In this note, using Nekrasov's gauge origami framework, we study two different versions of the the BPS/CFT correspondence - first, the standard AGT duality and, second, the quiver W algebra construction which has been developed recently by Kimura and Pestun. The gauge origami enables us to work with both dualities simultaneously and find exact matchings between the parameters. In our main example of an A-type quiver gauge theory, we show that the corresponding quiver qW-algebra and its representations are closely related to a large-n limit of spherical gl(n) double affine Hecke algebra whose modules are described by instanton partition functions of a defect quiver theory.
We study two types of discrete operations on Coulomb branches of $3d$ $\mathcal{N}=4$ quiver gauge theories using both abelianisation and the monopole formula. We generalise previous work on discrete quotients of Coulomb branches and introduce novel wreathed quiver theories. We further study quiver folding which produces Coulomb branches of non-simply laced quivers.
Gauge origami is a generalized supersymmetric gauge theory defined on several intersecting space-time components. It provides a systematic way to consider generalizations of instantons. In this thesis, we explore the gauge origami system in $\mathbb{R}^{1,1}\times \mathbb{C}^{4}$ and its BPS/CFT correspondence. String theoretically, instantons of the gauge origami system arise from D0-branes bound to D$(2p)$-branes wrapping cycles in $\mathbb{C}^{4}$. The low energy theory of the D0-branes is understood as an $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric quiver quantum mechanical system and the Witten index …
Gauge Origami of the Conifold $\times$ $\mathbb{C}$
Université Bourgogne Europe, CNRS, IMB UMR 5584（勃艮第欧洲大学，法国国家科学研究中心，IMB UMR 5584）；Institut Universitaire de France (IUF)（法国高等研究院）；Center for High Energy Physics, Peking University（北京大学高能物理中心）
Understanding the map of line defects in a Quantum Field Theory under a given duality is generically a difficult problem. This paper is the second in a series which aims to address this question in the context of 3d $\mathcal{N}=4$ mirror symmetry. A general prescription for constructing vortex defects and their mirror maps in quiver gauge theories beyond the $A$-type was presented by the author in an earlier paper [arxiv:2103.01243], where specific examples involving $D$-type and affine $D$-type quivers were discussed. In this paper, we apply the aforementioned prescription to construct a fam…
Supersymmetric Sp(k) quantum chromodynamics with 8 supercharges in space-time dimensions 3 to 6 can be realised by two different Type II brane configurations in the presence of orientifolds. Consequently, two types of magnetic quivers describe the Higgs branch of the Sp(k) SQCD theory. This is a salient example of a general phenomenon: a given hyper-Kahler Higgs branch may admit several magnetic quiver constructions. It is then natural to wonder if these different magnetic quivers, which are described by 3d N=4 theories, are dual theories. In this work, the unitary and orthosymplectic magnetic…
We construct gravity duals to supersymmetric gauge theories in the presence of unquenched flavor hypermultiplets in the fundamental representation of the gauge group living on the (1+1)-dimensional defect. This configuration is given by the intersection of two sets of D3-branes. Working in the Veneziano limit with large number of colors and flavors we are able to find a closed set of equations describing the dual geometry. We briefly discuss the corresponding solutions for massless flavors as well as in the small flavor limit of massive hypermultiplets. Interestingly, the 1/4-BPS supergravity …
The BPS spectrum of certain N=2 supersymmetric field theories can be determined algebraically by studying the representation theory of BPS quivers. We introduce methods based on BPS quivers to study line defects. The presence of a line defect opens up a new BPS sector: framed BPS states can be bound to the defect. The defect can be geometrically described in terms of laminations on a curve. To a lamination we associate certain elements of the Leavitt path algebra of the BPS quiver and use them to compute the framed BPS spectrum. We also provide an alternative characterization of line defects b…
We study the defect groups of $D_p^b(G)$ theories using geometric engineering and BPS quivers. In the simple case when $b=h^\vee (G)$, we use the BPS quivers of the theory to see that the defect group is compatible with a known Maruyoshi-Song flow. To extend to the case where $b\neq h^\vee (G)$, we use a similar Maruyoshi-Song flow to conjecture that the defect groups of $D_p^b(G)$ theories are given by those of $G^{(b)}[k]$ theories. In the cases of $G=A_n, \;E_6, \;E_8$ we cross check our result by calculating the BPS quivers of the $G^{(b)}[k]$ theories and looking at the cokernel of their …
We study BPS line defects in N=2 supersymmetric four-dimensional field theories. We focus on theories of "quiver type," those for which the BPS particle spectrum can be computed using quiver quantum mechanics. For a wide class of models, the renormalization group flow between defects defined in the ultraviolet and in the infrared is bijective. Using this fact, we propose a way to compute the BPS Hilbert space of a defect defined in the ultraviolet, using only infrared data. In some cases our proposal reduces to studying representations of a "framed" quiver, with one extra node representing the…
