We describe a method which allows one to study hidden symmetries in a large class of strongly coupled supersymmetric gauge theories in three dimensions. We apply this method to the ABJM theory and to the infrared limit of N=4 SQCD with adjoint and fundamental matter. We show that the U(N) ABJM model with Chern-Simons level k=1 or k=2 has hidden N=8 supersymmetry. Hidden supersymmetry is also shown to occur in N=4 d=3 SQCD with one fundamental and one adjoint hypermultiplet. The latter theory, as well as the U(N) ABJM theory at k=1, are shown to have a decoupled free sector. This provides evidence that both models are dual to the infrared limit of N=8 U(N) super-Yang-Mills theory.
We investigate what supersymmetry says about the geometry of the moduli space of hyperbolic monopoles. We construct a three-dimensional supersymmetric Yang-Mills-Higgs theory on hyperbolic space whose half-BPS configurations coincide with (complexified) hyperbolic monopoles. We then study the action of the preserved supersymmetry on the collective coordinates and show that demanding closure of the supersymmetry algebra constraints the geometry of the moduli space of hyperbolic monopoles, turning it into a so-called pluricomplex manifold, thus recovering a recent result of Bielawski and Schwach…
The non-relativistic dynamics of a spin-1/2 particle in a monopole field possesses a rich supersymmetry structure. One supersymmetry, uncovered by d'Hoker and Vinet, is of the standard type: it squares to the Hamiltonian. In this paper we show the presence of another supersymmetry which squares to the Casimir invariant of the full rotation group. The geometrical origin of this supersymmetry is traced, and its relationship with the constrained dynamics of a spinning particle on a sphere centered at the monopole is described.
These notes present a pedagogical introduction to magnetic monopoles and exact electromagnetic duality in supersymmetric gauge theories. They are based on lectures given at the 1995 Trieste Summer School in High Energy Physics and Cosmology and at the 1995 Busstepp Summer School at Cosener's House.
We study some of the algebraic properties of the non-relativistic monopole. We find that we can construct theories that possess an exotic conserved fermionic charge that squares to the Casimir of the rotation group, yet do not possess an ordinary supersymmetry. This is in contrast to previous known examples with such exotic fermionic charges. We proceed to show that the presence of the exotic fermionic charge in the non-supersymmetric theory can nonetheless be understood using supersymmetric techniques, providing yet another example of the usefulness of supersymmetry in understanding non-super…
We extend the hermitian three-algebra formulation of ABJM theory to include $U(1)$ factors. With attention payed to extra $U(1)$ factors, we refine the classification of $\N=6$ ABJM theories. We argue that essentially the only allowed gauge groups are $SU(N)\times SU(N)$, $U(N)\times U(M)$ and $Sp(N)\times U(1)$ and that we have only one independent Chern-Simons level in all these cases. Our argument is based on integrality of the $U(1)$ Chern-Simons levels and supersymmetry. A relation between monopole operators and Wilson lines in Chern-Simons theory suggests certain gauge representations of…
We consider chiral condensates in SU(2) gauge theory with broken N=2 supersymmetry and one fundamental flavor in the matter sector. Matter and gaugino condensates are determined by integrating out the adjoint field. The only nonperturbative input is the Affleck-Dine-Seiberg one-instanton superpotential. The results are consistent with those obtained by the `integrating in' procedure. We then calculate monopole, dyon, and charge condensates using the Seiberg-Witten approach. The key observation is that the monopole and charge condensates vanish at the Argyres-Douglas point where the monopole an…
The behaviour of the chiral condensates in the SU(2) gauge theory with broken N=2 supersymmetry is reviewed. The calculation of monopole, dyon, and charge condensates is described. It is shown that the monopole and charge condensates vanish at the Argyres-Douglas point where the monopole and charge vacua collide. This phenomenon is interpreted as a deconfinement of electric and magnetic charges at the Argyres-Douglas point.
