Nuclear matter at large number of colors is necessarily in a solid phase. In particular holographic nuclear matter takes the form of a crystal of instantons of the flavor group. In this article we initiate the analysis of the three-dimensional crystal structures and the orientation patterns for the two-body potential that follows from holographic duality. The outcome of the analysis includes several unexpected results. We perform simulations of ensembles of O(10000) instantons whereby we identify the lattice structure and orientations for the different values of the weight factors of the non-Abelian orientation terms in the two-body potential. The resulting phase diagram is surprisingly complex, including a variety of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic crystals with various global orientation patterns, and various "non-Abelian" crystals where orientations have no preferred direction. The latter include variants of face-centered-cubic, hexagonal, and simple cubic crystals which may have remarkably large or small aspect ratios. The simulation results are augmented by analytic analysis of the long-distance divergences, and numerical computation of the (divergence free) energy differences between the non-Abelian crystals, which allows us to precisely determine the structure of the phase diagram.
We describe how an approximation to the minimal energy Skyrme crystal can be obtained from the holonomy of a Yang-Mills instanton. The appropriate instanton is twisted on a four-torus and has instanton number equal to one half. It generates a Skyrme field with the correct topological and symmetry properties of the crystal. An explicit solution for the instanton is not known, but an analytical fit to numerical data is available and using this we obtain a Skyrme crystal whose energy is only 2 percent above that of the (numerically) known solution.
In a wide class of holographic models, like the one proposed by Sakai and Sugimoto, baryons can be approximated by instantons of non-abelian gauge fields that live on the world-volume of flavor D-branes. In the leading order, those are just the Yang-Mills instantons, whose solutions can be obtained from the celebrated ADHM construction. This fact can be used to study various properties of baryons in the holographic limit. In particular, one can attempt to construct a holographic description of the cold dense nuclear matter phase of baryons. It can be argued that holographic baryons in such a r…
A class of generalized Taub-NUT gravitational instantons is reported in five - dimensional Einstein gravity coupled to a non-linear sigma model. The geodesic dynamics of a spinless particle of unit mass on these static gravitational instantons is studied. This is accomplished by finding a generalized Runge-Lenz vector. Unlike the Kepler problem, or, the dynamics of a spinless particle on the familiar Taub-NUT gravitational instantons, the orbits are not conic sections.
We describe how the procedure of calculating approximate solitons from instanton holonomies may be extended to the case of soliton crystals. It is shown how sine-Gordon kink chains may be obtained from CP1 instantons on a torus. These kink chains turn out to be remarkably accurate approximations to the true solutions. Some remarks on the relevance of this work to Skyrme crystals are also made.
We show that $(1+2)$ nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation with negative coupling admits an exact solution which appears to be the linear superposition of the plane wave and the nonsingular rational soliton. We show that the same approach allows to construct the solution of similar properties for the Euclidean $ϕ^4$ model with broken symmetry. Interestingly, this regular solution will be of instanton type only in the $D\le 5$ Euclidean space.
Generalized Bose operators correspond to reducible representations of the harmonic oscillator algebra. We demonstrate their relevance in the construction of topologically non-trivial solutions in noncommutative gauge theories, focusing our attention to flux tubes, vortices, and instantons. Our method provides a simple new relation between the topological charge and the number of times the basic irreducible representation occurs in the reducible representation underlying the generalized Bose operator. When used in conjunction with the noncommutative ADHM construction, we find that these new ins…
We describe the statistical mechanics of a melting crystal in three dimensions and its relation to a diverse range of models arising in combinatorics, algebraic geometry, integrable systems, low-dimensional gauge theories, topological string theory and quantum gravity. Its partition function can be computed by enumerating the contributions from noncommutative instantons to a six-dimensional cohomological gauge theory, which yields a dynamical realization of the crystal as a discretization of spacetime at the Planck scale. We describe analogous relations between a melting crystal model in two d…
Using the idea of a generalized Kaehler structure, which is a pair of commuting generalized complex structures, we construct bihermitian metrics on the projective plane and the product of two projective lines, and show that any such structure on a compact 4-manifold M defines one on the moduli space of anti-self-dual connections on a fixed principal bundle over M. We highlight the role of holomorphic Poisson structures in all these constructions.
