We start by describing two of the main proposals for duality in Abelian gauge theories, namely $F$(ield strength)-duality approach and the $S$% -duality formalism. We then discuss how $F$-duality and $S$-duality can be applied to the case of linearized gravity. By emphasizing the similarities and differences between these two type of dualities we explore the possibility of combining them in just one duality formalism.
We develope the analogue of S-duality for linearized gravity in (3+1)-dimensions. Our basic idea is to consider the self-dual (anti-self-dual) curvature tensor for linearized gravity in the context of the Macdowell-Mansouri formalism. We find that the strong-weak coupling duality for linearized gravity is an exact symmetry and implies small-large duality for the cosmological constant.
We perform an in-depth analysis of the transformation rules under duality for couplings of theories containing multiple scalars, $p$-form gauge fields, linearized gravitons or $(p,1)$ mixed symmetry tensors. Following a similar reasoning to the derivation of the Buscher rules for string background fields under T-duality, we show that the couplings for all classes of aforementioned multi-field theories transform according to one of two sets of duality rules. These sets comprise the ordinary Buscher rules and their higher counterpart; this is a generic feature of multi-field theories in spacetim…
We derive a manifestly duality-symmetric formulation of the action principle for conformal gravity linearized around Minkowski space-time. The analysis is performed in the Hamiltonian formulation, the fourth-order character of the equations of motion requiring the formal treatment of the three-dimensional metric perturbation and the extrinsic curvature as independent dynamical variables. The constraints are solved in terms of two symmetric potentials that are interpreted as a dual three-dimensional metric and a dual extrinsic curvature. The action principle can be written in terms of these fou…
Known as a symmetry of vacuum Maxwell equations, the electric-magnetic duality can be lifted actually to a symmetry of an action. The Lagrangian of this action is written in terms of two vector potentials, one electric and one magnetic, and while it is manifestly invariant under duality rotations, it is not manifestly Lorentz covariant. This duality symmetry exists also in linearized gravity in four dimensions, and can be lifted off shell too. In $d$ dimensions, the link between linearized gravity and its dual can also be seen from the point of view of a parental action. This is defined by a f…
The construction of dual theories for linearized gravity in four dimensions is considered. Our approach is based on the parent Lagrangian method previously developed for the massive spin-two case, but now considered for the zero mass case. This leads to a dual theory described in terms of a rank two symmetric tensor, analogous to the usual gravitational field, and an auxiliary antisymmetric field. This theory has an enlarged gauge symmetry, but with an adequate partial gauge fixing it can be reduced to a gauge symmetry similar to the standard one of linearized gravitation. We present examples …
T-duality of string theory can be extended to the Poisson-Lie T-duality when the target space has a generalized isometry group given by a Drinfel'd double. In M-theory, T-duality is understood as a subgroup of U-duality, but the non-Abelian extension of U-duality is still a mystery. In this paper, we study membrane theory on a curved background with a generalized isometry group given by the $\mathcal{E}_n$ algebra. This provides a natural setup to study non-Abelian U-duality because the $\mathcal{E}_n$ algebra has been proposed as a U-duality extension of the Drinfel'd double. We show that the…
The act of implementing non-Abelian duality in two dimensional sigma models results unavoidably in an additional reducible symmetry. The Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism is employed to handle this new symmetry. Valuable lessons are learnt here with respect to non-Abelian duality. We emphasise, in particular, the effects of the ghost sector corresponding to this symmetry on non-Abelian duality.
We study the response of an infinite, asymptotically static N=4 plasma to a generic localized source in the probe approximation. At large distances, the energy momentum tensor of the plasma includes a term which satisfies the constitutive relations of linearized hydrodynamics, but it can also include a non-hydrodynamical term which contributes at the same order as viscous corrections, or even at leading order in some cases. The conditions for the appearance of a laminar wake far behind the source and its relevance for phenomenological models used to explain di-hadron correlations are discussed…
We consider a pure U(1) quantum gauge field theory on a general Riemannian compact four manifold. We compute the partition function with Abelian Wilson loop insertions. We find its duality covariance properties and derive topological selection rules. Finally, we show that, to have manifest duality, one must assume the existence of twisted topological sectors besides the standard untwisted one.
Recent development on non-Abeliann vortices and monopoles is reviewed with an emphasis on their relevance on confinement and duality. A very recent construction of non-Abelian vortices which do not dynamically Abelianize is crucial in this context.
The quantum Yang-Mills theory describing dual ($\tilde g$) and non-dual ($g$) charges and revealing the generalized duality symmetry was developed by analogy with the Zwanziger formalism in QED.
