D-instanton world-volume theory has open string zero modes describing collective coordinates of the instanton. The usual perturbative amplitudes in the D-instanton background suffer from infra-red divergences due to the presence of these zero modes, and the usual approach of analytic continuation in momenta does not work since all open string states on a D-instanton carry strictly zero momentum. String field theory is well-suited for tackling these issues. However we find a new subtlety due to the existence of additional zero modes in the ghost sector. This causes a breakdown of the Siegel gauge, but a different gauge fixing consistent with the BV formalism renders the perturbation theory finite and unambiguous. At each order, this produces extra contribution to the amplitude besides what is obtained from integration over the moduli space of Riemann surfaces.
Instanton -- antiinstanton pair is considered as a source of singularity at the Borel plane for the ground state energy of anharmonic oscillator. The problem of defining the short range instanton -- antiinstanton interaction reduces to calculation of a smooth part of the Borel function, which cannot be found without explicit calculation of several terms of ordinary perturbation theory. On the other hand, the large order terms of perturbative expansion are dominated by large fluctuations in the functional integral like well separated instanton and antiinstanton. The preasymptotics ($\sim 1/n$) …
We exploit a recent lattice investigation (UKQCD) on the topological structure of the (quenched) QCD vacuum, in order to gain information on crucial building blocks of instanton perturbation theory. A central motivation is to further constrain our previous predictions of instanton-induced hard scattering processes. First, we address the generic problem of extracting quantitative information from cooled lattice data. We find a new scaling variable, interpreted as a "cooling radius", which allows to combine lattice data for a whole range of lattice spacings and cooling sweeps. This variable stro…
The instanton--antiinstanton pair induced asymptotics of perturbation theory expansion for QCD correlators is considered. It is argued that though the true asymptotics is dominated by renormalon, the instanton-induced contribution may dominate in the intermediate asymptotics $n= 5÷15$. Obtained asymptotic formulae are valid for $N_f \le N_c$. For $N_f =N_c$ the finite nonperturbative expression for instanton--antiinstanton contribution was also found. At $q^2<0$ the imaginary part of correlators in the case $N_f =N_c$ is suppressed like $1/\log (q/Λ)$, but the present accuracy of instanton cal…
Instanton analysis is applied to models B--H of critical dynamics. It is shown that the static instanton of the massless $ϕ^{4}$ model determines the large-order asymptotes of the perturbation expansion of these near-equilibrium dynamic models leading to factorial growth with the order of perturbation theory.
We investigate in detail the properties of oscillating instanton solutions discussed recently in the literature. We find that the solutions with N nodes contain exactly N homogeneous negative modes in their spectrum of linear perturbations. The existence of extra negative modes for the N > 1 solutions suggest that they are not final state physical objects resulting from tunneling, but rather unstable intermediate thermal configurations. By contrast, the single negative mode for the N = 1 instanton confirms its interpretation as mediating the curved-space tunneling between vacua with equal ener…
We derive the non-perturbative corrections to the free energy of the two-matrix model in terms of its algebraic curve. The eigenvalue instantons are associated with the vanishing cycles of the curve. For the (p,q) critical points our results agree with the geometrical interpretation of the instanton effects recently discovered in the CFT approach. The form of the instanton corrections implies that the linear relation between the FZZT and ZZ disc amplitudes is a general property of the 2D string theory and holds for any classical background. We find that the agreement with the CFT results holds…
In quantum mechanics and quantum field theory perturbation theory generically requires the inclusion of extra contributions non-perturbative in the coupling, such as instantons, to reproduce exact results. We show how full non-perturbative results can be encoded in a suitable modified perturbative series in a class of quantum mechanical problems. We illustrate this explicitly in examples which are known to contain non-perturbative effects, such as the (supersymmetric) double-well potential, the pure anharmonic oscillator, and the perturbative expansion around a false vacuum.
