We analyze the coulomb branch of the non-unitary Lorentzian three algebra theory that has been proposed as a possible candidate for describing the world volume theory of multiple M2-branes. In order that it describes the theory of multiple M2-branes in flat eleven dimensional space-time, the ghost fields must decouple and the physical theory must be independent of the eight coordinates of the moduli space representing the center of mass coordinates of the branes. We show that the structure of the Coulomb branch is consistent with this requirement. While the full moduli space has the structure of a Lorentzian space modded out by a Lorentz transformation, the physical subspace has the correct structure of the moduli space of multiple M2-branes. We also suggest a systematic procedure for testing the consistency of the theory by computing the higher derivative corrections to the effective action obtained by integrating out the massive modes propagating in the loop.
We show how to exactly calculate the refined indices of N=4 U(1) times U(N) supersymmetric quiver quantum mechanics in the Coulomb branch by using the localization technique. The Coulomb branch localization is discussed from the viewpoint of both non-linear and gauged linear sigma models. A classification of fixed points in the Coulomb branch differs from one in the Higgs branch, but the derived indices completely agree with the results which were obtained by the localization in the Higgs branch. In the Coulomb branch localization, the refined indices can be written as a summation over differe…
The Coulomb branch of the potential between two static colored sources is calculated for the Yang-Mills theory using the electric Schroedinger representation.
We study Maldacena's conjecture and the AdS/SYM correspondence on the Coulomb branch. Several interesting aspects of this conjectured AdS/SYM correspondence on the Coulomb branch are pointed out and clarified.
We study (4,4) supersymmetric field theories in two dimensions with a one dimensional Coulomb branch. These theories have applications in string theory. Our analysis explains the known relation between $A-D-E$ groups and modular invariants of affine SU(2).
We compute the spectrum of scaling dimensions of Coulomb branch operators in 4d rank-2 $\mathcal{N}{=}2$ superconformal field theories. Only a finite rational set of scaling dimensions is allowed. It is determined by using information about the global topology of the locus of metric singularities on the Coulomb branch, the special Kähler geometry near those singularities, and electric-magnetic duality monodromies along orbits of the $\rm\, U(1)_R$ symmetry. A set of novel topological and geometric results are developed which promise to be useful for the study and classification of Coulomb bran…
To date, the best effort made to simply determine the Coulomb branch global symmetry of a theory from a $3d$ $\mathcal{N}=4$ quiver is by applying an algorithm based on its balanced gauge nodes. This often gives the full global symmetry, but there have been many cases seen where it instead gives only a subgroup. This paper presents a method for constructing several families of $3d$ $\mathcal{N}=4$ unitary quivers where the true global symmetry is enhanced from that predicted by the balance algorithm, motivated by the study of Coulomb branch Hasse diagrams. This provides a rich list of examples…
We construct 4d superconformal field theories (SCFTs) whose Coulomb branches have singular complex structures. This implies, in particular, that their Coulomb branch coordinate rings are not freely generated. Our construction also gives examples of distinct SCFTs which have identical moduli space (Coulomb, Higgs, and mixed branch) geometries. These SCFTs thus provide an interesting arena in which to test the relationship between moduli space geometries and conformal field theory data. We construct these SCFTs by gauging certain discrete global symmetries of $\mathcal N=4$ superYang-Mills (sYM)…
Three-dimensional Coulomb branches have a prominent role in the study of moduli spaces of supersymmetric gauge theories with $8$ supercharges in $3,4,5$, and $6$ dimensions. Inspired by simply laced $3$d $\mathcal{N}=4$ supersymmetric quiver gauge theories, we consider Coulomb branches constructed from non-simply laced quivers with edge multiplicity $k$ and no flavor nodes. In a computation of the Coulomb branch as the space of dressed monopole operators, a center-of-mass $U(1)$ symmetry needs to be ungauged. Typically, for a simply laced theory, all choices of the ungauged $U(1)$ (i.e. all ch…
We compute holographically the vevs of all chiral primary operators for supergravity solutions corresponding to the Coulomb branch of N=4 SYM and find exact agreement with the corresponding field theory computation. Using the dictionary between 10d geometries and field theory developed to extract these vevs, we propose a gravity dual of a half supersymmetric deformation of N=4 SYM by certain irrelevant operators.
We compute certain two-point functions in D=4, ${\cal N}=4$, SU(N) SYM theory on the Coulomb branch using SUGRA/SYM duality and find an infinite set of first order poles at masses of order $({\rm Higgs~scale})/(g_{YM} \sqrt{N})$.
