In this paper, we study on the one-plus-half monopole configuration in SU(2) Yang-Mills-Higgs theory when the $ϕ$-winding number, $n$, runs from 2 to 4 and for a range of Higgs coupling constant, $λ_b \leq λ\leq 40$, where $λ_b$ is the lower bound, below which no solution can be found. Bifurcation and transition are observed for $n > 2$ when the Higgs coupling constant is larger than some critical value $λ_c$ and transitional value $λ_t$, respectively. Two different branches with energy higher than the fundamental solution are observed for both $n = 3$ and $4$. We also observed a new branch with even higher energy for $n = 4$. Unlike other branches which display transition behavior, the new branch corresponds to a full vortex-ring configuration. All the solutions possess finite energy. Plots of magnetic charge density, Higgs modulus and energy density are presented and analyzed.
We investigate the monopole-antimonopole pair solution in the SU(2) x U(1) Weinberg-Salam theory with $ϕ$-winding number, $n=3$ for bifurcation phenomena. The magnetic monopole merges with antimonopole to form a vortex ring with finite diameter at $n=3$. Other than the fundamental solution, two new bifurcating solution branches were found when Higgs coupling constant $λ$, reaches a critical value $λ_c$. The two new branches possess higher energies than the fundamental solutions. These bifurcating solutions behave differently from the vortex ring configuration in SU(2) Yang-Mills-Higgs theory s…
The dependence of physical properties of the electrically charged two-poles monopole-antimonopole pair (MAP) solutions in the Higgs self-coupling constant is previously investigated. In this paper we study the three-poles monopole-antimonopole chain (MAC) solutions. The study includes $ϕ$-winding number $n=2,3,4$, and $5$. For the case of $n=2$, there is no bifurcating branch along with the fundamental solution. Also no transition happens for this solution for the Higgs self-coupling interval of $0\leq λ\leq 144$. For the case of $n=3$, two transitions happen along the fundamental solution. Al…
We discuss static axially symmetric solutions of SU(2) Einstein-Yang-Mills-Higgs theory for large scalar coupling. These regular asymptotically flat solutions represent monopole-antimonopole chain and vortex ring solutions, as well as new configurations, present only for larger values of the scalar coupling. When gravity is coupled to the Yang-Mills-Higgs system, branches of gravitating solutions emerge from the flat-space solutions, and extend up to critical values of the gravitational coupling constant. For small scalar coupling only two branches of gravitating solutions exist, where the sec…
To study the quantized Coulomb branch of 3d $\mathcal{N}=4$ unitary SQCD theories, we propose a new method to compute correlators of monopole and Casimir operators that are inserted in the $\mathbb{R}\times\mathbb{R}^2_ε$ Omega background. This method combines results from supersymmetric localization with inputs from the brane realisation of the correlators in type IIB string theory. The main challenge is the computation of the partition functions of certain Super-Matrix-Models (SMMs), which appear in the contribution of monopole bubbling sectors and are realised as the theory living on the D1…
This paper addresses a long standing problem - to identify the chiral ring and moduli space (i.e. as an algebraic variety) on the Coulomb branch of an N = 4 superconformal field theory in 2+1 dimensions. Previous techniques involved a computation of the metric on the moduli space and/or mirror symmetry. These methods are limited to sufficiently small moduli spaces, with enough symmetry, or to Higgs branches of sufficiently small gauge theories. We introduce a simple formula for the Hilbert series of the Coulomb branch, which applies to any good or ugly three-dimensional N = 4 gauge theory. The…
The Coulomb branches of certain 3-dimensional N=4 quiver gauge theories are closures of nilpotent orbits of classical or exceptional algebras. The monopole formula, as Hilbert series of the associated Coulomb branch chiral ring, has been successful in describing the singular hyper-Kähler structure. By means of the monopole formula with background charges for flavour symmetries, which realises real mass deformations, we study the resolution properties of all (characteristic) height two nilpotent orbits. As a result, the monopole formula correctly reproduces (i) the existence of a symplectic res…
The Coulomb branch of 3-dimensional N=4 gauge theories is the space of bare and dressed BPS monopole operators. We utilise the conformal dimension to define a fan which, upon intersection with the weight lattice of a GNO-dual group, gives rise to a collection of semi-groups. It turns out that the unique Hilbert bases of these semi-groups are a sufficient, finite set of monopole operators which generate the entire chiral ring. Moreover, the knowledge of the properties of the minimal generators is enough to compute the Hilbert series explicitly. The techniques of this paper allow an efficient ev…
In monopole-antimonopole chain solutions of SU(2) Yang-Mills-Higgs theory the Higgs field vanishes at m isolated points along the symmetry axis, whereas in vortex ring solutions the Higgs field vanishes along one or more rings, centered around the symmetry axis. We investigate how these static axially symmetric solutions depend on the strength of the Higgs selfcoupling λ. We show, that as the coupling is getting large, new branches of solutions appear at critical values of λ. Exhibiting a different node structure, these give rise to transitions between vortex rings and monopole-antimonopole ch…
The study of Coulomb branches of 3-dimensional N=4 gauge theories via the associated Hilbert series, the so-called monopole formula, has been proven useful not only for 3-dimensional theories, but also for Higgs branches of 5 and 6-dimensional gauge theories with 8 supercharges. Recently, a conjecture connected different phases of 6-dimensional Higgs branches via gauging of a discrete global $S_n$ symmetry. On the corresponding 3-dimensional Coulomb branch, this amounts to a geometric $S_n$-quotient. In this note, we prove the conjecture on Coulomb branches with unitary nodes and, moreover, ex…
