We discover a modular property of supersymmetric partition functions of supersymmetric theories with R-symmetry in four dimensions. This modular property is, in a sense, the generalization of the modular invariance of the supersymmetric partition function of two-dimensional supersymmetric theories on a torus i.e. of the elliptic genus. The partition functions in question are on manifolds homeomorphic to the ones obtained by gluing solid tori. Such gluing involves the choice of a large diffeomorphism of the boundary torus, along with the choice of a large gauge transformation for the background flavor symmetry connections, if present. Our modular property is a manifestation of the consistency of the gluing procedure. The modular property is used to rederive a supersymmetric Cardy formula for four-dimensional gauge theories that has played a key role in computing the entropy of supersymmetric black holes. To be concrete, we work with four-dimensional N=1 supersymmetric theories but we expect versions of our result to apply more widely to supersymmetric theories in other dimensions.
Flux compactification of IIB string theory associates special points in Calabi-Yau moduli space to choices of (pairs of) integral three-form fluxes. In this paper, we propose that supersymmetric flux vacua are modular. That is, to a supersymmetric flux vacuum arising in a variety defined over $\mathbb{Q}$, we associate a two-dimensional Galois representation that we conjecture to be modular. We provide numerical evidence for our conjecture by examining flux vacua arising on the octic hypersurface in $\mathbb{P}^{4}(1,1,2,2,2)$.
We derive a holomorphic anomaly equation for the Vafa-Witten partition function for twisted four-dimensional $\mathcal{N} =4$ super Yang-Mills theory on $\mathbb{CP}^{2}$ for the gauge group $SO(3)$ from the path integral of the effective theory on the Coulomb branch. The holomorphic kernel of this equation, which receives contributions only from the instantons, is not modular but `mock modular'. The partition function has correct modular properties expected from $S$-duality only after including the anomalous nonholomorphic boundary contributions from anti-instantons. Using M-theory duality, w…
The theory of Topological Modular Forms suggests the existence of deformation invariants for two-dimensional supersymmetric field theories that are more refined than the standard elliptic genus. In this note we give a physical definition of some of these invariants. The theory of mock modular forms makes a surprise appearance, shedding light on the integrality properties of some well-known examples.
The 6d (2,0) theory of $N$ M5 branes compactified on the product geometry $T^2\times S$, where $S$ is a Kähler 4-manifold, can be studied in two different limits. In one limit, the size of $T^2$ is taken to zero and together with a topological twist one arrives at the Vafa-Witten partition function on $S$. On the other hand, taking the size of $S$ to zero leads to a 2d $\mathcal{N}=(0,4)$ theory. This gives rise to a 2d-4d correspondence where the Vafa-Witten partition functions are identified with the characters of the 2d theory. In this paper, we test this conjecture for Hirzebruch and Del P…
We study three-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric gauge theories on $\mathcal{M}_{g,p}$, an oriented circle bundle of degree $p$ over a closed Riemann surface, $Σ_g$. We compute the $\mathcal{M}_{g,p}$ supersymmetric partition function and correlation functions of supersymmetric loop operators. This uncovers interesting relations between observables on manifolds of different topologies. In particular, the familiar supersymmetric partition function on the round $S^3$ can be understood as the expectation value of a so-called "fibering operator" on $S^2 \times S^1$ with a topological twis…
We study the dependence of supersymmetric partition functions on continuous parameters for the flavor symmetry group, $G_F$, for 2d $\mathcal{N} = (0,2)$ and 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmetric quantum field theories. In any diffeomorphism-invariant scheme and in the presence of $G_F$ 't Hooft anomalies, the supersymmetric Ward identities imply that the partition function has a non-holomorphic dependence on the flavor parameters. We show this explicitly for the 2d torus partition function, $Z_{T^2}$, and for a large class of 4d partition functions on half-BPS four-manifolds, $Z_{\mathcal{M}_4}$-…
We study four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric $U(N)$ gauge theory with $2N$ fundamental hypermultiplets in the self-dual $Ω$-background. The partition function simplifies at special points of the parameter space and is related to the partition function of two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory on $S^{2}$. We also consider the insertion of a Wilson loop operator in two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory and find the corresponding operator in the four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ gauge theory.