We study the stability of supersymmetry breaking metastable vacua and supersymmetric vacua in the presence of solitons. The metastable vacua of supersymmetric QCD and those found elsewhere such as in models based on the SU(5) grand unified group support the existence of topological solitons. The vacua containing such topological defects can become unstable against decay into lower energy configurations. We show for a specific model that a finite region of the available parameter space of couplings becomes disallowed due to the presence of monopoles. In a manner similar to previous studies base…
We review the properties of BPS, or supersymmetric, magnetic monopoles, with an emphasis on their low-energy dynamics and their classical and quantum bound states. After an overview of magnetic monopoles, we discuss the BPS limit and its relation to supersymmetry. We then discuss the properties and construction of multimonopole solutions with a single nontrivial Higgs field. The low-energy dynamics of these monopoles is most easily understood in terms of the moduli space and its metric. We describe in detail several known examples of these. This is then extended to cases where the unbroken gau…
We investigate N = 1 supersymmetric gauge theories where monopole condensation triggers supersymmetry breaking in a metastable vacuum. The low-energy effective theory is an O'Raifeartaigh-like model of the kind investigated recently by Shih where the R-symmetry can be spontaneously broken. We examine several implementations with varying degrees of phenomenological interest.
We claim that 3d monopole quivers, theories with product gauge groups interacting through Affleck-Harvey-Witten superpotentials, are a natural setup for the study of spontaneous breaking 3d $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetry. We give evidence of this statement by studying various examples of increasing complexity, considering quivers that are mirror dual to Wess-Zumino models. These Wess-Zumino models, in opportune regimes of parameters, break supersymmetry in perturbatively controllable (meta)stable vacua.
We consider examples of global symmetry enhancement by monopole operators in three dimensional {\cal N}=4 gauge theories. These examples include unitary overbalanced quivers, quivers with non-simply laced gauge groups and nonlinear quivers.
In this lecture I review recent results on the first order equations describing BPS extremal states, in particular N=2 extremal black-holes. The role of special geometry is emphasized also in the rigid theory and a comparison is drawn with the supersymmetric derivation of instantons and hyperinstantons in topological field theories. Work in progress on the application of solvable Lie algebras to the discussion of BPS states in maximally extended supergravities is outlined.
We discuss the origin of the effectively free dynamics of the charge in the magnetic monopole field to apply it for finding the alternative treatment of the charge-monopole as a particle with spin, for tracing out the relation of the charge-monopole to the free relativistic anyon and for clarifying the nature of the non-standard nonlinear supersymmetry of the fermion-monopole system.
It is shown that the generator of the nonstandard fermion-monopole supersymmetry uncovered by De Jonghe, Macfarlane, Peeters and van Holten, and the generator of its standard N=1/2 supersymmetry have to be supplemented by their product operator to be treated as independent supercharge. As a result, the fermion-monopole system possesses the nonlinear N=3/2 supersymmetry having the nature of the 3D spin-1/2 free particle's supersymmetry generated by the supercharges represented in a scalar form. Analyzing the supercharges' structure, we trace how under reduction of the fermion-monopole system to…
We study the supersymmetry enhancement of ABJM theory. Starting from a ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric Chern-Simons matter theory with gauge group U(2)$\times$U(2) which is a truncated version of the ABJM theory, we find by using the monopole operator that there is additional ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetry related to the gauge group. We show this additional supersymmetry can combine with ${\cal N}=6$ supersymmetry of the original ABJM theory to an enhanced ${\cal N}=8$ SUSY with gauge group U(2)$\times$U(2) in the case $k=1,2$. We also discuss the supersymmetry enhancement of the ABJM theory with U($N…
We study the supersymmetry enhancement of nonrelativistic limits of the ABJM theory for Chern-Simons level $k=1,2$. The special attention is paid to the nonrelativistic limit (known as `PAAP' case) containing both particles and antiparticles. Using supersymmetry transformations generated by the monopole operators, we find additional 2 kinematical, 2 dynamical, and 2 conformal supercharges for this case. Combining with the original 8 kinematical supercharges, the total number of supercharges becomes maximal: 14 supercharges, like in the well-known PPPP limit. We obtain the corresponding super S…