Numerical Stochastic Perturbation Theory (NSPT) has over the years proved to be a valuable tool, in particular being able to reach unprecedented orders for Lattice Gauge Theories, whose perturbative expansions are notoriously cumbersome. One of the key features of the method is the possibility to expand around non-trivial vacua. While this idea has been around for a while, and it has been implemented in the case of the (non-trivial) background of the Schrödinger functional, NSPT expansions around instantons have not yet been fully worked out. Here we present computations for the double well po…
We give explicit expressions for the finite frequency greybody factor, quasinormal modes and Love numbers of Kerr black holes by computing the exact connection coefficients of the radial and angular parts of the Teukolsky equation. This is obtained by solving the connection problem of the confluent Heun equation in terms of the explicit expression of irregular Virasoro conformal blocks as sums over partitions via the AGT correspondence. In the relevant approximation limits our results are in agreement with existing literature. The method we use can be extended to solve the linearized Einstein …
The new phase of a gauge theory in which the instantons are ``polarized'', i.e. have the preferred orientation is discussed. A class of gauge theories with the specific condensates of the scalar fields is considered. In these models there exists an interaction between instantons resulting from one-fermion loop correction. The interaction makes the identical orientation of instantons to be the most probable, permitting one to expect the system to undergo the phase transition into the state with polarized instantons. The existence of this phase is confirmed in the mean-field approximation in whi…
The usual (type A) thin-wall Coleman-de Luccia instanton is made by a bigger-than-half sphere of the false vacuum and a smaller-than-half sphere of the true vacuum. It has a the standard O(4) symmetric negative mode associated with changing the size of false vacuum region. On the other hand, the type B instanton, made by two smaller-than-half spheres, was believed to have lost this negative mode. We argue that such belief is misguided due to an over-restriction on Euclidean path integral. We introduce the idea of a "purely geometric junction" to visualize why such restriction could be removed,…
A simple approximate solution for the quantum-mechanical quartic oscillator $V= m^2 x^2+g x^4$ in the double-well regime $m^2<0$ at arbitrary $g \geq 0$ is presented. It is based on a combining of perturbation theory near true minima of the potential, semi-classical approximation at large distances and a description of tunneling under the barrier. It provides 9-10 significant digits in energies and gives for wavefunctions the relative deviation in real $x$-space less than $\lesssim 10^{-3}$.
We discuss the O(4) invariant perturbation modes of cosmological instantons. These modes are spatially homogeneous in Lorentzian spacetime and thus not relevant to density perturbations. But their properties are important in establishing the meaning of the Euclidean path integral. If negative modes are present, the Euclidean path integral is not well defined, but may nevertheless be useful in an approximate description of the decay of an unstable state. When gravitational dynamics is included, counting negative modes requires a careful treatment of the conformal factor problem. We demonstrate …
Current observational data is consistent with the universe being slightly closed. We investigate families of singular and non-singular closed instantons that could describe the beginning of a closed inflationary universe. We calculate the scalar and tensor perturbations that would be generated from singular instantons and compute the corresponding CMB power spectrum in a universe with cosmological parameters like our own. We investigate spatially homogeneous modes of the instantons, finding unstable modes which render the instantons sub-dominant contributions in the path integral. We show that…
The elucidation of the properties of the instantons in the topologically trivial sector has been a long-standing puzzle. Here we claim that the properties can be summarized in terms of the geometrical structure in the configuration space, the valley. The evidence for this claim is presented in various ways. The conventional perturbation theory and the non-perturbative calculation are unified, and the ambiguity of the Borel transform of the perturbation series is removed. A `proof' of Bogomolny's ``trick'' is presented, which enables us to go beyond the dilute-gas approximation. The prediction …
We relate the non-perturbative exact results in supersymmetry to perturbation theory using several different methods: instanton calculations at weak or strong coupling, a method using gaugino condensation and another method relating strong and weak coupling. This allows many precise numerical checks of the consistency of these methods, especially the amplitude of instanton effects, and of the network of exact solutions in supersymmetry. However, there remain difficulties with the instanton computations at strong coupling.
The energy levels of the double-well potential receive, beyond perturbation theory, contributions which are non-analytic in the coupling strength; these are related to instanton effects. For example, the separation between the energies of odd- and even-parity states is given at leading order by the one-instanton contribution. However to determine the energies more accurately multi-instanton configurations have also to be taken into account. We investigate here the two-instanton contributions. First we calculate analytically higher-order corrections to multi-instanton effects. We then verify th…
We consider evidence for the existence of gauge configurations with fractional charge in pure N=1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory . We argue that these field configurations are singular and have to be treated as distributions. It is shown that the path integral representation of constant Green's functions can be reduced to a finite dimensional integral. The fractional configurations are essentially the zero size limit of the usual instantons and they have a reduced number of fermionic zero modes. At the end we comment on the status of the D-instanton/YM-instanton correspondence within AdS/CFT…
We consider two simple examples of multi-instanton configurations in type II 4d N=1 superstring compactifications. The first one involves O(1) and U(1) D2-instantons embedded in T^6/(Z_2 x Z_2') geometry with SU(4) gauge symmetry coming from D6-branes and the second is related to quiver gauge theory of orientifolded orbifold of conifold containing fractional D(-1)-instantons and D3-branes. The additional zero modes of instantons which appear at the intersection points are lifted through interactions stemming from dimensionally reduced F- and D-terms. It is shown that multi-instanton configurat…
An analysis is performed of instanton configurations in pure Euclidean Yang-Mills theory containing small Lorentz-violating perturbations that maintain gauge invariance. Conventional topological arguments are used to show that the general classification of instanton solutions involving the topological charge is the same as in the standard case. Explicit solutions are constructed for general gauge invariant corrections to the action that are quadratic in the curvature. The value of the action is found to be unperturbed to lowest order in the Lorentz-violating parameters.