We study Coulomb branch moduli spaces of a class of three dimensional $\mathcal{N}=4$ gauge theories whose quiver satisfies the balance condition. The Coulomb branch is described by dressed monopole operators which can be counted using the Monopole formula. We mainly focus on A-type quivers in this paper, using Hilbert Series to study their moduli spaces, and present the interesting pattern which emerges. All of these balanced A-type quiver gauge theories can be realized on brane intervals in Type IIB string theory, where mirror symmetry acts by exchanging the five branes and induces an equiva…
This is the third in a series of three papers on the systematic analysis of rank 1 four dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ SCFTs. In the first two papers we developed and carried out a strategy for classifying and constructing physical planar rank-1 Coulomb branch geometries of $\mathcal{N}=2$ SCFTs. Here we describe general features of the Higgs and mixed branch geometries of the moduli space of these SCFTs, and use this, along with their Coulomb branch geometry, to compute their conformal and flavor central charges. We conclude with a summary of the state of the art for rank-1 $\mathcal{N}=2$ SCFTs…
We compute the contribution of discrete Coulomb vacua to A-Model correlators in toric Gauged Linear Sigma Models. For models corresponding to a compact variety, this determines the correlators at arbitrary genus. For non-compact examples, our results imply the surprising conclusion that the quantum cohomology relations break down for a subset of the correlators.
We provide a proof for the conjectured equality of the generating function of integrated Higgs and Coulomb branch topological operators in 3d $\mathcal{N}\ge 4$ gauge theories and the three sphere partition function deformed by mass or FI parameters. The equality is the result of cohomological equivalence and applies to all theories in this class, including ABJM and other generalized Gaiotto-Witten models, and those without an explicit supersymmetric Lagrangian.
We consider N=1 SU(N_c) gauge theory with an adjoint matter field $Φ$, N_f flavors of fundamentals Q and antifundamentals \tQ, and tree-level superpotential of the form $\tQΦ^l Q$. This superpotential is relevant or marginal for $lN_f\leq 2N_c$. The theory has a Coulomb branch which is not lifted by quantum corrections. We find the exact effective gauge coupling on the Coulomb branch in terms of a family of hyperelliptic curves, thus providing a generalization of known results about N=2 SUSY QCD to N=1 context. The Coulomb branch has singular points at which mutually nonlocal dyons become mass…
The Higgs branch of minimally supersymmetric five dimensional SQCD theories increases in a significant way at the UV fixed point when the inverse gauge coupling is tuned to zero. It has been a long standing problem to figure out how, and to find an exact description of this Higgs branch. This paper solves this problem in an elegant way by proposing that the Coulomb branches of three dimensional ${\cal N}=4$ supersymmetric quiver gauge theories, named "Exceptional Sequences", provide the solution to the problem. Thus, once again, 3d ${\cal N}=4$ Coulomb branches prove to be useful tools in solv…
We study ultraviolet (UV) incarnations of deep infrared (IR) physics on the Coulomb branch of the simplest interacting 4D $\mathcal{N}=2$ superconformal field theory: the minimal Argyres-Douglas (MAD) theory. One of the most basic properties of the Coulomb branch is an emergent infinite-dimensional higher-spin symmetry. While the MAD theory is interacting and therefore does not have such a symmetry, we find UV operators that encode the emergent complex higher-spin symmetry on the Coulomb branch. Moreover, we show that cousins of these UV operators give rise to cousins of the IR higher-spin mul…
We review the relation of certain integrals over the Coulomb phase of $d=4$, N=2 SO(3) supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with Donaldson-Witten theory. We describe a new way to write an important contact term in the theory and show how the integrals generalize to higher rank gauge groups.