Using spinorial geometry techniques, we classify the supersymmetric solutions of euclidean ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory. These backgrounds represent generalizations of instantons with nontrivial scalar fields turned on, and satisfy some constraints that bear a similarity with the Hitchin equations, and contain the Donaldson equations as a special subcase. It turns out that these constraints can be obtained by dimensional reduction of the octonionic instanton equations, and may be rephrased in terms of a selfduality-like condition for a complex connection. We also show that the supersym…
We compute the principal contribution to the index in the supersymmetric quantum mechanical systems which are obtained by reduction to 0+1 dimensions of $\mathcal{N}=1$, $D=4,6,10$ super-Yang-Mills theories with gauge group SU(N). The results are: ${1\over{N^{2}}}$ for $D=4,6$, $\sum_{d | N} {1\over{d^{2}}}$ for D=10. We also discuss the D=3 case.
We present a simple compact formula for a topologically nontrivial map $S^7 \to Spin(7)$ associated with the fiber bundle $Spin(7) \stackrel{G_2}{\to} S^7$. The homotopy group $π_7[Spin(7)] = \mathbb{Z}$ brings about the topologically nontrivial 8-dimensional gauge field configurations that belong to the algebra $spin(7)$. The instantons are special such configurations that minimize the functional $\int {\rm Tr} \{F\wedge F \wedge \star(F \wedge F)\} $ and satisfy non-linear self-duality conditions, $ F \wedge F \ =\ \pm \star (F\wedge F)$. $Spin(7) \subset SO(8)$, and $Spin(7)$ instantons rep…
M-theoretic construction of N=2 gauge theories implies that the instanton partition function is expressed as the scalar product of coherent states (Whittaker states) in the Verma module of an appropriate two dimensional conformal field theory. We present the characterizing conditions for such states that give the partition function with fundamental hypermultiplets for SU(3) theory and SU(2) theory with a surface operator. We find the states are no longer the coherent states in the strict sense but we can characterize them in terms of a few annihilation operators of lower levels combined with t…
We study a class of generalized self-duality relations in gauge theories on the complex projective space with the Fubini-Study metric. Our theories consist of only gauge fields with gauge group U(n). The pseudo-energies which we consider contain higher orders of field strength and are labeled by an integer p smaller than or equal to [n/2]. For making the Bogomol'nyi completion we need non-single trace terms in the pseudo-energies, unlike the models defined on spheres, which were studied previously. We construct an explicit solution of codimension 2n to generalized self-duality equations as Bog…
We investigate lattices of instantons and the dimension-changing transitions between them. Our ultimate goal is the 3D->4D transition, which is holographically dual to the phase transition between the baryonic and the quarkyonic phases of cold nuclear matter. However, in this paper (just as in [1]) we focus on lower dimensions -- the 1D lattice of instantons in a harmonic potential V M_2^2x_2^2+M_3^2x_2^2+M_4^2x_4^2 and the zigzag-shaped lattice as a first stage of the 1D->2D transition. We prove that in the low- and moderate-density regimes, interactions between the instantons are dominated b…
The BPS bound states of D4-D2-D0 branes on the non-compact divisors of Calabi-Yau threefolds and the instantons in the dual quiver gauge theories are previously studied using two-dimensional crystal melting model and dimer model. Using the tropical geometry associated with the toric quiver, we study the asymptotic of the quiver gauge theory to compute some of their thermodynamic observables and extract the phase structure. We obtain that the thermodynamic observables such as free energy, entropy and growth rate are explicitly obtained from the limit shape of the crystal model, the boundary of …
Using the Okounkov-Maulik stable map, we identify the equivariant cohomology of instanton moduli spaces with the space of polynomials on an infinite number of variables. We define the generalized Jack polynomials as the polynomials representing the classes of fixed points under this identification. Using the abelianization theorem of Shenfeld we derive the combinatorial formula for the expansion of generalized Jack polynomials in the basis of Schur polynomials.