Positive definiteness of the quadratic part of the action of the Hawking-Turok instanton is investigated. The Euclidean quadratic action for scalar perturbations is expressed in terms of a single gauge invariant quantity $q$. The mode functions satisfy a Schrödinger type equation with a potential $U$. It is shown that the potential $U$ tends to a positive constant at the regular end of the instanton. The detailed shape of $U$ depends on the initial data of the instanton, on parameters of the background scalar field potential $V$ and on a positive integer, $p$, labeling different spherical harm…
The 1/8 BPS $D^6\mathcal{R}^4$ coupling in type II string theory compactified on $T^2$ receives contributions from worldsheet instantons and anti-instantons wrapping the $T^2$, up to genus three in string perturbation theory. These involve contributions separately from bound states of instantons and anti-instantons, which are qualitatively similar to such contributions to the 1/2 and 1/4 BPS couplings. At genus two, the $D^6\mathcal{R}^4$ coupling also receives contributions from instanton/anti-instanton bound states unlike the 1/2 and 1/4 BPS couplings, which is a consequence of a T-duality i…
The relation between defects of Abelian gauges and instantons is discussed for explicit examples in the Laplacian Abelian gauge. The defect coming from an instanton is pointlike and becomes a monopole loop with twist upon perturbation. The interplay between magnetic charge, twist and instanton number - encoded as a Hopf invariant - is investigated with the help of a new method, an auxiliary Abelian fibre bundle.
Perturbation series in quantum field theory are generally divergent asymptotic series which are also typically not Borel resummable in the sense that the resummed series is ambiguous. The ambiguity is associated with singularities in the Borel plane on the positive real axis. In quantum mechanics there are cases in which the ambiguity that arises in perturbation theory cancels against a similarly ambiguous contribution from instanton--anti-instanton events. In asymptotically free gauge theories this mechanism does not suffice because perturbation theory develops ambiguities associated with sin…
A D-5-brane bound state with a self-dual field strength on a 4-torus is considered. In a particular case this model reproduces the D5-D1 brane bound state usually used in the string theory description of 5-dimensional black holes. In the limit where the brane dynamics decouples from the bulk the Higgs and Coulomb branches of the theory on the brane decouple. Contrasting with the usual instanton moduli space approximation to the problem the Higgs branch describes fundamental excitations of the gauge field on the brane. Upon reduction to 2-dimensions it is associated with the so-called instanton…
We present analytical perturbative, and numerical solutions of the Einstein equation which describe a black hole with a nontrivial dilaton field and a purely topological gauge potential. The gauge potential has zero field strength and hence no stress-energy, but it does couple to virtual string worldsheets which wrap around the Euclidean horizon two-sphere, and generate an effective interaction in the spacetime lagrangian. We use the lagrangian with a nonstandard potential for a scalar field that reproduces the effect of the worldsheet instantons. As has been previously pointed out the topolog…
We consider the multi-instanton collective coordinate integration measure in N=2 supersymmetric SU(N) gauge theory with N_F fundamental hypermultiplets. In the large-N limit, at the superconformal point where N_F=2N and all VEVs are turned off, the k-instanton moduli space collapses to a single copy of AdS_5*S^1. The resulting k-instanton effective measure is proportional to N^{1/2} g^4 Z_k^(6), where Z_k^(6) is the partition function of N=(1,0) SYM theory in six dimensions reduced to zero dimensions. The multi-instanton can in fact be summed in closed form. As a hint of an AdS/CFT duality, wi…
By using a usual instanton method we obtain the energy splitting due to quantum tunneling through the triple well barrier. It is shown that the term related to the midpoint of the energy splitting in propagator is quite different from that of double well case, in that it is proportional to the algebraic average of the frequencies of the left and central wells.