We discuss the supersymmetric formulation of the nonhermitian $β= 2$ random matrix partition function with one bosonic flavor. This partition function is regularized by adding one conjugate boson and fermion each. A supersymmetric nonlinear $σ$-model for the resulting Goldstone degrees of freedom is obtained using symmetry arguments only. For a Gaussian probability distribution the same results are derived using superbosonization and the complex orthogonal polynomial method. The symmetry arguments apply to any model with the same symmetries and a mass gap, and demonstrate the universality of t…
We derive the relation between the Hilbert space of certain geometries under the Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization and the perturbative prepotentials for the supersymmetric five-dimensional SU(N) gauge theories with massive fundamental matters and with one massive adjoint matter. The gauge theory with one adjoint matter shows interesting features. A five-dimensional generalization of Nekrasov's partition function can be written as a correlation function of two-dimensional chiral bosons and as a partition function of a statistical model of partitions. From a ground state of the statistical model we …
In recent work, we demonstrated that the confined-phase spectrum of non-supersymmetric pure Yang-Mills theory coincides with the spectrum of the chiral sector of a two-dimensional conformal field theory in the large-$N$ limit. This was done within the tractable setting in which the gauge theory is compactified on a three-sphere whose radius is small compared to the strong length scale. In this paper, we generalize these observations by demonstrating that similar results continue to hold even when massless adjoint matter fields are introduced. These results hold for both thermal and $(-1)^F$-tw…
We use supersymmetric localization to compute the partition function of N=2 super-Yang-Mills on S^4 in the presence of a gauged linear sigma model surface defect on a S^2 subspace. The result takes the form of a standard partition function on S^4, with a modified instanton partition function and an additional insertion corresponding to a shifted version of the gauged linear sigma model partition function.
In this note, we propose the free energy of general \emph{non-supersymmetric} black hole attractors arising in type IIA(B) superstrings on 3-fold Calabi-Yau, in the supergravity limit. This, by definition, differs from its counterpart BPS free energy by a factor of $4 $. Correspondingly, a mixed ensemble for these black holes is proposed.
We give a pedagogical introduction to the study of supersymmetric partition functions of 3D $\mathcal{N}{=}2$ supersymmetric Chern-Simons-matter theories (with an $R$-symmetry) on half-BPS closed three-manifolds---including $S^3$, $S^2 \times S^1$, and any Seifert three-manifold. Three-dimensional gauge theories can flow to non-trivial fixed points in the infrared. In the presence of 3D $\mathcal{N}{=}2$ supersymmetry, many exact results are known about the strongly-coupled infrared, due in good part to powerful localization techniques. We review some of these techniques and emphasize some mor…
We study the different quantum phases that occur in massive ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric QCD with gauge groups $SU(2)$ and $SU(3)$ as the coupling $Λ/M$ is gradually increased from 0 to infinity. The phases can be identified by computing the exact partition function by saddle-points, combining supersymmetric localization and the Seiberg-Witten formalism. In all cases, we find two phases, a weak coupling and a strong coupling phase, separated by a critical point described by a superconformal field theory or involving superconformal sectors. In crossing the critical point, the dominant saddle-poi…
We study the new case of the application of the JKLMR conjecture on the connection between the exact partition functions of $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ supersymmetric gauged linear sigma models (GLSM) on $S^2$ and special Kähler geometry on the moduli spaces of Calabi-Yau manifold $Y$. The last ones arise as manifolds of the supersymmetric vacua of the GLSM. We establish this correspondence using the Mirror symmetry in Batyrev's approach. Namely, starting from the two-moduli non-Fermat Calabi-Yau manifold $X$ we construct the dual GLSM with the supersymmetric vacua $Y$, which is the mirror for $X$. Kn…
Scaling black holes are solutions of supergravity with multiple black hole singularities, which can be adiabatically connected to a single center black hole solution. We develop techniques to determine partition functions for such scaling black holes, if each constituent carries a non-vanishing magnetic charge corresponding to a D4-brane in string theory, or equivalently M5-brane in M-theory. For three constituents, we demonstrate that the partition function is a mock modular form of depth two, and we determine the appropriate non-holomorphic completion using generalized error functions. From …
We compute the superconformal index of the $\mathcal{N}=4$ $SU(N)$ Yang-Mills theory through a residue calculation. The method is similar in spirit to the Bethe Ansatz formalism, except that all poles are explicitly known, and we do not require specialization of any of the chemical potentials. Our expression for the index allows us to revisit the Cardy limit using modular properties of four-dimensional supersymmetric partition functions. We find that all residues contribute at leading order in the Cardy limit. In a specific region of flavour chemical potential space, close to the two unrefined…