Based on Generalized Bloch equation the trans-series expansion for the phase (exponent) of the ground state density for double-well potential is constructed. It is shown that the leading and next-to-leading semiclassical terms are still defined by the flucton trajectory (its classical action) and quadratic fluctuations (the determinant), respectively, while the the next-to-next-to-leading correction (at large distances) is of non-perturbative nature. It comes from the fact that all flucton plus multi-instanton, instanton-anti-instanton classical trajectories lead to the same classical action b…
We present a new exact solution for self-dual Abelian gauge fields living on the space of the Kerr-Taub-bolt instanton, which is a generalized example of asymptotically flat instantons with non-self-dual curvature, by constructing the corresponding square integrable harmonic form on this space.
Generalized Weierstrass formulae for surfaces in four-dimensional space $\Bbb{R}^{4}$ are used to study (anti)self-dual rigid string configurations. It is shown that such configurations are given by superminimal immersions into $\Bbb{R}^{4}$. Explicit formulae for generic (anti)instantons are presented. Particular classes of surfaces are also analyzed.
A relation between the total instanton number and the quantum-numbers of magnetic monopoles that arise in general Abelian gauges in SU(2) Yang-Mills theory is established. The instanton number is expressed as the sum of the `twists' of all monopoles, where the twist is related to a generalized Hopf invariant. The origin of a stronger relation between instantons and monopoles in the Polyakov gauge is discussed.
We study the problem of string propagation in a general instanton background for the case of the complete heterotic superstring. We define the concept of generalized HyperK\" ahler manifolds and we relate it to (4,4) superconformal theories. We propose a generalized h-map construction that predicts a universal SU(6) symmetry for the modes of the string excitations moving in an instanton background. We also discuss the role of abstract $N$=4 moduli and, applying it to the particular limit case of the solvable SU(2) X R instanton found by Callan et al. we show that it admits deformations and cor…
We consider generalized self-duality equations for U(2r) Yang-Mills theory on R^{4k} with quaternionic structure and self-dual Moyal deformation. We employ the extended ADHM method in 4k dimensions to construct new noncommutative generalizations of the 't Hooft as well as of the BPST instantons. It is shown that in the commutative limit the BPST-type configurations coincide with the standard instantons on HP^n written in local coordinates.
We consider Ward's generalized self-duality equations for U(2r) Yang-Mills theory on R^{4k} and their Moyal deformation under self-dual noncommutativity. Employing an extended ADHM construction we find two kinds of explicit solutions, which generalize the 't Hooft and BPST instantons from R^4 to noncommutative R^{4k}. The BPST-type configurations appear to be new even in the commutative case.
We investigate non-perturbative corrections to the large $N$ expansion of the homogeneous electron gas. These are associated with instanton solutions to the effective action of the plasmon field. We show that, although the large field behavior of that action dominates the quadratic bare Coulomb term, there are no solutions at large field, and consequently none at large density. We argue that solutions would exist at low density if the large $N$ theory had a Wigner crystal (WC) phase. However, we argue that this is not the case. Together with the implied convergence of the large $N$ expansion, …
Working within the framework of both the $A_\infty$ and the Berkovits open superstring field theory, we derive a necessary and sufficient condition for a Neveu-Schwarz marginal deformation to be exact up to third order in the deformation parameter. For a specific class of backgrounds, we find that this condition localizes on the boundary of the worldsheet moduli space, thus providing a very simple computational prescription for recovering algebraic constraints (generalized ADHM equations) which need to be satisfied by the moduli. Applying our results to the $\mathrm{D(-1)/D3}$ system, we confi…
The static Yang-Mills-Higgs dyonic instanton is shown to have a non-vanishing, but anti-self-dual, angular momentum 2-form with skew eigenvalues equal to the electric charge; for large charge the angular momentum causes the instanton to expand into a hyper-spherical shell. A class of exact multi dyonic instantons is then found and then generalized to a new class of 1/4 supersymmetric, non-singular, stationary, exact solutions of the ten-dimensional supergravity/Yang-Mills theory. These self-gravitating dyonic instantons yield new heterotic string solitons, to leading order in the inverse strin…
The explicit multi-instanton solutions by 'tHooft and Jackiw, Nohl & Rebbi are generalized to curvilinear coordinates. The idea is that a gauge transformation can notably simplify the expressions obtained after the change of variables. The gauge transform generates a compensating addition to the gauge potential of pseudoparticles. Singularities of the compensating field are irrelevant for physics but may affect gauge dependent quantities.