We show that duality transformations of linearized gravity in four dimensions, i.e., rotations of the linearized Riemann tensor and its dual into each other, can be extended to the dynamical fields of the theory so as to be symmetries of the action and not just symmetries of the equations of motion. Our approach relies on the introduction of two "superpotentials", one for the spatial components of the spin-2 field and the other for their canonically conjugate momenta. These superpotentials are two-index, symmetric tensors. They can be taken to be the basic dynamical fields and appear locally i…
We compute the partition function of five-dimension Abelian sYM including a graviphoton term on a five-torus. The result agrees with Abelian M5 brane partition function with zero characteristics on an associated six-torus.
For non-Abelian tensor gauge fields we have found an alternative form of duality transformation, which has the property that the direct and the inverse transformations coincide. This duality transformation has the desired property that the direct and the inverse transformations map Lagrangian forms into each other.
We find new type II backgrounds with non-relativistic symmetries via non-Abelian T-duality. First we consider geometries with Galilean symmetries in type IIA, which have been identified as non-relativistic generalizations of the ABJM background and massive IIA supergravities. We then consider the non-Abelian T-duality transformation on the backgrounds with Lifshitz symmetry constructed by Donos and Gauntlett. Using gauge/gravity duality we study aspects of the field theory dual to these backgrounds.
We construct the duality-symmetric actions for a large class of six-dimensional models describing hierarchies of non-Abelian scalar, vector and tensor fields related to each other by first-order (self-)duality equations that follow from these actions. In particular, this construction provides a Lorentz invariant action for non-Abelian self-dual tensor fields. The class of models includes the bosonic sectors of the 6d (1,0) superconformal models of interacting non-Abelian self-dual tensor, vector, and hypermultiplets.
In this short article we develop recent proposals to relate Yang-Baxter sigma-models and non-abelian T-duality. We demonstrate explicitly that the holographic space-times associated to both (multi-parameter)-$β$-deformations and non-commutative deformations of ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills gauge theory including the RR fluxes can be obtained via the machinery of non-abelian T-duality in Type II supergravity.
Non--Abelian duality in relation to supersymmetry is examined. When the action of the isometry group on the complex structures is non--trivial, extended supersymmetry is realized non--locally after duality, using path ordered Wilson lines. Prototype examples considered in detail are, hyper--Kahler metrics with SO(3) isometry and supersymmetric WZW models. For the latter, the natural objects in the non--local realizations of supersymmetry arising after duality are the classical non--Abelian parafermions. The canonical equivalence of WZW models and their non--Abelian duals with respect to a vect…
We briefly review the essential points of our recent work in non-Abelian T-duality. In particular, we show how non-abelian T-duals can effectively describe infinitely high spin sectors of a parent theory and how to implement the transformation in the presence of non-vanishing Ramond fields in type-II supergravity.
We examine non-Abelian T-duality on backgrounds preserving N=1 supersymmetry. We show how backgrounds with SU(3)-structure are mapped to backgrounds with SU(2)-structure. We provide the transformation rules for the corresponding pure spinors. We use these techniques to construct new flavoured solutions of type IIA supergravity.
We propose an alternative representation for linear quantum gravity. It is based on the use of a structure that bears some resemblance to the Abelian loop representation used in electromagnetism but with the difference that space of extended object on which waves functions take values have a structure of commutative monoid instead of Abelian group. The generator of duality of the theory is realized in this representation and a geometrical interpretation is discussed.
We consider type-A higher-spin gravity in AdS_4, holographically dual to a free U(N) vector model on the boundary. We study the linearized version of the Didenko-Vasiliev "BPS black hole", which we view as this theory's equivalent of the fundamental string. The Didenko-Vasiliev solution consists of gauge fields of all spins generated by a particle-like source along a bulk geodesic, and is holographically dual to a bilocal boundary operator at the geodesic's endpoints. Our first main result is a new gauge for this solution, which makes manifest its behavior under the boundary field equation. It…
An outline of the conformality approach to the gauge hierarchy is given including the use of non-abelian orbifolds to give unified models of the left-right type.