We consider chiral condensates in SU(2) gauge theory with broken N=2 supersymmetry. The matter sector contains an adjoint multiplet and one fundamental flavor. Matter and gaugino condensates are determined by integrating out the adjoint field. The only nonperturbative input is the Affleck-Dine-Seiberg (ADS) superpotential generated by one instanton plus the Konishi anomaly. These results are consistent with those obtained by the `integrating in' procedure, including a reproduction of the Seiberg-Witten curve from the ADS superpotential. We then calculate monopole, dyon, and charge condensates …
The 'dyon' system of D'Hoker and Vinet consisting of a spin 1/2 particle with anomalous gyromagnetic ratio 4 in the combined field of a Dirac monopole plus a Coulomb plus a suitable $1/r^2$ potential (which arises in the long-range limit of a self-dual monopole) is studied following Biedenharn's approach to the Dirac-Coulomb problem: the explicit solution is obtained using the `Biedenharn-Temple operator', $Γ$, and the extra two-fold degeneracy is explained by the subtle supersymmetry generated by the 'Dyon Helicity' or generalized `Biedenharn-Johnson-Lippmann' operator ${\cal R}$. The new SUS…
We present new non-Abelian solitonic configurations in the low energy effective theory describing a collection of N parallel D1--branes. These configurations preserve 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 and 1/32 of the spacetime supersymmetry. They are solutions to a set of generalised Nahm's equations which are related to self-duality equations in eight dimensions. Our solutions represent D1--branes which expand into fuzzy funnel configurations ending on collections of intersecting D3--branes. Supersymmetry dictates that such intersecting D3--branes must lie on a calibrated three-surface of spacetime and we argue…
The dynamical (super)symmetries for various monopole systems are reviewed. For a Dirac monopole, no smooth Runge-Lenz vector can exist; there is, however, a spectrum-generating conformal $o(2,1)$ dynamical symmetry that extends into $osp(1/1)$ or $osp(1/2)$ for spin 1/2 particles. Self-dual 't Hooft-Polyakov-type monopoles admit an $su(2/2)$ dynamical supersymmetry algebra, which allows us to reduce the fluctuation equation to the spin zero case. For large $r$ the system reduces to a Dirac monopole plus an suitable inverse-square potential considered before by McIntosh and Cisneros, and by Zwa…
We present a systematic analysis of the N=6 superspace constraints in three space-time dimensions. The general coupling between vector and scalar supermultiplets is encoded in an SU(4) tensor $W^i_j$ which is a function of the matter fields and subject to a set of algebraic and super-differential relations. We give a genuine N=6 classification for superconformal models with polynomial interactions and find the known ABJM and ABJ models. We further study the issue of supersymmetry enhancement to N=8 and the role of monopole operators in this scenario. To this end we assume the existence of a co…
Using the harmonic superspace approach, we construct the three-dimensional N=4 supersymmetric quantum mechanics of the supermultiplet (3,4,1) coupled to an external SU(2) gauge field. The off-shell N=4 supersymmetry requires the gauge field to be a static form of the 't Hooft ansatz for the 4D self-dual SU(2) gauge fields, that is a particular solution of Bogomolny equations for BPS monopoles. We present the explicit form of the corresponding superfield and component actions, as well as of the quantum Hamiltonian and N=4 supercharges. The latter can be used to describe a more general N=4 mecha…
We construct monopole operators for 3d Yang-Mills-matter theories and Chern-Simons-matter theories in canonical formalism. In this framework, monopole operators, although as the disorder operators, could be written in terms of the fundamental fields of the theory, and thus could be treated in the same way as the ordinary operators. We study the properties of the constructed monopole operators. In Chern-Simons-matter theories, monopole operators transform as the local operators with the classical conformal dimension $ 0 $ under the action of the dilation and are also covariantly constant. In su…
New kinds of supersymmetry arise in supersymmetric $\sg$-models describing the motion of spinning point-particles in classical backgrounds, for example black-holes, or the dynamics of monopoles. Their geometric origin is the existence of Killing-Yano tensors. The relation between these concepts is explained and examples are given. --- Contribution to Proceedings Quarks-94; Vladimir, Russia (1994).