We study the Higgs branches of the superconformal points of four-dimensional N=2 super Yang-Mills (SYM) which appear due to the occurrence of mutually local monopoles having appropriate charges. We show, for example, that the maximal superconformal point of SU(2n) SYM has a Higgs branch of the form C^2/Z_n. These Higgs branches are intrinsic to the superconformal field theory (SCFT) at the superconformal point, but do not appear in the SYM theory in which it is embedded. This is because the embedding is a UV extension of the SCFT in which some global symmetry acting on the Higgs branch is gaug…
We construct monopole-antimonopole chain and vortex solutions in Yang-Mills-Higgs theory coupled to Einstein gravity. The solutions are static, axially symmetric and asymptotically flat. They are characterized by two integers (m,n) where m is related to the polar angle and n to the azimuthal angle. Solutions with n=1 and n=2 correspond to chains of m monopoles and antimonopoles. Here the Higgs field vanishes at m isolated points along the symmetry axis. Larger values of n give rise to vortex solutions, where the Higgs field vanishes on one or more rings, centered around the symmetry axis. When…
We comment on various aspects of the the dynamics of 3d N=2 Chern-Simons gauge theories and their possible phases. Depending on the matter content, real masses and FI parameters, there can be non-compact Higgs or Coulomb branches, compact Higgs or Coulomb branches, and isolated vacua. We compute the Witten index of the theories, and show that it does not change when the system undergoes a phase transition. We study aspects of monopole operators and solitons in these theories, and clarify subtleties in the soliton collective coordinate quantization. We show that solitons are compatible with a m…
The physics of M5 branes placed near an M9 plane on an A-type ALE singularity exhibits a variety of phenomena that introduce additional massless degrees of freedom. There are tensionless strings whenever two M5 branes coincide or whenever an M5 brane approaches the M9 plane. These systems do not admit a low-energy Lagrangian description so new techniques are desirable to shed light on the physics of these phenomena. The 6-dimensional N=(1,0) world-volume theory on the M5 branes is composed of massless vector, tensor, and hyper multiplets, and has two branches of the vacuum moduli space where e…
Superconformal five dimensional theories have a rich structure of phases and brane webs play a crucial role in studying their properties. This paper is devoted to the study of a three parameter family of SQCD theories, given by the number of colors $N_c$ for an $SU(N_c)$ gauge theory, number of fundamental flavors $N_f$, and the Chern Simons level $k$. The study of their infinite coupling Higgs branch is a long standing problem and reveals a rich pattern of moduli spaces, depending on the 3 values in a critical way. For a generic choice of the parameters we find a surprising number of 3 differ…
We present an estimation of the average velocity of a network of global monopoles in a cosmological setting using large numerical simulations. In order to obtain the value of the velocity, we improve some already known methods, and present a new one. This new method estimates individual global monopole velocities in a network, by means of detecting each monopole position in the lattice and following the path described by each one of them. Using our new estimate we can settle an open question previously posed in the literature: velocity-dependent one-scale (VOS) models for global monopoles pred…
We study solutions of the Bogomolny equation on R^2\times S^1$ with prescribed singularities. We show that Nahm transform establishes a one-to-one correspondence between such solutions and solutions of the Hitchin equations on a punctured cylinder with the eigenvalues of the Higgs field growing at infinity in a particular manner. The moduli spaces of solutions have natural hyperkahler metrics of a novel kind. We show that these metrics describe the quantum Coulomb branch of certain N=2 d=4 supersymmetric gauge theories on R^3\times S^1. The Coulomb branches of the corresponding uncompactified …
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.
The Higgs branch of minimally supersymmetric five dimensional SQCD theories increases in a significant way at the UV fixed point when the inverse gauge coupling is tuned to zero. It has been a long standing problem to figure out how, and to find an exact description of this Higgs branch. This paper solves this problem in an elegant way by proposing that the Coulomb branches of three dimensional ${\cal N}=4$ supersymmetric quiver gauge theories, named "Exceptional Sequences", provide the solution to the problem. Thus, once again, 3d ${\cal N}=4$ Coulomb branches prove to be useful tools in solv…
We construct new finite energy regular solutions in Einstein-Yang-Mills-SU(2) theory. They are static, axially symmetric and approach at infinity the anti-de Sitter spacetime background. These configurations are characterized by a pair of integers $(m, n)$, where $m$ is related to the polar angle and $n$ to the azimuthal angle, being related to the known flat space monopole-antimonopole chains and vortex rings. Generically, they describe composite configurations with several individual components, possesing a nonzero magnetic charge, even in the absence of a Higgs field. Such Yang-Mills config…
I adapt the Gauge String, representing the strong coupling (SC) expansion in the continuous D>=3 Yang-Mills theory (YM_{D}) with a sufficiently large bare coupling constant λ>λ_{cr} and a fixed ultraviolet cut off Λ, to the analysis of the regularized Wilson's loop-averages. When generalized to describe the fat (rather than infinitely thin) flux-tubes, the pattern of thus modified U(N) Gauge String is proved to be consistent with the chain of the judiciously regularized U(N) Loop equations. In particular, we reveal the dimensional reduction YM_{D}=>YM_{2}, taking place in the extreme SC limit …