The moduli space of instantons on C^2 for any simple gauge group is studied using the Coulomb branch of N=4 gauge theories in three dimensions. For a given simple group G, the Hilbert series of such an instanton moduli space is computed from the Coulomb branch of the quiver given by the over-extended Dynkin diagram of G. The computation includes the cases of non-simply-laced gauge groups G, complementing the ADHM constructions which are not available for exceptional gauge groups. Even though the Lagrangian description for non-simply laced Dynkin diagrams is not currently known, the prescriptio…
The Dijkgraaf-Vafa approach is used in order to study the Coulomb branch of the Leigh-Strassler massive deformation of N=4 SYM with gauge group U(N). The theory has N=1 SUSY and an N-dimensional Coulomb branch of vacua, which can be described by a family of ``generalized'' Seiberg-Witten curves. The matrix model analysis is performed by adding a tree level potential that selects particular vacua. The family of curves is found: it consists of order N branched coverings of a base torus, and it is described by multi-valued functions on the latter. The relation between the potential and the vacuum…
Under reasonable assumptions about the complex structure of the set of singularities on the Coulomb branch of $\mathcal N=2$ superconformal field theories, we present a relatively simple and elementary argument showing that the scaling dimension, $Δ$, of a Coulomb branch operator of a rank $r$ theory is allowed to take values in a finite set of rational numbers$Δ\in \big[\frac{n}{m}\big|n,m\in\mathbb N, 0<m\le n, gcd(n,m)=1,\ φ(n)\le2r\big]$ where $φ(n)$ is the Euler totient function. The maximal dimension grows superlinearly with rank as $Δ_\text{max} \sim r \ln\ln r$. This agrees with the re…
We investigate the structure of the five-point W boson scattering amplitude in N=4 SYM on the Coulomb branch in a small mass limit. We show that up to two loops the IR divergences exponentiate and are controlled by the $Γ_{oct}$ anomalous dimension similar to the four-point amplitude case considered recently in the literature. We also make a conjecture regarding the all-loop structure of the five-point amplitude
There has been a recent progress in understanding the chiral ring of 3d $\mathcal{N}=4$ superconformal gauge theories by explicitly constructing an exact generating function (Hilbert series) counting BPS operators on the Coulomb branch. In this paper we introduce Coulomb branch Hilbert series in the presence of background magnetic charges for flavor symmetries, which are useful for computing the Hilbert series of more general theories through gluing techniques. We find a simple formula of the Hilbert series with background magnetic charges for $T_ρ(G)$ theories in terms of Hall-Littlewood poly…
This paper addresses a long standing problem - to identify the chiral ring and moduli space (i.e. as an algebraic variety) on the Coulomb branch of an N = 4 superconformal field theory in 2+1 dimensions. Previous techniques involved a computation of the metric on the moduli space and/or mirror symmetry. These methods are limited to sufficiently small moduli spaces, with enough symmetry, or to Higgs branches of sufficiently small gauge theories. We introduce a simple formula for the Hilbert series of the Coulomb branch, which applies to any good or ugly three-dimensional N = 4 gauge theory. The…
The constraining mathematical structure of the Coulomb branch of four dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric theories is discussed. The presentation follows a somewhat different route from other excellent reviews on the subject and it is geared towards using this tool to classify four dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ superconformal field theories. This is the writeup of the lectures given at the Winter School "YRISW 2020" to appear in a special issue of JPhysA.
This paper tests a conjecture on discrete non-Abelian gauging of 3d $\mathcal{N} = 4$ supersymmetric quiver gauge theories. Given a parent quiver with a bouquet of $n$ nodes of rank $1$, invariant under a discrete $S_n$ global symmetry, one can construct a daughter quiver where the bouquet is substituted by a single adjoint $n$ node. Based on the main conjecture in this paper, the daughter quiver corresponds to a theory where the $S_n$ discrete global symmetry is gauged and the new Coulomb branch is a non-Abelian orbifold of the parent Coulomb branch. We demonstrate and test the conjecture for…
The absence of exotics is a conjectural property of the spectrum of BPS states of four--dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric QFT's. In this letter we revisit the precise statement of this conjecture, and develop a general strategy that, if applicable, entails the absence of exotic BPS states. Our method is based on the Coulomb branch formula and on quiver mutations. In particular, we obtain the absence of exotic BPS states for all pure SYM theories with simple simply--laced gauge group $G$, and, as a corollary, of infinitely many other lagrangian $\mathcal{N}=2$ theories.
Certain star shaped quivers exhibit a pattern of symmetry enhancement on the Coulomb branch of $3d$ $\mathcal{N}=4$ supersymmetric gauge theories. This paper studies a subclass of theories where such global symmetry enhancement occurs through a computation of the Highest Weight Generating Function (HWG) and of the corresponding Hilbert Series (HS), providing a further test of the Coulomb branch formula. This special subclass has a feature in which the HWG takes a particularly simple form, as a simple rational function which is either a product of simple poles (termed freely generated) or a sim…
Coulomb branch chiral rings of $\mathcal N=2$ SCFTs are conjectured to be freely generated. While no counter-example is known, no direct evidence for the conjecture is known either. We initiate a systematic study of SCFTs with Coulomb branch chiral rings satisfying non-trivial relations, restricting our analysis to rank 1. The main result of our study is that (rank-1) SCFTs with non-freely generated CB chiral rings when deformed by relevant deformations, always flow to theories with non-freely generated CB rings. This implies that if they exist, they must thus form a distinct subset under RG f…
We compute correlators of chiral operators in half-twisted (0,2) supersymmetric gauged linear sigma models. Our results give simple algebraic formulas for a (0,2) generalization of genus zero Gromov-Witten invariants of compact toric varieties. We derive compact expressions for deformed quantum cohomology relations and apply our general method to several examples.