The ABJM theory refers to superconformal Chern-Simons-matter theory with product gauge group U(L)xU(R) and level +k, -k, respectively. The theory is a candidate for worldvolume dynamics of M2-branes sitting at C(4)/Z(k)k. By utilizing monopole operators, we prove that ABJM theory gets enhanced N=8 supersymmetry and SO(8) R-symmetry at Chern-Simons levels k=1,2. We first show that the ABJM Lagrangian can be written in a manifestly SO(8) invariant form up to certain extra terms. We then show that upon integrating out Chern-Simons gauge fields these extra terms vanish precisely at levels k=1,2. U…
The supersymmetry of near-horizon geometries in heterotic supergravity is considered. A necessary and sufficient condition for a solution to preserve more than the minimal N=2 supersymmetry is obtained. A supersymmetric near-horizon solution is constructed which is a U(1) fibration of AdS3 over a particular Aloff-Wallach space. It is proven that this solution preserves the conditions required for N=2 supersymmetry, but does not satisfy the necessary condition required for further supersymmetry enhancement. Hence, there exist supersymmetric near-horizon heterotic solutions preserving exactly N=…
We test recently proposed IR dualities and supersymmetry enhancement by studying the supersymmetry on domain walls. In the $SU(3)$ Wess-Zumino model studied in arXiv:1804.02018 and arXiv:1804.05707, we show that domain walls exhibit supersymmetry enhancement. This model was conjectured to be dual to an $\mathcal{N}=2$ abelian gauge theory. We show that domain walls on the gauge theory side are consistent with the proposed duality, as they are described by the same effective theory on the wall. In arXiv:1808.04173, a third model was conjectured to be dual to the same IR theory. We study the pha…
We examine the supersymmetry of classical D-brane and M-brane configurations and explain the dependence of Killing spinors on coordinates. We find that one half supersymmetry is broken in the bulk and that supersymmetry near the D-brane horizon is restored for $p\leq 3$, for solutions in the stringy frame, but only for $p=3$ in the10d canonical frame. We study the enhancement for the case of four intersecting D-3-branes in 10 dimensions and the implication of this for the size of the infinite throat of the near horizon geometry in non-compactified theory. We found some indications of universal…
We propose new 3d $\mathcal{N}=2$ Seiberg-like dualities by considering various monopole superpotential deformations on 3d $\mathcal{N}=2$ $U(N_c)$ SQCDs with fundamental and adjoint matter fields. We provide nontrivial evidence of these new dualities by comparing the superconformal indices, from which we analyze the change of the moduli space due to the monopole deformation. In addition, we perform the $F$-maximization to check the relevance of the monopole deformation for some examples, one of which is found to exhibit nontrivial symmetry enhancement in the IR. We prove such enhancement of t…
We study two M5-branes on $A_{1}$ ALE space. We introduce some M2-branes suspended between the M5-branes. Then, the boundaries of M2-branes look like strings. We call them "M-strings". The M-strings have $\mathcal{N}=(4,0)$ supersymmetry by considering the brane configuration on $A_{1}$ ALE space. We calculate the partition function of M-strings by using the refined topological vertex formalism. We find that the supersymmetry of M-strings gets enhanced to $\mathcal{N}=(4,4)$ by tuning some Kähler parameters. Furthermore, we discuss another possibility of the enhancement of supersymmetry which …
We calculate instanton corrections to three dimensional gauge theories with N=4 and N=8 supersymmetry and SU(n) gauge groups. The N=4 results give new information about the moduli space of n BPS SU(2) monopoles, including the leading order non-pairwise interaction terms. A few comments are made on the relationship of the N=8 results to membrane scattering in matrix theory.