Di Pietro and Komargodski have recently demonstrated a four-dimensional counterpart of Cardy's formula, which gives the leading high-temperature ($β\rightarrow{0}$) behavior of supersymmetric partition functions $Z^{SUSY}(β)$. Focusing on superconformal theories, we elaborate on the subleading contributions to their formula when applied to free chiral and U(1) vector multiplets. In particular, we see that the high-temperature expansion of $\ln Z^{SUSY}(β)$ terminates at order $β^0$. We also demonstrate how their formula must be modified when applied to SU($N$) toric quiver gauge theories in th…
We calculate partition functions for supersymmetric heterotic theories on Melvin background with Wilson line. These functions coincide with partition functions for some of non-supersymmetric heterotic theories in appropriate limits. This suggests that non-supersymmetric heterotic theories are equivalent to supersymmetric theories on supersymmetry-breaking backgrounds, just as in the case of recently conjectured IIA-0A duality.
Previous studies have shown that supersymmetric partition function on $T^2 \times S^2$ is related to elliptic genus of two dimensional supersymmetric theory. In this short note we find a four dimensional supersymmetric theory, whose partition function on $T^2 \times S^2$ is the same as elliptic genera of $\mathcal{N}=2$ minimal models in two dimensions.
Based on the construction by Hosomichi, Seong and Terashima we consider N=1 supersymmetric 5D Yang-Mills theory with matter on a five-sphere with radius r. This theory can be thought of as a deformation of the theory in flat space with deformation parameter r and this deformation preserves 8 supercharges. We calculate the full perturbative partition function as a function of r/g^2, where g is the Yang-Mills coupling, and the answer is given in terms of a matrix model. We perform the calculation using localization techniques. We also argue that in the large N-limit of this deformed 5D Yang-Mill…
We compute the partition function of the supersymmetric two-dimensional Euclidean black hole geometry described by the SL(2,R)/U(1) superconformal field theory. We decompose the result in terms of characters of the N=2 superconformal symmetry. We point out puzzling sectors of states besides finding expected discrete and continuous contributions to the partition function. By adding an N=2 minimal model factor of the correct central charge and projecting on integral N=2 charges we compute the partition function of the background dual to little string theory in a double scaling limit. We show the…
The topological string partition function Z=exp(lambda^{2g-2} F_g) is calculated on a compact Calabi-Yau M. The F_g fulfill the holomorphic anomaly equations, which imply that Z transforms as a wave function on the symplectic space H^3(M,Z). This defines it everywhere in the moduli space of M along with preferred local coordinates. Modular properties of the sections F_g as well as local constraints from the 4d effective action allow us to fix Z to a large extend. Currently with a newly found gap condition at the conifold, regularity at the orbifold and the most naive bounds from Castelnuovos t…
We examine the one-loop partition function describing the fluctuations of the superstring in a Schwarzschild-AdS$_5\times S^5$ background. On the bosonic side, we demonstrate the one-loop equivalence of the Nambu-Goto action and the Polyakov action for a general worldsheet, while on the fermionic side, we consider the reduction of the ten-dimensional Green-Schwarz fermion action to a two-dimensional worldsheet action. We derive the partition functions of the worldsheets corresponding to both straight and parallel Wilson lines. We show that the UV divergences of the functional determinants in t…
We use the techniques of supersymmetric localization to compute the BPS black hole entropy in N=2 supergravity. We focus on the n_v+1 vector multiplets on the black hole near horizon background which is AdS_2 x S^2 space. We find the localizing saddle point of the vector multiplets by solving the localization equations, and compute the exact one loop partition function on the saddle point. Furthermore, we propose the appropriate functional integration measure. Through this measure, the one loop determinant is written in terms of the radius of the physical metric, which depends on the localizin…
We determine the generating functions of 1/4 BPS dyons in a class of 4d $\mathcal{N}=4$ string vacua arising as CHL orbifolds of $K3 \times T^2$, a classification of which has been recently completed. We show that all such generating functions obey some simple physical consistency conditions that are very often sufficient to fix them uniquely. The main constraint we impose is the absence of unphysical walls of marginal stability: discontinuities of 1/4 BPS degeneracies can only occur when 1/4 BPS dyons decay into pairs of 1/2 BPS states. Formally, these generating functions in spacetime can be…
We show that a recently conjectured form for perturbative supersymmetric partition functions on spheres of general dimension $d$ is consistent with the flat space limit of 6-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ super Yang-Mills. We also show that the partition functions for $\mathcal{N}=1$ 8- and 9-dimensional theories are consistent with their known flat space limits.