A large class of N=2 quantum field theories admits a BPS quiver description and the study of their BPS spectra is then reduced to a representation theory problem. In such theories the coupling to a line defect can be modelled by framed quivers. The associated spectral problem characterises the line defect completely. Framed BPS states can be thought of as BPS particles bound to the defect. We identify the framed BPS degeneracies with certain enumerative invariants associated with the moduli spaces of stable quiver representations. We develop a formalism based on equivariant localization to com…
We systematically study the interesting relations between the quantum elliptic Calogero-Moser system (eCM) and its generalization, and their corresponding supersymmetric gauge theories. In particular, we construct the suitable characteristic polynomial for the eCM system by considering certain orbifolded instanton partition function of the corresponding gauge theory. This is equivalent to the introduction of certain co-dimension two defects. We next generalize our construction to the folded instanton partition function obtained through the so-called "gauge origami" construction and precisely o…
We revisit the localization computation of the expectation values of 't Hooft operators in $\mathcal{N}=2^*$ SU(N) theory on $\mathbb{R}^3 \times S^1$. We show that the part of the answer arising from "monopole bubbling" on $\mathbb{R}^3$ can be understood as an equivariant integral over a Kronheimer-Nakajima moduli space of instantons on an orbifold of $\mathbb{C}^2$. It can also be described as a Witten index of a certain supersymmetric quiver quantum mechanics with $\mathcal{N}=(4,4)$ supersymmetry. The map between the defect data and the quiver quantum mechanics is worked out for all value…
We realize four-dimensional N=2 superconformal quiver gauge theories with alternating SO and USp gauge groups as compactifications of the six-dimensional D_N theory with defects. The construction can be used to analyze infinitely strongly-coupled limits and S-dualities of such gauge theories, resulting in a new class of isolated four-dimensional N=2 superconformal field theories with SO(2N)^3 flavor symmetry.
The map of half-BPS line defects under mirror symmetry has previously been worked out for 3d $\mathcal{N}=4$ linear quivers with unitary gauge groups, where these defects have a clear realization in terms of a brane picture in Type IIB String Theory. In this work, we initiate the study of line defects and the associated mirror maps for more general 3d $\mathcal{N}=4$ quiver gauge theories from a QFT approach, using the $S$-type operations introduced in \cite{Dey:2020hfe}. In particular, our construction does not rely on any String Theory realization of the quiver gauge theories and the defects…
In this note we review some of the uses of framed quivers to study BPS invariants of Donaldson-Thomas type. We will mostly focus on non-compact Calabi-Yau threefolds. In certain cases the study of these invariants can be approached as a generalized instanton problem in a six dimensional cohomological Yang-Mills theory. One can construct a quantum mechanics model based on a certain framed quiver which locally describes the theory around a generalized instanton solution. The problem is then reduced to the study of the moduli spaces of representations of these quivers. Examples include the affine…
We study generalized gauge theories engineered by taking the low energy limit of the $Dp$ branes wrapping $X \times T^{p-3}$, with $X$ a possibly singular surface in a Calabi-Yau fourfold $Z$. For toric $Z$ and $X$ the partition function can be computed by localization, making it a statistical mechanical model, called the gauge origami. The random variables are the ensembles of Young diagrams. The building block of the gauge origami is associated with a tetrahedron, whose edges are colored by vector spaces. We show the properly normalized partition function is an entire function of the Coulomb…
We introduce and study a surface defect in four dimensional gauge theories supporting nested instantons with respect to the parabolic reduction of the gauge group at the defect. This is engineered from a D3/D7-branes system on a non compact Calabi-Yau threefold $X$. For $X=T^2\times T^*{\mathcal C}_{g,k}$, the product of a two torus $T^2$ times the cotangent bundle over a Riemann surface ${\mathcal C}_{g,k}$ with marked points, we propose an effective theory in the limit of small volume of ${\mathcal C}_{g,k}$ given as a comet shaped quiver gauge theory on $T^2$, the tail of the comet being ma…
We illustrate the use of the theory of $qq$-characters by deriving the BPZ and KZ-type equations for the partition functions of certain surface defects in quiver ${\mathcal N}=2$ theories. We generate a surface defect in the linear quiver theory by embedding it into a theory with additional node, with specific masses of the fundamental hypermultiplets. We prove that the supersymmetric partition function of this theory with $SU(2)^{r-3}$ gauge group verifies the celebrated Belavin-Polyakov-Zamolodchikov equation of two dimensional Liouville theory. We also study the $SU(N)$ theory with $2N$ fun…