We consider non-Abelian 1/2 BPS flux tubes (strings) in a deformed N=2 supersymmetric gauge theory, with mass terms mu_{1,2} of the adjoint fields breaking N=2 down to N=1. The main feature of the non-Abelian strings is the occurrence of orientational moduli associated with the possibility of rotations of their color fluxes inside a global SU(N) group. The bulk four-dimensional theory has four supercharges; half-criticality of the non-Abelian strings would imply then N=1 supersymmetry on the world sheet, i.e. two supercharges. In fact, superalgebra of the reduced moduli space has four supercha…
BPS electric and magnetic black hole solutions which break half of supersymmetry in the theory of N=2 five-dimensional supergravity are discussed. For models which arise as compactifications of M-theory on a Calabi-Yau manifold, these solutions correspond, respectively, to the two and five branes wrapping around the homology cycles of the Calabi-Yau compact space. The electric solutions are reviewed and the magnetic solutions are constructed. The near-horizon physics of these solutions is examined and in particular the phenomenon of the enhancement of supersymmetry. The solutions for the super…
We study a recently-found class of RG flows in four dimensions exhibiting enhancement of supersymmetry in the infrared, which provides a lagrangian description of several strongly-coupled N=2 SCFTs. The procedure involves starting from a N=2 SCFT, coupling a chiral multiplet in the adjoint representation of the global symmetry to the moment map of the SCFT and turning on a nilpotent expectation value for this chiral. In this note we show that, combining considerations based on 't Hooft anomaly matching and basic results about the N=2 superconformal algebra, it is possible to understand in deta…
We explain how the representation theory associated with supersymmetry in diverse dimensions is encoded within the representation theory of supersymmetry in one time-like dimension. This is enabled by algebraic criteria, derived, exhibited, and utilized in this paper, which indicate which subset of one-dimensional supersymmetric models describe "shadows" of higher-dimensional models. This formalism delineates that minority of one-dimensional supersymmetric models which can "enhance" to accommodate extra dimensions. As a consistency test, we use our formalism to reproduce well-known conclusions…
Monopole ``superpartner'' solutions are constructed by acting with finite, broken supersymmetry transformations on a bosonic N=2 BPS monopole. The terms beyond first order in this construction represent the backreaction of the the fermionic zero-mode state on the other fields. Because of the quantum nature of the fermionic zero-modes, the superpartner solution is necessarily operator valued. We extract the electric dipole moment operator and show that it is proportional to the fermion zero-mode angular momentum operator with a gyroelectric ratio g=2. The magnetic quadrupole operator is shown t…
We consider mass-deformed theories with ${\cal N}\geq2$ supersymmetry on round and squashed three-spheres. By embedding the supersymmetric backgrounds in extended supergravity we show that at special values of mass deformations the supersymmetry is enhanced on the squashed spheres. When the $3d$ partition function can be obtained by a limit of a $4d$ index we also show that for these special mass deformations only the states annihilated by extra supercharges contribute to the index. By using an equivalence between partition functions on squashed spheres and ellipsoids, we explain the recently …
We calculate the non-abelian R-charges of BPS monopole operators in three-dimensional gauge theories with N=3 supersymmetry. This class of models includes ABJM theory, the proposed gauge theory dual of M-theory on AdS_4 x S^7/Z_k, as a special case. In the UV limit of the N=3 theories the Yang-Mills coupling becomes weak and the monopole operators are described by classical backgrounds. This allows us to find their SU(2)_R charges in a one-loop computation which by virtue of the non-renormalization of non-abelian R-charges yields the exact result for any value of the coupling. The spectrum of …
We find a four-dimensional N=1 gauge theory which flows to the minimal interacting N=2 superconformal field theory, the Argyres-Douglas theory, in the infrared up to the extra free chiral multiplets. The gauge theory is obtained from a certain N=1 preserving deformation of the N=2 SU(2) gauge theory with four fundamental hypermultiplets. From this description, we compute the full superconformal index and find agreements with the known results in special limits.