We study the supersymmetric partition function of 4d supersymmetric gauge theories with a U(1) R-symmetry on Euclidean $S^3\times S_β^1$, with $S^3$ the unit-radius squashed three-sphere, and $β$ the circumference of the circle. For superconformal theories, this partition function coincides (up to a Casimir energy factor) with the 4d superconformal index. The partition function can be computed exactly using supersymmetric localization of the gauge theory path-integral. It takes the form of an elliptic hypergeometric integral, which may be viewed as a matrix-integral over the moduli space of th…
The most recent studies on the supersymmetric localization reveal many non-trivial features of supersymmetric field theories in diverse dimensions, and 3d gauge theory provides a typical example. It was conjectured that the index and the partition function of a 3d N=2 theory are constructed from a single component: the holomorphic block. We prove this conjecture for non-abelian gauge theories by computing exactly the 3d partition functions and holomorphic blocks.
We define a squashed four-sphere by a dimensional reduction of a twisted S^4 x S^1, and construct explicitly a supersymmetric Yang-Mills action on it. The action includes a non-trivial dilaton factor and a theta term with a non-constant theta. The partition function of this theory is calculated using the localization technique. The resulting partition function can be written in the form consistent with the AGT relation due to the non-constant theta term. The parameter b which characterizes the partition function in this form is not restricted to be real for the squashed four-sphere.
We study the Janus interface, a domain wall characterized by spatially varying couplings, in two-dimensional N=(2,2) supersymmetric gauge theories on the two-sphere. When the variations of the couplings are small enough, SUSY localization in the Janus background gives an analytic continuation of the sphere partition function. This directly demonstrates that the interface entropy is proportional to the quantity known as Calabi's diastasis, as originally shown by Bachas et al. When the variations are not small, we propose that an analytic continuation of the sphere partition function coincides w…
By means of an identity that equates elliptic genus partition function of a supersymmetric sigma model on the $N$-fold symmetric product $S^N X$ of $X$ ($S^N X=X^N/S_N$, $S_N$ is the symmetric group of $N$ elements) to the partition function of a second quantized string theory, we derive the asymptotic expansion of the partition function as well as the asymptotic for the degeneracy of spectrum in string theory. The asymptotic expansion for the state counting reproduces the logarithmic correction to the black hole entropy.
We propose a novel string theory propagating in a non-commutative deformation of the four dimensional space T* T^2 whose scattering states correspond to superconformal theories in 5 dimensions and the scattering amplitudes compute superconformal indices of the corresponding 5d theories. The superconformal theories are obtained by M-theory compactifications on singular CY 3-folds or equivalently from a web of 5-branes of type IIB strings. The cubic interaction of this string theory for primitive winding modes corresponds to the (refined) topological vertex. The oscillator modes of the string th…
Worldsheet (0,2) gauged linear sigma models are often used to study supersymmetric heterotic string compactifications with non-trivial vector bundles. We make use of supersymmetric localization techniques to determine their one-loop partition functions. In particular we derive conditions which ensure that the full partition function is modular invariant and we propose a method to determine the massless and massive target space matter spectrum.
