Wilson Loops In Antisymmetric Representations Research Articles

Wilson loops for 5d and 3d conformal linear quivers

Within the electrostatic formulation of holographic duals to (balanced) conformal quivers in five and three dimensions, we study Wilson loops in antisymmetric representations. We derive general expressions for various quantities participating in the formalism (VEV of Wilson loops, representation, gauge-node) and apply these to examples, connecting some results present in the bibliography. In the case of three dimensional quivers, we present a relation between Wilson loops in an 'electric' and in the 'magnetic/mirror' descriptions. In a very detailed appendix, we relate the electrostatic and holomorphic description of the holographic duals to these SCFTS.

Phase transitions and Wilson loops in antisymmetric representations in Chern–Simons-matter theory

We study the phase transitions of three-dimensional Chern–Simons theory on with a varied number of massive fundamental hypermultiplets and with a Fayet–Iliopoulos parameter. We characterize the various phase diagrams in the decompactification limit, according to the number of different mass scales in the theory. For this, we extend the known solution of the saddle-point equations to the setting where the one-cut solution is characterized by asymmetric intervals. We then study the large N limit of Wilson loops in antisymmetric representations, with the additional scaling corresponding to the variation of the size of the representation. We give explicit expressions, both with and without the FI terms, and study 1/R corrections for the different phases. These corrections break the perimeter law behavior, as they introduce scaling with the size of the representation. We show how the phase transitions of the Wilson loops can either be of first or second order and determine the underlying mechanism in terms of the eventual asymmetry of the support of the solution of the saddle-point equation, at the critical points.

Wilson Loops in Antisymmetric Representations from Localization in Supersymmetric Gauge Theories

Large-[Formula: see text] phase transitions occurring in massive [Formula: see text] theories can be probed by Wilson loops in large antisymmetric representations. The logarithm of the Wilson loop is effectively described by the free energy of a Fermi distribution and exhibits second-order phase transitions (discontinuities in the second derivatives) as the size of representation varies. We illustrate the general features of antisymmetric Wilson loops on a number of examples where the phase transitions are known to occur: [Formula: see text] SQCD with various mass arrangements and [Formula: see text] theory. As a byproduct, we solve planar [Formula: see text] SQCD with three independent mass parameters. This model has two effective mass scales and undergoes two phase transitions. In memory of Ludvig Dmitrievich Faddeev

Exact results for Wilson loops in arbitrary representations

We compute the exact vacuum expectation value of 1/2 BPS circular Wilson loops of ${\cal N}$=4 U(N) super Yang-Mills in arbitrary irreducible representations. By localization arguments, the computation reduces to evaluating certain integrals in a Gaussian matrix model, which we do using the method of orthogonal polynomials. Our results are particularly simple for Wilson loops in antisymmetric representations; in this case, we observe that the final answers admit an expansion where the coefficients are positive integers, and can be written in terms of sums over skew Young diagrams. As an application of our results, we use them to discuss the exact Bremsstrahlung functions associated to the corresponding heavy probes.