14937035
A note on toroidal compactifications of the type I superstring and other superstring vacuum configurations with 16 superchanges
Abstract We show that various disconnected components of the moduli space of superstring vacua with 16 superchanges admit a rationale in terms of BPS unorientifolds , i.e. type I toroidal compactifications with constant non-vanishing but quantized vacuum expectation values of the NS × NS antisymmetric tensor. These include various heterotic vacua with reduced rank, known as CHL strings, and their dual type II (2, 2) superstrings in D ⩽ 6. Type I vacua without open strings allow for an interpretation of several disconnected components with N v = 10 − D . An adiabatic argument relates these unconventional type I superstrings to type II (4, 0) superstrings without D-branes. The latter are connected by U -duality in D ⩽ 6 to type II (2, 2) superstrings. We also comment on the relation between some of these vacua and compactifications of the putative M-theory on unorientable manifolds as well as F-theory vacua.
15057808
(Non)perturbative tests of the AdS / CFT correspondence
I summarize perturbative and non-perturbative field theory tests of the holographic correspondence between type IIB superstring on AdS5 × S5 and N = 4 SYM theory. The holographic duality between D-instantons and YM instantons is briefly described. Non renormalization of two- and three-point functions of CPO's and their extremal and next-to-extremal correlators are then reviewed. Finally, partial non-renormalization of four-point functions of lowest CPO's is analyzed in view of the interpretation of short distance logarithmic behaviours in terms of anomalous dimensions of unprotected operators.
119040998
Instanton Effects in Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Theories on ALE Gravitational Backgrounds
In this letter we report on the computation of instanton-dominated correlation functions in supersymmetric YM theories on ALE spaces. Following the approach of Kronheimer and Nakajima, we explicitly construct the self-dual connection on ALE spaces necessary to perform such computations. We restrict our attention to the simplest case of an $SU(2)$ connection with lowest Chern class on the Eguchi-Hanson gravitational background.
118440611
On stable higher spin states in heterotic string theories
We study properties of 1/2 BPS Higher Spin states in heterotic compactifications with extended supersymmetry. We also analyze non BPS Higher Spin states and give explicit expressions for physical vertex operators of the first two massive levels. We then study on-shell tri-linear couplings of these Higher Spin states and confirm that BPS states with arbitrary spin cannot decay into lower spin states in perturbation theory. Finally, we consider scattering of vector bosons off higher spin BPS states and extract form factors and polarization effects in various limits.
120082660
Toroidal compactification and symmetry breaking in open-string theories
Abstract In toroidal compactification of open-string theories, the background fields of the “parent” closed string (metric and antisymmetric tensor, with suitable restrictions) are accompanied by open-string Wilson lines. In the SO(32) superstring, these control the breaking of the Chan-Paton symmetry in a way that presents interesting analogies with the corresponding phenomenon in the heterotic string. An extension of the closed-string results to include contributions from the disk and the projective plane shows that these fields are genuine “moduli”, since their amplitudes vanish when the momenta are all scaled to zero.
94785817
Freezing E3-brane instantons with fluxes
E3-instantons that generate non-perturbative superpotentials in IIB N{script} = 1 compactifications have a much more frequent occurrence than currently believed. Worldvolume fluxes will typically lift the E3-brane geometric moduli and their fermionic superpartners, leaving only the two required universal fermionic zero-modes. We consistently incorporate SL(2, ℤ) monodromies and world-volume fluxes in the effective theory of the E3-brane fermions and study the resulting zero modes spectrum, highlighting the relation between F-theory and perturbative IIB results. This leads us to a IIB derivation of the index for generation of superpotential terms, which reproduces and generalizes available results. Furthermore, we show how E3 worldvolume fluxes can be explicitly constructed in a one-modulus compactification, such that the instanton has exactly two fermonic zero-modes. This construction is readily applicable to numerous scenarios. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
119249635
ABJM amplitudes and WL at finite N
A bstractWe evaluate ABJM observables at two loops, for any value of the rank N of the gauge group. We compute the color subleading contributions to the four-point scattering amplitude in ABJM at two loops. Contrary to the four dimensional case, IR divergent N-subleading contributions are proportional to leading poles in the regularization parameter. We then exploit the non-planar calculation for the amplitude to derive an expression for the two-loop Sudakov form factor at any N. In the planar limit the result coincides with the one recently obtained in literature by using Feynman diagrams and unitarity. Finally, we analyze the subleading contributions to the light-like four-cusps Wilson loop and interpret the result in terms of the non-abelian exponentiation theorem. All these perturbative results satisfy the uniform transcendentality principle, hinting at its validity in ABJM beyond the planar limit.
