We study mass deformations of $\mathcal{N}=4$, $d=4$ SYM theory that are spatially modulated in one spatial dimension and preserve some residual supersymmetry. We focus on generalisations of $\mathcal{N}=1^*$ theories and show that it is also possible, for suitably chosen supersymmetric masses, to preserve $d=3$ conformal symmetry associated with a co-dimension one interface. Holographic solutions can be constructed using $D=5$ theories of gravity that arise from consistent truncations of $SO(6)$ gauged supergravity and hence type IIB supergravity. For the mass deformations that preserve $d=3$ superconformal symmetry we construct a rich set of Janus solutions of $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM theory which have the same coupling constant on either side of the interface. Limiting classes of these solutions give rise to RG interface solutions with $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM on one side of the interface and the Leigh-Strassler (LS) SCFT on the other, and also to a Janus solution for the LS theory. Another limiting solution is a new supersymmetric $AdS_4\times S^1\times S^5$ solution of type IIB supergravity.
We construct supersymmetric solutions of $D=11$ supergravity, preserving 1/4 of the supersymmetry, that are holographically dual to ABJM theory which has been deformed by spatially varying mass terms depending on one of the two spatial directions. We show that the BPS equations reduce to the Helmholtz equation on the complex plane leading to rich classes of new solutions. In particular, the construction gives rise to infinite classes of supersymmetric boomerang RG flows, as well as generalising a known Janus solution.
Within a holographic framework we construct supersymmetric Q-lattice (`Susy Q') solutions that describe RG flows driven by supersymmetric and spatially modulated deformations of the dual CFTs. We focus on a specific $D=4$ supergravity model which arises as a consistent KK truncation of $D=11$ supergravity on the seven sphere that preserves $SO(4)\times SO(4)$ symmetry. The Susy Q solutions are dual to boomerang RG flows, flowing from ABJM theory in the UV, deformed by spatially modulated mass terms depending on one of the spatial directions, back to the ABJM vacuum in the far IR. For large eno…
We study spontaneous supersymmetry breaking in spatially modulated stable or meta-stable vacua in supersymmetric field theories. Such spatial modulation can be realized in a higher derivative chiral model for which vacuum energies are either positive, negative or zero, depending on the model parameters. There appears a Nambu-Goldstone boson associated with the spontaneously breaking of the translational and $U(1)$ symmetries without the quadratic kinetic term and with a quartic derivative term in the modulated direction, and a gapless Higgs mode. We show that there appears a Goldstino associat…
In this thesis exactly marginal deformations of field theories living on D3-branes at low energies are studied. These theories include N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory and theories obtained from it via the orbifolding procedure.
We investigate spatially modulated instabilities of magnetically charged $AdS_{2}\times\mathbb{R}^2$, $AdS_{3}\times\mathbb{R}^2$ and $AdS_{2}\times\mathbb{R}^3$ backgrounds in a broad class of theories, including those arising from KK reductions of ten and eleven dimensional supergravity. We show that magnetically charged black brane solutions in D=4,5 spacetime dimensions, whose zero temperature near horizon limit approach these backgrounds, can have instabilities that are dual to phases with current density waves that spontaneously break translation symmetry. Our examples include spatially …
A few new N=2 superintegrable mappings in the (1|2) superspace are proposed and their origin is analyzed. Using one of them, acting like the discrete symmetry transformation of the N=2 supersymmetric modified NLS hierarchy, the recursion operator and hamiltonian structures of the hierarchy are constructed.
Gauge invariant generation of mass for supersymmetric U(1) vector field through use of a chiral Stueckelberg superfield is considered. When a Fayet-Iliopoulos D term is also present, no breaking of supersymmetry ever occurs so long as the Stueckelberg mass is not zero. A moduli space in which gauge symmetry is spontaneously broken arises in this case.
We study supersymmetric Wilson loop operators in four-dimensional N=4 super Yang-Mills theory. We show that the contour of a supersymmetric Wilson loop is either an orbit of some conformal transformation of the space-time (case I), or an arbitrary contour in the subspace where local superalgebra generator is a pure spinor (case II). In the more interesting case II we find and classify all pairs (Q,W) of the supercharges and the corresponding operators modulo the action of the global symmetry group.
We consider specific examples of $\mathcal{N}$ = 2 supersymmetric quantum mechanical models and list out all the novel symmetries. In each case, we show the existence of two sets of discrete symmetries that correspond to the Hodge duality operator of differential geometry. Thus, we are able to provide a proof of the conjecture which endorses the existence of more than one discrete symmetry transformation as the analogue of Hodge duality operation. Finally, we extend our analysis to a more general case and derive on-shell nilpotent symmetries within the framework of supervariable approach.
We compute supersymmetric indices to test mirror symmetry of three-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=4$ gauge theories and dualities of half-BPS enriched boundary conditions and interfaces in four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=4$ Super Yang-Mills theory. We find the matching of indices as strong evidences for various dualities of the 3d interfaces conjectured by Gaiotto and Witten under the action of S-duality in Type IIB string theory.