A general study of non-abelian duality is presented. We first identify a possible obstruction to the conformal invariance of the dual theory for non-semisimple groups. We construct the exact non-abelian dual for any Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW) model for any anomaly free subgroup, and the corresponding extension for coset conformal field theories. We characterize the exact non-abelian dual for $σ$-models with chiral isometries and extend the standard notion of duality to anomalous subgroups of WZW models, thus giving a way of constructing dual transformations for different groups on the left and o…
Non-Abelian duality transformations built on non-semi-simple isometry groups are analysed. We first give the conditions under which the original non-linear sigma model and its non-Abelian dual are equivalent. The existence of an invariant and non-degenerate bilinear form for the isometry Lie algebra is crucial for this equivalence. The non-Abelian dual of a conformally invariant sigma model, with non-semi-simple isometries, is then constructed and its beta functions are shown to vanish. This study resolves an apparent obstruction to the conformal invariance of sigma models obtained via non-Abe…
We analyse super non-Abelian T-duality for principal chiral models, symmetric space sigma models, and semi-symmetric space sigma models for general Lie supergroups. This includes T-duality along both bosonic and fermionic directions. As an example, we perform the explicit dualisation of the OSp(1|2) principal chiral model, and, whilst the target superspace of this model is a three-dimensional supergravity background, we find that its super non-Abelian T-dual falls outside the class of such backgrounds.
Abelian Chern-Simons gauge theory is known to possess a `$S$-self-dual' action where its coupling constant $k$ is inverted {\it i.e.} $k \leftrightarrow {1 \over k}$. Here a vector non-abelian duality is found in the pure non-abelian Chern-Simons action at the classical level. The dimensional reduction of the dual Chern-Simons action to two-dimensions constitutes a dual Wess-Zumino-Witten action already given in the literature.
We examine non-abelian duality transformations in the open string case. After gauging the isometries of the target space and developing the general formalism, we study in details the duals oftarget spaces with SO(N) isometries which, for the SO(2) case, reduces to the known abelian T-duals. We apply the formalism to electrically and magnetically charged 4D black hole solutions and, as in the abelian case, dual coordinates satisfy Dirichlet conditions.
We present a convenient method for deriving the transformation of the dilaton under T-duality in the path-integral approach. Subtleties arising in performing the integral over the gauge fields are carefully analysed using Pauli-Villars regularization, thereby clarifying existing ambiguities in the literature. The formalism can not only be applied to the abelian case, but, and this for the first time, to the non-abelian case as well. Furthermore, by choosing a particular gauge, we directly obtain the target-space covariant expression for the dual geometry in the abelian case. Finally it is show…
A modification of the Abelian Duality transformations is proposed guaranteeing that a (not necessarily conformally invariant) $σ$-model be quantum equivalent (at least up to two loops in perturbation theory) to its dual. This requires a somewhat non standard perturbative treatment of the {\sl dual} $σ$-model. Explicit formulae of the modified duality transformation are presented for a special class of block diagonal purely metric $σ$-models.
With the help of M-theory configuration of N=1 supersymmetric QCD, we analyze the strong coupling moduli of N=1 theory and its relation with S-duality transformation in N=2 supersymmetric QCD. As a result we confirm that two type-IIA descriptions for N=1 supersymmetric QCD, one of them being strong coupling description and another being weak, correspond to a single M-theory description for N=1 supersymmetric QCD. The existence of singlet fields is also discussed.
It has been argued by some authors that the parent action approach cannot be used in order to establish the duality between the 2+1 Abelian and non-Abelian Self-Dual (SD) and Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons (YMCS) models for all the coupling regimes. We propose here an alternative (perturbative) point of view, and show that this equivalence can be achieved with the parent action approach.
In the reduced phase space of electromagnetism, the generator of duality rotations in the usual Poisson bracket is shown to generate Maxwell's equations in a second, much simpler Poisson bracket. This gives rise to a hierarchy of bi-Hamiltonian evolution equations in the standard way. The result can be extended to linearized Yang-Mills theory, linearized gravity and massless higher spin gauge fields.
Non-abelian U-duality originates from the construction of exceptional Drinfel'd algebra (EDA), which extends the constriction of the classical Drinfel'd double. This symmetry is a natural extension of Poisson--Lie T-duality and is believed to be a symmetry of Type II string/M-theory or their low-energy effective theories. In this paper, we consider non-abelian U-dualities of 11- or 10-dimensional backgrounds starting with E${}_{n(n)}$ EDA with $n\leq 6$ with vanishing trombone gauging. The latter guarantees that all dual backgrounds satisfy the standard supergravity equations of motion. In par…
We present a brief review on the canonical transformation description of some duality symmetries in string and gauge theories. In particular, we consider abelian and non-abelian T-dualities in closed and open string theories as well as S-duality in abelian and non-abelian non-supersymmetric gauge theories.