We study half-BPS surface operators in N=2supersymmetric asymptotically conformal gauge theories in four dimensions with SU(N) gauge group and 2N fundamental flavours using localization methods and coupled 2d/4d quiver gauge theories. We show that contours specified by a particular Jeffrey-Kirwan residue prescription in the localization analysis map to particular realizations of the surface operator as flavour defects. Seiberg duality of the 2d/4d quivers is mapped to contour deformations of the localization integral which in this case involves a residue at infinity. This is reflected as a mod…
We explore the non-perturbative Dyson-Schwinger equations obeyed by the partition functions of the $Ω$-deformed $\mathcal{N}=2, d=4$ supersymmetric linear quiver gauge theories in the presence of surface defects. We demonstrate that the partition functions of different types of defects (orbifold or vortex strings) are related by analytic continuation. We introduce Darboux coordinates on a patch of the moduli space of flat $SL(N)$-connections on a sphere with special punctures, which generalize the NRS coordinates defined in the $SL(2)$ case. Finally, we compare the generating function of the L…
The spectrum of chiral operators in supersymmetric quiver gauge theories is typically much larger in the free limit, where the superpotential terms vanish. We find that the finite N counting of operators in any free quiver theory, with a product of unitary gauge groups, can be described by associating Young diagrams and Littlewood-Richardson multiplicities to a simple modification of the quiver, which we call the split-node quiver. The large N limit leads to a surprisingly simple infinite product formula for counting gauge invariant operators, valid for any quiver with bifundamental fields. An…
We explore a new class of AdS$_3$ solutions in massive type IIA supergravity preserving $\mathcal{N} = (0,6)$ supersymmetry and realising an $\mathfrak{osp}(6|2)$ superconformal algebra. These solutions exhibit an SO(6)-symmetric internal space constructed from a $\mathbb{CP}^3$, and are fully specified by a single cubic function controlling the fluxes and warping. We propose a brane box configuration underlying the solutions from which we construct a two-dimensional quiver gauge theory whose anomaly structure and central charge we analyse, and from which we can realise Seiberg-like dualities …
In [1, 2], Nekrasov applied the Bethe/gauge correspondence to derive the $\mathfrak{su}\, (2)$ XXX spin-chain coordinate Bethe wavefunction from the IR limit of a 2D $\mathcal{N}=(2, 2)$ supersymmetric $A_1$ quiver gauge theory with an orbifold-type codimension-2 defect. Later, Bullimore, Kim and Lukowski implemented Nekrasov's construction at the level of the UV $A_1$ quiver gauge theory, recovered his result, and obtained further extensions of the Bethe/gauge correspondence [3]. In this work, we extend the construction of the defect to $A_M$ quiver gauge theories to obtain the $\mathfrak{su}…
We study the Nekrasov partition function of the five dimensional U(N) gauge theory with maximal supersymmetry on R^4 x S^1 in the presence of codimension two defects. The codimension two defects can be described either as monodromy defects, or by coupling to a certain class of three dimensional quiver gauge theories on R^2 x S^1. We explain how these computations are connected with both classical and quantum integrable systems. We check, as an expansion in the instanton number, that the aforementioned partition functions are eigenfunctions of an elliptic integrable many-body system, which quan…
Quantum field theory $L_1$ on spacetime $X_{1}$ can be coupled to another quantum field theory $L_2$ on a spacetime $X_{2}$ via the third quantum field theory $L_{12}$ living on $X_{12} = X_{1} \cap X_{2}$. We explore several such constructions with two and four dimensional $X_{1}, X_{2}$'s and zero and two dimensional $X_{12}$'s, in the context of $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetry, non-perturbative Dyson-Schwinger equations, and BPS/CFT correspondence. The companion paper will show that the BPZ and KZ equations of two dimensional conformal field theory are obeyed by the half-BPS surface defects i…
Donaldson-Thomas theory on a Calabi-Yau can be described in terms of a certain six-dimensional cohomological gauge theory. We introduce a certain class of defects in this gauge theory which generalize surface defects in four dimensions. These defects are associated with divisors and are defined by prescribing certain boundary conditions for the gauge fields. We discuss generalized instanton moduli spaces when the theory is defined with a defect and propose a generalization of Donaldson-Thomas invariants. These invariants arise by studying torsion free coherent sheaves on Calabi-Yau varieties w…
The partition function of $\mathcal{N}=2$ super Yang-Mills theories with arbitrary simple gauge group coupled to a self-dual $Ω$-background is shown to be fully determined by studying the renormalization group equations relevant to the surface operators generating its one-form symmetries. The corresponding system of equations results in a ${\it non-autonomous}$ Toda chain on the root system of the Langlands dual, the evolution parameter being the RG scale. A systematic algorithm computing the full multi-instanton corrections is derived in terms of recursion relations whose gauge theoretical so…