We apply the numerical conformal bootstrap to correlators of Coulomb and Higgs branch operators in $4d$ $\mathcal{N}=2$ superconformal theories. We start by revisiting previous results on single correlators of Coulomb branch operators. In particular, we present improved bounds on OPE coefficients for some selected Argyres-Douglas models, and compare them to recent work where the same cofficients were obtained in the limit of large $r$ charge. There is solid agreement between all the approaches. The improved bounds can be used to extract an approximate spectrum of the Argyres-Douglas models, wh…
We give a non-technical summary of the classification program, very dear to the hearts of both authors, of four dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ superconformal field theories (SCFTs) based on the study of their Coulomb branch geometries. We outline the main ideas behind this program, review the most important results thus far obtained, and the prospects for future results. This contribution will appear in the volume "the Pollica perspective on the (super)-conformal world" but we decided to also make it available separately in the hope that it could be useful to those who are interested in obtaining…
We evaluate the Coulomb branch Hilbert series of mirrors of three dimensional Sicilian theories, which arise from compactifying the $6d$ $(2,0)$ theory with symmetry $G$ on a circle times a Riemann surface with punctures. We obtain our result by gluing together the Hilbert series for building blocks $T_{\mathbfρ}(G)$, where $\mathbfρ$ is a certain partition related to the dual group of $G$, which we evaluated in a previous paper. The result is expressed in terms of a class of symmetric functions, the Hall-Littlewood polynomials. As expected from mirror symmetry, our results agree at genus zero…
We compute the force between oppositely charged W bosons in the large N limit of Yang-Mills with 16 supercharges broken to SU(N) x U(1) by a finite Higgs vev. We clarify some issues regarding Wilson line computations and show that there is a regime in which the force between W bosons is independent of separation distance.
We investigate toric GLSMs as models for tachyon condensation in type II strings on space-time non-supersymmetric orbifold singularities. The A-model correlators in these theories satisfy a set of relations related to the topology of the resolved orbifold. Using these relations we compute the correlators and find a non-trivial chiral ring in the IR, which we interpret as supported on isolated Coulomb vacua of the theory.
There are two important different mechanisms, the imaginary potential and entropic force, to investigate the dissociation of heavy quarkonia. In this paper, we calculate these two quantities for static and moving quarkonia in the rotating black 3-brane Type IIB supergravity solution dual to N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory on the Coulomb branch (cSYM) at strong coupling. At T 6= 0, there are two black hole branches: the large and small black hole branches. We investigate the effects of rotating parameter and rapidity for the static and moving quakonium at the large and small black hole branches. …
We study Hasse diagrams of moduli spaces of $\mathrm{3d}$ $\mathcal{N}=4$ quiver gauge theories. The goal of this work is twofold: 1) We introduce the notion of inverting a Hasse diagram and conjecture that the Coulomb branch and Higgs branch Hasse diagrams of certain theories are related through this operation. 2) We introduce a Hasse diagram to map out the entire moduli space of the theory, including the Coulomb, Higgs and mixed branches. For theories whose Higgs and Coulomb branch Hasse diagrams are related by inversion it is straight forward to generate the Hasse diagram of the entire modu…
We study the stratification of the singular locus of four dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ Coulomb branches. We present a set of self-consistency conditions on this stratification which can be used to extend the classification of scale-invariant rank 1 Coulomb branch geometries to two complex dimensions, and beyond. The calculational simplicity of the arguments presented here stems from the fact that the main ingredients needed -- the rank 1 deformation patterns and the pattern of inclusions of rank 2 strata -- are discrete topological data which satisfy strong self-consistency conditions through t…
We determine the exact vacuum structure of a marginal deformation of N=4 SUSY Yang-Mills with gauge group U(N). The Coulomb branch of the theory consists of several sub-branches which are governed by complex curves of the form Sigma_{n_{1}} U Sigma_{n_{2}} U Sigma_{n_{3}} of genus N=n_{1}+n_{2}+n_{3}. Each sub-branch intersects with a family of Higgs and Confining branches permuted by SL(2,Z) transformations. We determine the curve by solving a related matrix model in the planar limit according to the prescription of Dijkgraaf and Vafa, and also by explicit instanton calculations using a form …
We analyze the low energy behavior of N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories with SU(N_c) x SU(N_c) gauge group and a Landau-Ginzburg type superpotential. These theories contain fundamentals transforming under one of the gauge groups as well as bifundamental matter which transforms as a fundamentals under each. We obtain the parametrization of the gauge coupling on the Coulomb branch in terms of a hyperelliptic curve. The derivation of this curve involves making use of Seiberg's duality for SQCD as well as the classical constraints for N_f=N_c+1 and the quantum modified constraints for N_f=N_c.