We introduce the coupled instanton equations for a metric, a spinor, a three-form, and a connection on a bundle, over a spin manifold. Special solutions in dimensions $6$ and $7$ arise, respectively, from the Hull--Strominger and the heterotic $\operatorname{G}_2$ system. The equations are motivated by recent developments in theoretical physics and can be recast using generalized geometry; we investigate how coupled instantons relate to generalized Ricci-flat metrics and also to Killing spinors on a Courant algebroid. We present two open questions regarding how these different geometric condit…
In the large N limit cold dense nuclear matter must be in a lattice phase. This applies also to holographic models of hadron physics. In a class of such models, like the generalized Sakai-Sugimoto model, baryons take the form of instantons of the effective flavor gauge theory that resides on probe flavor branes. In this paper we study the phase structure of baryonic crystals by analyzing discrete periodic configurations of such instantons. We find that instanton configurations exhibit a series of "popcorn" transitions upon increasing the density. Through these transitions normal (3D) lattices …
We search for an abelian description of the Yang-Mills instantons on certain eight dimensional manifolds with the special holonomies $Spin(7)$ and SU(4). By mimicing the Seiberg-Witten theory in four dimensions, we propose a set of monopole-like equations governing the 8-dimensional U(1) connections and spinors, which are supposed to be the dual theory of the nonabelian instantons. We also give a naive test of the generalized $S$-duality in the abelian sector of 8-dimensional Yang-Mills theory. Some problems in this approach are pointed out.
Due to their explicit construction, Aloff-Wallach spaces are prominent in flux compactifications. They carry G_2-structures and admit the G_2-instanton equations, which are natural BPS equations for Yang-Mills instantons on seven-manifolds and extremize a Chern-Simons-type functional. We consider the Chern-Simons flow between different G_2-instantons on Aloff-Wallach spaces, which is equivalent to Spin(7)-instantons on a cylinder over them. For a general SU(3)-equivariant gauge connection, the generalized instanton equations turn into gradient-flow equations on C^3 x R^2, with a particular cub…
The study of axion models and quantum corrections to their potential has experienced great progress by phrasing the axion potential in terms of a 3-form field eating up the 2-form field dual to the axion. Such reformulation of the axion potential has been described for axion monodromy models, and for axion potentials from non-perturbative gauge dynamics. In this paper we propose a 3-form description of the axion potentials from non-gauge D-brane instantons. Interestingly, the required 3-form field does not arise in the underlying geometry, but rather shows up in the KK compactification in the …
Recent work on adding flavour to the generalized AdS/CFT correspondence is reviewed. In particular, we consider instanton configurations on two coincident D7 brane probes. These are matched to the Higgs branch of the dual field theory. In AdS_5 x S^5, the instanton generates a flow of the meson spectrum. For non-supersymmetric gravity backgrounds, the Higgs branch is lifted by a potential, which has non-trivial physical implications. In particular these configurations provide a gravity dual description of Bose-Einstein condensation and of a thermal phase transition.