102332810
Scattering amplitudes/Wilson loop duality in ABJM theory
A bstractFor $$ \mathcal{N} = 6 $$ superconformal Chern-Simons-matter theories in three dimensions, by a direct superspace Feynman diagram approach, we compute the two-loop four-point scattering amplitude with external chiral matter fields. We find that the result is in perfect agreement with the two-loop result for a light-like four-polygon Wilson loop. This is the first non-trivial evidence that an amplitudes/Wilson loop duality might work in three dimensions. Moreover, both the IR divergent and the finite parts of our two-loop result agree with a BDS-like ansatz for all-loop amplitudes where the scaling function is given in terms of the $$ \mathcal{N} = 4 $$ SYM one, according to the conjectured Bethe equations for ABJM. Consequently, we are able to make a prediction for the four-loop correction to the amplitude. We also discuss the dual conformal invariance of the two-loop result.
54031010
Two-loop cusp anomaly in ABJM at strong coupling
A bstractWe compute the null cusp anomalous dimension of ABJM theory at strong coupling up to two-loop order. This is done by evaluating corrections to the corresponding superstring partition function, weighted by the AdS4 × ℂℙ3 action in AdS light-cone gauge. We compare our result, where we use an anomalous shift in the AdS4 radius, with the cusp anomaly of N$$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 4 SYM, and extract the two-loop contribution to the non-trivial integrable coupling h(λ) of ABJM theory. It coincides with the strong coupling expansion of the exact expression for h(λ) recently conjectured by Gromov and Sizov. Our work provides thus a non-trivial perturbative check for the latter, as well as evidence for two-loop UV-finiteness and quantum integrability of the Type IIA AdS4 × ℂℙ3 superstring in this gauge.
118635378
From correlators to Wilson loops in Chern-Simons matter theories
We study n-point correlation functions for chiral primary operators in three dimensional supersymmetric Chern-Simons matter theories. Our analysis is carried on in $ \mathcal{N} = 2 $ superspace and covers $ \mathcal{N} = 2,3 $ supersymmetric CFT’s, the $ \mathcal{N} = 6 $ ABJM and the $ \mathcal{N} = 8 $ BLG models. In the limit where the positions of adjacent operators become light-like, we find that the one-loop n-point correlator divided by its tree level expression coincides with a light-like n-polygon Wilson loop. Remarkably, the result can be simply expressed as a linear combination of five dimensional two-mass easy boxes. We manage to evaluate the integrals analytically and find a vanishing result, in agreement with previous findings for Wilson loops.
56038769
BPS Wilson loops and Bremsstrahlung function in ABJ(M): a two loop analysis
A bstractWe study a family of circular BPS Wilson loops in $ \mathcal{N} $ = 6 super Chern-Simons-matter theories, generalizing the usual 1/2-BPS circle. The scalar and fermionic couplings depend on two deformation parameters and these operators can be considered as the ABJ(M) counterpart of the DGRT latitudes defined in $ \mathcal{N} $ = 4 SYM. We perform a complete two-loop analysis of their vacuum expectation value, discuss the appearance of framing-like phases and propose a general relation with cohomologically equivalent bosonic operators. We make an all-loop proposal for computing the Bremsstrahlung function associated to the 1/2-BPS cusp in terms of these generalized Wilson loops. When applied to our two-loop result it reproduces the known expression. Finally, we comment on the generalization of this proposal to the bosonic 1/6-BPS case.