≥2 sphere partition function, the threedimensional N≥2 superconformal index, and the two-dimensional N≥(2, 2) sphere partition function. We apply these reductions to a class of four-dimensional N=1 superconformal field theories dual to toric Calabi-Yau manifolds, and we find surprising connections with integrable spin chains and hyperbolic geometry. We comment on the problem of classifying infrared fixed points of four-dimensional and threedimensional supersymmetric gauge theories.

3d superconformal indices and isomorphisms of M2-brane theories

We test several expected isomorphisms between the U(N)xU(N) ABJM theory and (SU(N)xSU(N))/Z_N theory including the BLG theory by comparing their superconformal indices. From moduli space analysis, it is expected that this equivalence can hold if and only if the rank N and Chern-Simons level k are coprime. We also calculate the index of the ABJ theory and investigate whether some theories with identical moduli spaces are isomorphic or not.

Bootstrapping the superconformal index with surface defects

The analytic properties of the N = 2 superconformal index are given a physical interpretation in terms of certain BPS surface defects, which arise as the IR limit of supersymmetric vortices. The residue of the index at a pole in flavor fugacity is interpreted as the index of a superconformal field theory without this flavor symmetry, but endowed with an additional surface defect. The residue can be efficiently extracted by acting on the index with a difference operator of Ruijsenaars-Schneider type. By imposing the associativity constraints of S-duality, we are then able to evaluate the index of all generalized quiver theories of type A, for generic values of the three superconformal fugacities, with or without surface defects.

Three-dimensional superconformal field theories, indices, and monopoles

We explain the recent progress in three-dimensional superconformal field theories based on the index for magnetic monopole operators and discuss applications to M2-branes and the AdS/CFT duality.

DUALITY DOMAIN WALL INDEX ON S1 × S3

We calculate a superconformal index of the half-BPS duality domain wall inserted at the great S2 of S3 in [Formula: see text]SU(2) super Yang-Mills theory on S1 × S3.

Reducing the 4d index to the S 3 partition function

The superconformal index of a 4d gauge theory is computed by a matrix integral arising from localization of the supersymmetric path integral on S^3 x S^1 to the saddle point. As the radius of the circle goes to zero, it is natural to expect that the 4d path integral becomes the partition function of dimensionally reduced gauge theory on S^3. We show that this is indeed the case and recover the matrix integral of Kapustin, Willet and Yaakov from the matrix integral that computes the superconformal index. Remarkably, the superconformal index of the "parent" 4d theory can be thought of as the q-deformation of the 3d partition function.