We introduce a particular embedding of seven dimensional self-duality membrane equations in C^3\times R which breaks G_2 invariance down to SU(3). The world-volume membrane instantons define SU(3) special lagrangian submanifolds of C^3. We discuss in detail solutions for spherical and toroidal topologies assuming factorization of time. We show that the extra dimensions manifest themselves in the solutions through the appearance of a non-zero conserved charge which prevents the collapse of the membrane. We find non-collapsing rotating membrane instantons which contract from infinite size to a f…
We use open-closed string duality between F-theory on K3xK3 and type II strings on CY manifolds without branes to study non-perturbative superpotentials in generalized flux compactifications. On the F-theory side we obtain the full flux potential including D3-instanton contributions and show that it leads to an explicit and simple realization of the three ingredients of the KKLT model for stringy dS vacua. The D3-instanton contribution is highly non-trivial, can be systematically computed including the determinant factors and demonstrates that a particular flux lifts very effectively zero mode…
The existence of K-instantons on a cylinder M^7 = R_tau x K/H over a homogeneous nearly K"ahler 6-manifold K/H requires a conformally parallel or a cocalibrated G_2-structure on M^7. The generalized anti-self-duality on M^7 implies a Chern-Simons flow on K/H which runs between instantons on the coset. For K-equivariant connections, the torsionful Yang-Mills equation reduces to a particular quartic dynamics for a Newtonian particle on C. When the torsion corresponds to one of the G_2-structures, this dynamics follows from a gradient or hamiltonian flow equation, respectively. We present the ana…
The non-perturbative dynamics of quantum field theories is studied using theoretical tools inspired by string formalism. Two main lines are developed: the analysis of stringy instantons in a class of four-dimensional N=2 gauge theories and the holographic study of the minimal model for a strongly coupled unbalanced superconductor. The field theory instanton calculus admits a natural and efficient description in terms of D-brane models. In addition, the string viewpoint offers the possibility of generalizing the ordinary instanton configurations. Even though such generalized, or stringy, instan…
Summarizing the results of arXiv:0707.1038, we discuss the four-dimensional effective approach to type II N=1 supersymmetric flux compactifications with general SU(3)x SU(3)-structure. In particular, we study the effect of a non-trivial warp factor, which we argue leads naturally to a supergravity formulation invariant under local complexified Weyl transformations. We show that the full ten-dimensional supersymmetry equations can be obtained as F-flatness and D-flatness conditions from the superpotential and Kaehler potential. We then consider non-perturbative corrections to these supersymmetr…
In the context of Type IIB LARGE volume orientifold setup equipped with poly-instanton corrections, the standard single-field poly-instanton inflation driven by a 'Wilson' divisor volume modulus is generalized by the inclusion of respective axion modulus. This two-field dynamics results in a "Roulette" type inflation with the presence of several inflationary trajectories which could produce 50 (or more) e-foldings. The evolution of various trajectories along with physical observables are studied. The possibility of generating primordial non-Gaussianities in the slow-roll as well as in the beyo…
We discuss the four-dimensional N=1 effective approach in the study of warped type II flux compactifications with SU(3)x SU(3)-structure to AdS_4 or flat Minkowski space-time. The non-trivial warping makes it natural to use a supergravity formulation invariant under local complexified Weyl transformations. We obtain the classical superpotential from a standard argument involving domain walls and generalized calibrations and show how the resulting F-flatness and D-flatness equations exactly reproduce the full ten-dimensional supersymmetry equations. Furthermore, we consider the effect of non-pe…
Original proofs of the AGT relations with the help of the Hubbard-Stratanovich duality of the modified Dotsenko-Fateev matrix model did not work for beta different from one, because Nekrasov functions were not properly reproduced by Selberg-Kadell integrals of Jack polynomials. We demonstrate that if the generalized Jack polynomials, depending on the N-ples of Young diagrams from the very beginning, are used instead of the N-linear combinations of ordinary Jacks, this resolves the problem. Such polynomials naturally arise as special elements in the equivariant cohomologies of the GL(N)-instant…
Resurgent transseries have recently been shown to be a very powerful construction in order to completely describe nonperturbative phenomena in both matrix models and topological or minimal strings. These solutions encode the full nonperturbative content of a given gauge or string theory, where resurgence relates every (generalized) multi-instanton sector to each other via large-order analysis. The Stokes phase is the adequate gauge theory phase where an 't Hooft large N expansion exists and where resurgent transseries are most simply constructed. This paper addresses the nonperturbative study …
This letter deals with triply-periodic (crystalline) solutions in a family of Skyrme systems, namely where the field takes values in the squashed 3-sphere. The family includes the standard Skyrme model (round 3-sphere), and the Skyrme-Faddeev case (maximal squashing). In the round case, the lowest-energy crystal is the well-known cubic lattice of half-skyrmions; but in the squashed case the minimal-energy crystal structures turn out to be different. We describe some of the solutions that arise, including arrays of vortices and multi-sheeted structures.