We construct new families of deformed supersymmetric field theories which break space-time symmetries but preserve half of the original supersymmetry. We do this by writing deformations as couplings to background multiplets. In many cases it is important to use the off-shell representation as auxiliary fields of the non-dynamical fields must be turned on to preserve supersymmetry. We also consider backgrounds which preserve some superconformal symmetry, finding scale-invariant field profiles, as well as $\mathcal{N} =2$ theories on $S^3$. We discuss how this is related to previous work on inte…
We study the vacuum structure of a class of Lorentz invariant field theories where the vacuum expectation values are not constant but are (phase) modulated. The vacua are classified into spatial, temporal, and light-like modulation types according to the patterns of spontaneous breaking of translational symmetry. The conditions for having temporal or light-like modulated vacua imply severe constraints on the models. We utilize the notion of generalized Nambu-Goldstone modes which appear in the modulated vacua. Finally, we examine fluctuation modes around these vacua and discuss their dynamics …
We study supersymmetry breaking deformations of the $\mathcal{N}=1$ 5d fixed point known as $E_1$, the UV completion of $SU(2)$ super-Yang-Mills. The phases of the non-supersymmetric theory can be characterized by Chern-Simons terms involving background $U(1)$ gauge fields, allowing us to identify a phase transition at strong coupling. We propose that this may signify the emergence of a non-trivial, non-supersymmetric CFT in $d=4+1$ dimensions.
Reheating after R^2 inflation proceeds through gravitational particle production of conformally noninvariant fields. We argue that the nonvanishing expectation value of flat directions generic in supersymmetric theories break conformal invariance of the fields coupled to them in a position-dependent manner due to quantum fluctuations. As a result modulated reheating can occur after the supergravity R^2-inflation. The resultant curvature fluctuation is a mixture of the one produced during inflation and that produced by modulated reheating. The spectral index takes a value between n_s=0.960 and …
Modulated symmetries from generalized Lieb-Schultz-Mattis anomalies
Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University(京都大学汤川理论物理研究所);Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences Program (iTHEMS) RIKEN(理化学研究所跨学科理论与数学科学项目);Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Cologne(科隆大学理论物理研究所);Center for Quantum Mathematics at IMADA, Southern Denmark University(南丹麦大学IMADA量子数学中心);Niels Bohr International Academy, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen(哥本哈根大学尼尔斯·玻尔研究所尼尔斯·玻尔国际学院)
We describe the investigation of spontaneous mass-generation and chiral symmetry breaking in supersymmetric QED3 using numerical solutions of the Dyson-Schwinger equation together with the CJT effective action and supersymmetric Ward identities. We find that, within the quenched bare approximation, the chirally symmetric solution is favoured.
Spatial modulation has been studied for a long time in condensed matter, nuclear matter and quark matter, so far in non-relativistic field theories. In this paper, spatially modulated vacua at zero temperature and zero density are studied in relativistic field theories. We first propose an adaptation of the Nambu-Goldstone theorem to higher derivative theories under the assumption of the absence of ghosts: when a global symmetry is spontaneously broken due to vacuum expectation values of space-time derivatives of fields, a Nambu-Goldstone (NG) boson appears without a canonical kinetic (quadrat…
It has recently been demonstrated that protected supersymmetry emerges on the boundaries of one-dimensional intrinsically fermionic symmetry protected trivial (SPT) phases. Here we investigate the boundary supersymmetry of one-dimensional fermionic phases beyond SPT phases. Using the connection between Majorana edge modes and real supercharges, we compute, in terms of the bulk phase invariants, the number of protected boundary supercharges.
Based on the systematic Hamiltonian and superfield approaches we construct the deformed $\mathcal{N}=4,8$ supersymmetric mechanics on Kähler manifolds interacting with constant magnetic field, and study their symmetries. At first we construct the deformed $\mathcal{N}=4,8$ supersymmetric Landau problem via minimal coupling of standard (undeformed) $\mathcal{N}=4,8$ supersymmetric free particle systems on Kähler manifold with constant magnetic field. We show that the initial "flat" supersymmetries are necessarily deformed to $SU(2|1)$ and $SU(4|1)$ supersymmetries, with the magnetic field playi…
We discuss several PT-symmetric deformations of superderivatives. Based on these various possibilities, we propose new families of complex PT-symmetric deformations of the supersymmetric Korteweg-de Vries equation. Some of these new models are mere fermionic extensions of the former in the sense that they are formulated in terms of superspace valued superfields containing bosonic and fermionic fields, breaking however the supersymmetry invariance. Nonetheless, we also find extensions, which may be viewed as new supersymmetric Korteweg-de Vries equation. Moreover, we show that these deformation…
The gradient flow equation is derived in four-dimensional N=1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in terms of the component field of the Wess-Zumino gauge. We show that the flow-time derivative and supersymmetry transformation that is naively extended to 4+1 dimensions by replacing the four-dimensional fields with the corresponding flowed fields commute with each other up to a gauge transformation. In this sense, the obtained flow is supersymmetric in the Wess-Zumino gauge. We also discuss more about the symmetry of the flow equation.
We describe an infinite-dimensional algebra of hidden symmetries of N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills (SYM) theory. Our derivation is based on a generalization of the supertwistor correspondence. Using the latter, we construct an infinite sequence of flows on the solution space of the N=4 SYM equations. The dependence of the SYM fields on the parameters along the flows can be recovered by solving the equations of the hierarchy. We embed the N=4 SYM equations in the infinite system of the hierarchy equations and show that this SYM hierarchy is associated with an infinite set of graded symmetries re…