We compute R-charges of the BPS-monopole operators in $\mathcal{N} = 3$ $\widehat{ADE}$ Chern-Simons quiver gauge theories, along the lines of the work of Benna, Klebanov and Klose in \cite{bkk}. These theories have a weakly coupled UV completion in terms of $\mathcal{N}=3$ supersymmetric Chern-Simons Yang-Mills theories. In the UV limit the monopole operators are well approximated by classical solutions. We construct classical BPS and anti-BPS monopole solutions to these theories which preserve $\frac{1}{3}$ supersymmetry all along the RG flow. We compute the $SU(2)_R$ charges in these backgr…
We study supersymmetry enhancement from ${\cal N}=3$ to ${\cal N}=4$ proposed by Aharony and Tachikawa by using string junctions in S-folds. The central charges carried by junctions play a central role in our analysis. We consider planer junctions in a specific plane. Before the S-folding they carry two complex central charges, which we denote by $Z$ and $\bar Z$. The S-fold projection eliminates $\bar Z$ as well as one of the four supercharges, and when the supersymmetry is enhanced $\bar Z$ should be reproduced by some non-perturbative mechanism. For the models of $\mathbb{Z}_3$ and $\mathbb…
The study of exactly marginal deformations of superconformal field theories is a topic that has received considerable attention due to their rich properties. We investigate the $\mathcal{N}=2$ preserving exactly marginal operators of 3d $S$-fold SCFTs. Two families of such theories are considered: one is constructed by gauging the diagonal flavour symmetry of the $T(U(2))$ and $T(U(3))$ theories, and the other by gauging the diagonal flavour symmetry of the $T^{[2,1^2]}_{[2,1^2]}(SU(4))$ theory. In both families, it is possible to turn on a Chern--Simons level for each gauge group and to coupl…
A connection between weak and strong tension limits and their perturbative corrections is discussed. New twistor-like models based on D=4, N=1 tensionless superstring and superbrane with tensor central charges are studied. The presence of three, two or less preserved fractions of $κ-$symmetry in the actions free of the Wess-Zumino terms is shown. A correlation of extra $κ-$symmetry with the R-symmetry is established. The equations of the superstring and superbrane models preserving 3/4 supersymmetry are exactly solved. The general solution for the Goldstone fermion is pure static, but for the …
We consider supersymmetric PP-wave limits for different N=1 orbifold geometries of the five sphere S^5 and the five dimensional Einstein manifold T^{1,1}. As there are several interesting ways to take the Penrose limits, the PP-wave geometry can be either maximal supersymmetric N=4 or half-maximal supersymmetric N=2. We discuss in detail the cases AdS_5 x S^5/Z_3, AdS_5 x S^5/(Z_m x Z_n) and AdS_5 x T^{1,1}/(\Z_m \times \Z_n) and we identify the gauge invariant operators which correspond to stringy excitations for the different limits.
We propose the general scheme of incorporation of the Dirac monopoles into mechanical systems on the three-dimensional conformal flat space. We found that any system (without monopoles) admitting the separation of variables in the elliptic or parabolic coordinates can be extended to the integrable system with the Dirac monopoles located at the foci of the corresponding coordinate systems. Particular cases of this class of system are the two-center MICZ-Kepler system in the Euclidean space, the limiting case when one of the background dyons is located at the infinity as well as the model of par…
Quantum corrections to the magnetic central charge of the monopole in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory are free from the anomalous contributions that were crucial for BPS saturation of the two-dimensional supersymmetric kink and the N=2 monopole. However these quantum corrections are nontrivial and they require infinite renormalization of the supersymmetry current, central charges, and energy-momentum tensor, in contrast to N=2 and even though the N=4 theory is finite. Their composite-operator renormalization leads to counterterms which form a multiplet of improvement terms. Using on-shell…
It is shown that the operator methods of supersymmetric quantum mechanics and the concept of shape invariance can profitably be used to derive properties of spherical harmonics in a simple way. The same operator techniques can also be applied to several problems with non-central vector and scalar potentials. As examples, we analyze the bound state spectra of an electron in a Coulomb plus an Aharonov-Bohm field and/or in the magnetic field of a Dirac monopole.