Certain topological invariants of the moduli space of gravitational instantons are defined and studied. Several amplitudes of two and four dimensional topological gravity are computed. A notion of puncture in four dimensions, that is particularly meaningful in the class of Weyl instantons, is introduced. The topological embedding, a theoretical framework for constructing physical amplitudes that are well-defined order by order in perturbation theory around instantons, is explicitly applied to the computation of the correlation functions of Dirac fermions in a punctured gravitational background…
Supersymmetric configurations of type II D-branes with nonzero gauge field strengths in general supersymmetric backgrounds with nonzero B fields are analyzed using the kappa-symmetric worldvolume action. It is found in dimension four or greater that the usual instanton equation for the gauge field obtains a nonlinear deformation. The deformation is parameterized by the topological data of the B-field, the background geometry and the cycle wrapped by the brane. In the appropriate dimensions, limits and settings these equations reduce to deformed instanton equations recently found in the context…
We use the exact instanton expansion to illustrate various string characteristics of noncommutative gauge theory in two dimensions. We analyse the spectrum of the model and present some evidence in favour of Hagedorn and fractal behaviours. The decompactification limit of noncommutative torus instantons is shown to map in a very precise way, at both the classical and quantum level, onto fluxon solutions on the noncommutative plane. The weak-coupling singularities of the usual Gross-Taylor string partition function for QCD on the torus are studied in the instanton representation and its double …
We compute the normalisation factor for the large order asymptotics of perturbation theory for the self-avoiding manifold (SAM) model describing flexible tethered (D-dimensional) membranes in d-dimensional space, and the epsilon-expansion for this problem. For that purpose, we develop the methods inspired from instanton calculus, that we introduced in a previous publication (Nucl. Phys. B 534 (1998) 555), and we compute the functional determinant of the fluctuations around the instanton configuration. This determinant has UV divergences and we show that the renormalized action used to make per…
Scattering of fundamental states of type IIB supergravity and superstring theory is discussed at low orders in perturbation theory in the background of a D-instanton. The integration over fermionic zero modes in both the low energy supergravity and in the string theory leads to explicit nonperturbative terms in the effective action. These include a single instanton correction to the known tree-level and one-loop $R^4$ interactions. The `spectrum' of multiply-charged D-instantons is deduced by T-duality in nine dimensions from multiply-wound world-lines of marginally-bound D-particles. This, an…
The large $k$ asymptotics (perturbation series) for integrals of the form $\int_{\cal F}μe^{i k S}$, where $μ$ is a smooth top form and $S$ is a smooth function on a manifold ${\cal F}$, both of which are invariant under the action of a symmetry group ${\cal G}$, may be computed using the stationary phase approximation. This perturbation series can be expressed as the integral of a top form on the space $\cM$ of critical points of $S$ mod the action of ${\cal G}$. In this paper we overview a formulation of the ``Feynman rules'' computing this top form and a proof that the perturbation series o…
We extend the instanton calculus for N=1/2 U(2) supersymmetric gauge theory by including one massless flavor. We write the equations of motion at leading order in the coupling constant and we solve them exactly in the non(anti)commutativity parameter C. The profile of the matter superfield is deformed through linear and quadratic corrections in C. Higher order corrections are absent because of the fermionic nature of the back-reaction. The instanton effective action, in addition to the usual 't Hooft term, includes a contribution of order C^2 and is N=1/2 invariant. We argue that the N=1 resul…
We use the AdS/CFT correspondence to study the resummation of a perturbative genus expansion appearing in the type II superstring dual of ABJM theory. Although the series is Borel summable, its Borel resummation does not agree with the exact non-perturbative answer due to the presence of complex instantons. The same type of behavior appears in the WKB quantization of the quartic oscillator in Quantum Mechanics, which we analyze in detail as a toy model for the string perturbation series. We conclude that, in these examples, Borel summability is not enough for extracting non-perturbative inform…
High orders in perturbation theory can be calculated by the Lipatov method. For most field theories, the Lipatov asymptotics has the functional form c a^N Γ(N+b) (N is the order of perturbation theory); relative corrections to this asymptotics have the form of a power series in 1/N. The coefficients of high order terms of this series can be calculated using a procedure analogous to the Lipatov approach and are determined by the second instanton in the considered field theory. These coefficients are calculated quantitatively for the n-component ϕ^4 theory under the assumption that the second in…