For a general class of SO(4) symmetric backgrounds in type II-supergravity, we show that the action of non-Abelian T-duality can be described via consistent truncation to seven dimensional theories with seemingly massive modes. As such, any solution to these theories uplifts to both massive type IIA and IIB supergravities presenting an invertible map between the two. For supersymmetric backgrounds, we show that for spinors transforming under SO(4) the non-Abelian T-duality transformation breaks the original supersymmetry by half. We use these mappings to generate the non-Abelian T-duals of the…
We systematically apply the formalism of duality walls to study the action of duality transformations on boundary conditions and local and nonlocal operators in two, three, and four-dimensional free field theories. In particular, we construct a large class of D-branes for two-dimensional sigma-models with toroidal targets and determine the action of the T-duality group on it. It is manifest in this formalism that T-duality transformations on D-branes are given by a differential-geometric version of the Fourier-Mukai transform.
In this letter we generalised the procedure of non-abelian T-duality based on a B-shift and a sequence of formal abelian T-dualities in non-isometric directions to 11-dimensional backgrounds. This consists of a C-shift followed by either a formal U-duality transformation or taking a IIB section. We investigate restrictions and applicability of the procedure and find that it can provide supergravity solutions for the SL(5) exceptional Drinfeld algebra only when a spectator field is present, which is consistent with examples known in the literature.
We study the effect of T-duality on supersymmetry in the context of type II supergravity. For both U(1) Abelian and SU(2) non-Abelian T-duality, we demonstrate that the supersymmetry variations after T-duality are related to the variations before T-duality through the Kosmann spinorial Lie derivative, which vanishes when the Killing spinors are independent of the T-duality directions. As a byproduct of our analysis, we present closed expressions for SU(2) T-duality in a class of spacetimes with diagonal Bianchi IX symmetry and comment on specific examples of T-dual geometries, including a nove…
In this paper we propose a linear quiver with gauge groups of increasing rank as field theory dual to the AdS_5 background constructed by Sfetsos and Thompson through non-Abelian T-duality. The formalism to study 4d N=2 SUSY CFTs developed by Gaiotto and Maldacena is essential for our proposal. We point out an interesting relation between (Hopf) Abelian and non-Abelian T-dual backgrounds that allows to see both backgrounds as different limits of a solution constructed by Maldacena and Nunez. This suggests different completions of the long quiver describing the CFT dual to the non-Abelian T-dua…
We obtain an AdS$_{2}$ solution to Type IIA supergravity with 4 Poincare supersymmetries, via non-Abelian T-duality with respect to a freely acting SL(2,$\mathbf{R}$) isometry group, operating on the AdS$_3\times$S$^3\times$CY$_2$ solution to Type IIB. That is, non-Abelian T-duality on AdS$_3$. The dual background obtained fits in the class of AdS$_2\times$S$^3\times$CY$_2$ solutions to massive Type IIA constructed in [1]. We propose and study a quiver quantum mechanics dual to this solution that we interpret as describing the backreaction of the baryon vertex of a D4-D8 brane intersection.
We discuss linearized gravity from the point of view of a gauge theory. In (3+1)-dimensions our analysis allows to consider linearized gravity in the context of the MacDowell-Mansouri formalism. Our observations may be of particular interest in the strong-weak coupling duality for linearized gravity, in Randall-Sundrum brane world scenario and in Ashtekar formalism.
Recent progress which relates non-abelian T-duality of $\mathcal{N}=1$ SuGra solutions to the powerful techniques of Generalised geometry is reviewed. It is shown that SU(3) structure solutions are mapped to SU(2) structures and the transformation rule of the corresponding pure spinors is presented. This constitutes an important step on the road towards the utility of the duality within holography, showing for example, how smeared sources must transform and so how to add flavour to the T-duals.
We consider spherical gravitational perturbations of AdS4 space-time satisfying general boundary conditions at spatial infinity. Using the holographic renormalization method, we compute the energy-momentum tensor and show that it can always be cast in the form of Cotton tensor for a dual boundary metric. In particular, axial and polar perturbations obeying the same boundary conditions for the effective Schrodinger wave-functions exhibit an energy-momentum/Cotton tensor duality at conformal infinity. We demonstrate explicitly that this is holographic manifestation of the electric/magnetic duali…
We study the action of non-Abelian T-duality in the context of N=1 geometries with well understood field theory duals. In the conformal case this gives rise to a new solution that contains an AdS_5 X S^2 piece. In the case of non-conformal geometries we obtain a new background in massive IIA supergravity that presents similar behaviour to the cascade of Seiberg dualities. Some physical observables are discussed.