Lagrangian gauge theories with a z=2 Lifshitz scaling provide a family of interacting, asymptotically free five-dimensional field theories. We examine some of their quantum properties, extending previous results to include matter. We present no-go theorems that, in the absence of constraints, such theories cannot admit a spinorial supersymmetry or a boost symmetry. However, we argue that there exist renormalization group flows whose fixed points can admit supersymmetry and boosts, i.e. super-Schrodinger symmetry. We also present examples of Lifshitz gauge theories with a scalar supersymmetry.
We discuss monopole operators in $U(N_c)$ Chern-Simons-matter theories in three space-time dimensions. We mention an apparent problem in the matching of such operators in dualities between non-supersymmetric theories, and suggest a possible resolution. A similar apparent problem exists in the mapping of chiral monopole operators in theories with ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetry. We show that in many theories the lowest naive chiral monopole operator is actually not chiral, and we find the lowest monopole operator that is actually chiral in these theories. It turns out that there are several differen…
In this paper we study a class of $\mathcal{N}=2$ SCFTs with ADE global symmetry defined via Type IIB compactification on a class of hypersurfaces in $\mathbb{C}^3\times\mathbb{C}^*$. These can also be constructed by compactifying the 6d (2,0) theory of type ADE on a sphere with an irregular and a full punctures. When we couple to the ADE moment map a chiral multiplet in the adjoint representation and turn on a (principal) nilpotent vev for it, all the theories in this family display enhancement of supersymmetry in the infrared. We observe that all known examples of lagrangian theories which f…
We present explicit BPS field configurations representing one nonabelian monopole with one minimal weight 't Hooft operator insertion. We explore the SO(3) and SU(2) gauge groups. In the case of SU(2) gauge group the minimal 't Hooft operator can be completely screened by the monopole. If the gauge group is SO(3), however, such screening is impossible. In the latter case we observe a different effect of the gauge symmetry enhancement in the vicinity of the 't Hooft operator.
We study the confinement scenario in N=2 supersymmetric SU(2) gauge theory near the monopole point upon breaking of N=2 supersymmetry by the adjoint matter mass term. We confirm claims made previously that the Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen string near the monopole point fails to be a BPS state once next-to-leading corrections in the adjoint mass parameter taken into account. Our results shows that type I superconductivity arises upon monopole condensation. This conclusion allows us to make qualitative predictions on the structure of the hadron mass spectrum near the monopole point.
We provide a precise geometric picture that demystifies the phenomenon of supersymmetry enhancement along certain RG flows of four-dimensional field theories, recently discovered by Maruyoshi and Song. It applies to theories of arbitrary rank and it is based on a hyperkähler-structure restoration on the moduli space of solutions of (twisted) Hitchin systems, which underly the class-S construction we use as an engineering tool. Along the way, we formulate a necessary algebraic condition for supersymmetry enhancement, and, when enhancement occurs, we are able to derive the Seiberg-Witten geometr…
We use the F-theoretic engineering of four-dimensional rank-one superconformal field theories to provide a geometric understanding of the phenomenon of supersymmetry enhancement along the RG flow, recently observed by Maruyoshi and Song. In this context, the superpotential deformations responsible for such flows are interpreted as T-brane backgrounds and encoded in the geometry of elliptically-fibered fourfolds. We formulate a simple algebraic criterion to select all supersymmetry-enhancing flows and, without any maximization process, derive the main features of the corresponding N=2 theories …
We study $\mathcal{N}=2$ theories on four-dimensional manifolds that admit a Killing vector $v$ with isolated fixed points. It is possible to deform these theories by coupling position-dependent background fields to the flavor current multiplet. The partition function of the deformed theory only depends on the value of the background scalar fields at the fixed points of $v$. For a single adjoint hypermultiplet, the partition function becomes independent of the supergravity as well as the flavor background if the scalars attain special values at the fixed points. For these special values, super…