We use the AdS/CFT correspondence to study flows of N=4 SYM to non-conformal theories. The dual geometries can be seen as sourced by a Wigner's semicircle distribution of D3 branes. We consider two cases, the first case corresponds to a point in the Coulomb branch and the theory flows to a six dimensional conformal field theory. In the second case a mass is introduced for a hypermultiplet and the theory flows to a five dimensional conformal field theory. We argue from the gravity and the field theory side that the low energy theories correspond to the (2,0) theory in six dimensions and to a th…
We present various confinement phases of three-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ $Spin(N)$ gauge theories with vector and spinor matters. The quantum Coulomb branch of the moduli space of vacua is drastically changed when the rank of the gauge group and the matter contents are changed. In many examples, the Coulomb branch is one- or two-dimensional but its interpretation varies. In some examples, the Coulomb branch becomes three-dimensional and we need to introduce a "dressed" Coulomb branch operator.
In recent series of works, by translating properties of multi-centered supersymmetric black holes into the language of quiver representations, we proposed a formula that expresses the Hodge numbers of the moduli space of semi-stable representations of quivers with generic superpotential in terms of a set of invariants associated to `single-centered' or `pure-Higgs' states. The distinguishing feature of these invariants is that they are independent of the choice of stability condition. Furthermore they are uniquely determined by the $χ_y$-genus of the moduli space. Here, we provide a self-conta…
We use the AdS/CFT duality to study the special point on the Coulomb branch of ${\cal N}=4$ SU(N) gauge theory which corresponds to a spherically symmetric shell of D3-branes. This point is of interest both because the spacetime region inside the shell is flat, and because this configuration gives a very simple example of the transition between D-branes in the perturbative string regime and the non-perturbative regime of black holes. We discuss how this geometry is described in the dual gauge theory, through its effect on the two-point functions and Wilson loops. In the calculation of the two-…
We determine the low energy description of N=2 supersymmetric SU(k) product group theories with bifundamental and fundamental matter based on M-theory fivebrane configurations. The dependence on moduli and scales of the coefficients in the non-hyperelliptic Seiberg-Witten curves for these theories is determined by considering various field theory and brane limits. A peculiarity in the interpretation of these curves for the vanishing beta-function case is noted.
We consider the N=4 SU(N) Super Yang Mills theory on the Coulomb branch with gauge symmetry broken to S(U(N_1) x U(N_2)). By integrating the W particles, the effective action near the IR SU(N_i) conformal fixed points is seen to be a deformation of the Super Yang Mills theory by a non-renormalized, irrelevant, dimension 8 operator. The correction to the two-point function of the dilaton field dual operator near the IR is related to a three-point function of chiral primary operators at the conformal fixed points and agrees with the classical gravity prediction, including the numerical factor.
We discuss non-trivial fixed points of the renormalization group with dual descriptions in $N=4$ gauge theories in three dimensions. This new duality acts as mirror symmetry, exchanging the Higgs and Coulomb branches of the theories. Quantum effects on the Coulomb branch arise classically on the Higgs branch of the dual theory. We present examples of dual theories whose Higgs/Coulomb branch are the ALE spaces and whose Coulomb/Higgs branches are the moduli space of instantons of the corresponding $ADE$ gauge group. In particular, we show that in three dimensions small $E_8$ instantons in strin…
Given an N=2 supersymmetric field theory in four dimensions, its dimensional reduction on S^1 is a sigma model with hyperkahler target space M. We describe a canonical line bundle V on M, equipped with a hyperholomorphic connection. The construction of this connection is similar to the known construction of the metric on M itself: one begins with a simple "semiflat" connection and then improves it by including contributions weighed by the degeneracies of BPS particles going around S^1. We conjecture that V describes the physics of the theory dimensionally reduced on NUT space.
At zero temperature the Coulomb Branch of ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory is described in supergravity by multi-center solutions with D3-brane charge. At finite temperature and chemical potential the vacuum degeneracy is lifted, and minima of the free energy are shown to have a supergravity description as rotating black D3-branes. In the extreme limit these solutions single out preferred points on the moduli space that can be interpreted as simple distributions of branes --- for instance, a uniformly charged planar disc. We exploit this geometrical representation to study the thermodynami…