We compute the supersymmetric partition function of an $\mathcal{N}=1$ chiral multiplet coupled to an external Abelian gauge field on complex manifolds with $T^2 \times S^2$ topology. The result is locally holomorphic in the complex structure moduli of $T^2\times S^2$. This computation illustrates in a simple example some recently obtained constraints on the parameter dependence of supersymmetric partition functions. We also devise a simple method to compute the chiral multiplet partition function on any four-manifold $\mathcal{M}_4$ preserving two supercharges of opposite chiralities, via sup…
We propose an exact, finite $N$ formula for the partition function over $1/4^{th}$ BPS states in the conformal field theory on the world volume of $N$ coincident M5 branes and $1/8^{th}$ BPS states in the theory of $N$ coincident M2 branes. We obtain our partition function by performing the radial quantization of the Coulomb Branches of these theories, and rederive the same formula from the quantization of supersymmetric giant and dual giant gravitons in $AdS_7 \times S^4$ and $AdS_4 \times S^7$. Our partition function is qualitatively similar to the analogous quantity in ${\cal N}=4$ Yang Mil…
The universal enveloping algebra of ${\cal W}_{1+\infty}$ is isomorphic to the affine Yangian of $\mathfrak{gl}_1$. We study the ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric version of this correspondence, and identify the full set of defining relations of the supersymmetric affine Yangian. These relations can be deduced by demanding that the algebra has a representation on twin-plane-partitions, which we construct by gluing pairs of plane partitions. We define the action of the algebra on these twin-plane-partitions explicitly.
We continue to study the matrix model of the $N_f =2$ $SU(2)$ case that represents the irregular conformal block. What provides us with the Painlevé system is not the instanton partition function per se but rather a finite analog of its Fourier transform that can serve as a generating function. The system reduces to the extension of the Gross-Witten-Wadia unitary one-matrix model by the logarithmic potential while keeping the planar critical behavior intact. The double scaling limit to this critical point is a constructive way to study Argyres-Douglas type theory from IR. We elaborate upon the…
We study various properties of a nonperturbative partition function which can be associated to any spectral curve. When the spectral curve arises from a matrix model, this nonperturbative partition function is given by a sum of matrix integrals over all possible filling fractions, and includes all the multi-instanton corrections to the perturbative 1/N expansion. We show that the nonperturbative partition function, which is manifestly holomorphic, is also modular and background independent: it transforms as the partition function of a twisted fermion on the spectral curve. Therefore, modularit…
We present a systematic classification of counterterms of four-dimensional supersymmetric field theories on curved space, obtained as the rigid limit of new minimal supergravity. These are supergravity invariants constructed using the field theory background fields. We demonstrate that if the background preserves two supercharges of opposite chirality, then all dimensionless counterterms vanish, implying that in this case the supersymmetric partition function is free of ambiguities. When only one Euclidean supercharge is preserved, we describe the ambiguities that appear in the partition funct…
We count the supersymmetric vacua of mass-deformed N=6 U(N)xU(N) Chern-Simons-matter theory by calculating the Witten index. When the Chern-Simons level k is 1, our result perfectly agrees with that from the gravity dual, given by partitions of N. For general k, our index generalizes partitions of N, including additional degrees. We also comment on non-relativistic superconformal theories constructed from this model.
A parent action is introduced to formulate (S-) dual of non-anticommutative N=1\2 supersymmetric U(1) gauge theory. Partition function for parent action in phase space is utilized to establish the equivalence of partition functions of the theories which this parent action produces. Thus, duality invariance of non-anticommutative N=1\2 supersymmetric U(1) gauge theory follows. The results which we obtained are valid at tree level or equivalently at the first order in the nonanticommutativity parameter C_{μν}.
We consider supersymmetric field theories on compact manifolds M and obtain constraints on the parameter dependence of their partition functions Z_M. Our primary focus is the dependence of Z_M on the geometry of M, as well as background gauge fields that couple to continuous flavor symmetries. For N=1 theories with a U(1)_R symmetry in four dimensions, M must be a complex manifold with a Hermitian metric. We find that Z_M is independent of the metric and depends holomorphically on the complex structure moduli. Background gauge fields define holomorphic vector bundles over M and Z_M is a holomo…
We consider 3d N>= 2 superconformal field theories on a branched covering of a three-sphere. The Renyi entropy of a CFT is given by the partition function on this space, but conical singularities break the supersymmetry preserved in the bulk. We turn on a compensating R-symmetry gauge field and compute the partition function using localization. We define a supersymmetric observable, called the super Renyi entropy, parametrized by a real number q. We show that the super Renyi entropy is duality invariant and reduces to entanglement entropy in the q -> 1 limit. We provide some examples.