One-instanton predictions are obtained from certain non-hyperelliptic Seiberg-Witten curves derived from M-theory for N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories. We consider SU(N_1) x SU(N_2) gauge theory with a hypermultiplet in the bifundamental representation together with hypermultiplets in the defining representations of SU(N_1) and SU(N_2). We also consider SU(N) gauge theory with a hypermultiplet in the symmetric or antisymmetric representation, together with hypermultiplets in the defining representation. The systematic perturbation expansion about a hyperelliptic curve together with the judici…
Nonperturbative effects in string theory are usually associated to D-branes. In many cases it can be explicitly shown that D-brane instantons control the large-order behavior of string perturbation theory, leading to the well-known (2g)! growth of the genus expansion. This paper presents a detailed treatment of nonperturbative solutions in string theory, and their relation to the large-order behavior of perturbation theory, making use of transseries and resurgent analysis. These are powerful techniques addressing general nonperturbative contributions within non-linear systems, which are develo…
We use insights from string field theory to analyze and cure the divergences in the cylinder diagram in minimal string theory with both boundaries lying on a ZZ brane. We focus on theories with worldsheet matter consisting of the $(2,p)$ minimal model plus Liouville theory, with total central charge 26, together with the usual $bc$-ghosts. The string field theory procedure gives a finite, purely imaginary normalization constant for non-perturbative effects in minimal string theory, or doubly non-perturbative effects in JT gravity. We find precise agreement with the prediction from the dual dou…
We present a matrix-model expression for the sum of instanton contributions to the prepotential of an N=2 supersymmetric U(N) gauge theory, with matter in various representations. This expression is derived by combining the renormalization-group approach to the gauge theory prepotential with matrix-model methods. This result can be evaluated order-by-order in matrix-model perturbation theory to obtain the instanton corrections to the prepotential. We also show, using this expression, that the one-instanton prepotential assumes a universal form.
Two classes of stringy instanton effects, stronger than standard field theory instantons, are identified in the heterotic string theory. These contributions are established using type IIA/heterotic and type I/heterotic dualities. They provide examples for the heterotic case of the effects predicted by Shenker based on the large-order behavior of perturbation theory. The corrections vanish as the radius of the compactification goes to infinity. For appropriate amplitudes, they are computable worldsheet or worldline instanton effects on the dual side. Some potential applications are discussed.
We investigate the different energy regimes in the conjectured SL(2,Z) invariant four graviton scattering amplitude that incorporates D-instanton contributions in 10d type IIB superstring theory. We show that the infinite product over SL(2,Z) rotations is convergent in the whole complex plane s,t. For high energies s>> 1, fixed scattering angle, and very weak coupling g<< 1/s, the four-graviton amplitude exhibits the usual exponential suppression. As the energy approaches 1/g, the suppression gradually diminishes until there appears a strong amplification near a new pole coming from the exchan…
We study the dynamics of four dimensional gauge theories with adjoint fermions for all gauge groups, both in perturbation theory and non-perturbatively, by using circle compactification with periodic boundary conditions for the fermions. There are new gauge phenomena. We show that, to all orders in perturbation theory, many gauge groups are Higgsed by the gauge holonomy around the circle to a product of both abelian and nonabelian gauge group factors. Non-perturbatively there are monopole-instantons with fermion zero modes and two types of monopole-anti-monopole molecules, called bions. One ty…
Using holography, we discuss the effects of an external static electric field on the D3/D-instanton theory at zero-temperature, which is a quasi-confining theory, with confined quarks and deconfined gluons. We introduce the quarks to the theory by embedding a probe D7-brane in the gravity side, and turn on an appropriate $U(1)$ gauge field on the flavor brane to describe the electric field. Studying the embedding of the D7-brane for different values of the electric field, instanton density and quark masses, we thoroughly explore the possible phases of the system. We find two critical points in…
Finding a plausible origin for right-handed neutrino Majorana masses in semirealistic compactifications of string theory remains one of the most difficult problems in string phenomenology. We argue that right-handed neutrino Majorana masses are induced by non-perturbative instanton effects in certain classes of string compactifications in which the $U(1)_{B-L}$ gauge boson has a Stückelberg mass. The induced operators are of the form $e^{-U}ν_Rν_R$ where $U$ is a closed string modulus whose imaginary part transforms appropriately under $B-L$. This mass term may be quite large since this is not…
According to Lipatov, the high orders of perturbation theory are determined by saddle-point configurations (instantons) of the corresponding functional integrals. According to t'Hooft, some individual large diagrams, renormalons, are also significant and they are not contained in the Lipatov contribution. The history of the conception of renormalons is presented, and the arguments in favor of and against their significance are discussed. The analytic properties of the Borel transforms of functional integrals, Green functions, vertex parts, and scaling functions are investigated in the case of …