Recently, the stochastic dynamical model based on the free energy landscape was proposed to quantify the kinetics of the black hole phase transition. An essential concept is the generalized free energy of the fluctuating black hole, which was defined in terms of the thermodynamic relation previously. In this work, by employing the Gibbons-Hawking path integral approach to black hole thermodynamics, we show that the generalized free energy can be derived from the Einstein-Hilbert action of the Euclidean gravitational instanton with the conical singularity. This work provides a concrete and soli…
We apply a recently introduced reduction procedure based on the embedding of non-crystallographic Coxeter groups into crystallographic ones to Calogero-Moser systems. For rational potentials the familiar generalized Calogero Hamiltonian is recovered. For the Hamiltonians of trigonometric, hyperbolic and elliptic type, we obtain novel integrable dynamical systems with a second potential term which is rescaled by the golden ratio. We explicitly show for the simplest of these non-crystallographic models how the corresponding classical equations of motion can be derived from a Lie algebraic Lax pa…
We investigate the properties of triply-periodic Skyrme crystals in the generalized Skyrme model $\mathcal{L}_6 + \mathcal{L}_4 + \mathcal{L}_2+ \mathcal{L}_0$ with higher-derivative terms up to sixth order. Three different symmetry breaking potential terms $\mathcal{L}_0$ are considered, the generalized pion mass term, double vacuum potential and mixed potential. Various scenario of phase transitions from the low density phase to the high density phase are examined for different choices of the parameters of the model. In particular, we investigated limiting behavior of the Skyrme crystals in …
We study $\mathbb{C}P^2$ Skyrmion crystals in the ferromagnetic SU(3) Heisenberg model with a generalization of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and the Zeeman term. The model possesses two different types of Skyrmion crystals with unit-Skyrmions that can be interpreted as bound states of two half-Skyrmions or four quarter-Skyrmions. Our study on $\mathbb{C}P^2$ Skyrmion crystals opens up the possibility for useful future applications since $\mathbb{C}P^2$ Skyrmions have more degrees of freedom than the usual $\mathbb{C}P^1$ (magnetic) Skyrmions.
Moduli spaces of doubly periodic monopoles, also called monopole walls or monowalls, are hyperkähler; thus, when four-dimensional, they are self-dual gravitational instantons. We find all monowalls with lowest number of moduli. Their moduli spaces can be identified, on the one hand, with Coulomb branches of five-dimensional supersymmetric quantum field theories on $\mathbb{R}^3\times T^2$ and, on the other hand, with moduli spaces of local Calabi-Yau metrics on the canonical bundle of a del Pezzo surface. We explore the asymptotic metric of these moduli spaces and compare our results with Seib…
The aim of this paper is to propose a criterion of spontaneous symmetry breaking that makes reference to the properties of pure phases defined by a translationally invariant state. By avoiding any reference to the ground state, at the basis of the standard approach, this criterion applies to a wider class of models. An interesting application is the breaking of time translations. Indeed, we discuss explicit theoretical models which exhibit the prototypical features of quantum time crystals, without the need of a time-dependent Hamiltonian.