We study N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory on a Kaehler manifold with $b_2^+ \geq 3$. Adding suitable perturbations we show that the partition function of the N=4 theory is the sum of contributions from two branches: (i) instantons, (ii) a special class of Seiberg-Witten monopoles. We determine the partition function for the theories with gauge group SU(2) and SO(3), using S-duality. This leads us to a formula for the Euler characteristic of the moduli space of instantons.
Five-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories are investigated from the viewpoint of random plane partitions. It is shown that random plane partitions are factorizable as q-deformed random partitions so that they admit the interpretations as five-dimensional Yang-Mills and as topological string amplitudes. In particular, they lead to the exact partition functions of five-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills with the Chern-Simons terms. We further show that some specific partitions, which we call the ground partitions, describe the perturbative regime of t…
Recently there was a substantial progress in understanding of supersymmetric theories (in particular, their BPS spectrum) in space-times of different dimensions due to the exact computation of superconformal indices and partition functions using localization method. Here we discuss a connection of 4d superconformal indices and 3d partition functions using a particular example of supersymmetric theories with matter in antisymmetric representation.
This paper, in a sense, completes a series of three papers. In the previous two hep-th/0404013, hep-th/0410293, we have explored the possibility of refining the K-theory partition function in type II string theories using elliptic cohomology. In the present paper, we make that more concrete by defining a fully quantized free field theory based on elliptic cohomology of 10-dimensional spacetime. Moreover, we describe a concrete scenario how this is related to compactification of F-theory on an elliptic curve leading to IIA and IIB theories. We propose an interpretation of the elliptic curve in …
By taking the freezing limit of a spin Calogero-Sutherland model containing `anyon like' representation of the permutation algebra, we derive the exact partition function of SU(m|n) supersymmetric Haldane-Shastry (HS) spin chain. This partition function allows us to study global properties of the spectrum like level density distribution and nearest neighbour spacing distribution. It is found that, for supersymmetric HS spin chains with large number of lattice sites, continuous part of the energy level density obeys Gaussian distribution with a high degree of accuracy. The mean value and standa…
In this paper we briefly review the main idea of the localization technique and its extension suitable in supersymmetric gauge field theory. We analyze the partition function of the vector multiplets with supercharges and its blocks on the even- and odd-dimensional spheres and squashed spheres. We exploit so-called Faà di Bruno's formula and show that multipartite partition functions can be written in the form of expansion series of the Bell polynomials. Applying the restricted specialization argument we show that $q$-infinite-product representation of partition functions admits presentation i…
We show that the expression for the supersymmetric partition function of the chiral Unitary Ensemble conjectured recently by Splittorff and Verbaarschot [Phys. Rev. Lett. v. 90, 041601 (2003)] follows from the general expression derived recently by Fyodorov and Strahov [ J. Phys. A: Math.Gen.} {\bf 36}(2003) 3203] .
Institute for Advanced Study（高等研究院）；School of Physical Science and Technology, Soochow University（苏州大学物理科学与技术学院）；Mandelstam Institute for Theoretical Physics, School of Physics, NITheCS, and DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (CoE-MaSS), University of the Witwatersrand（威特沃特斯兰德大学曼德尔斯坦理论物理研究所、物理学院、NITheCS及DSI-NRF数学与统计科学卓越中心）
By using the fact that Polychronakos-like models can be obtained through the `freezing limit' of related spin Calogero models, we calculate the exact spectrum as well as partition function of SU(m|n) supersymmetric Polychronakos (SP) model. It turns out that, similar to the non-supersymmetric case, the spectrum of SU(m|n) SP model is also equally spaced. However, the degeneracy factors of corresponding energy levels crucially depend on the values of bosonic degrees of freedom (m) and fermionic degrees of freedom (n). As a result, the partition functions of SP models are expressed through some …
