11515873
Phase transitions in q-deformed 2d Yang-Mills theory and topological strings
1550-7998=20 We analyze large N phase transitions for U N q-deformed two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory on the sphere. We determine the phase diagram of the model and we show that, for small values of the deformation parameter, the theory exhibits a phase transition which is smoothly connected to the DouglasKazakov phase transition. For large values of the deformation parameter the phase transition is absent. By explicitly computing the one-instanton suppression factor in the weakly coupled phase, we also show that the transition is triggered by instanton effects. Finally, we present the solution of the model in the strongly coupled phase. Our analysis suggests that, on certain backgrounds, nonperturbative topological string theory has new phase transitions at small radius. From the point of view of gauge theory, it suggests a mechanism to smooth out large N phase transitions.
17179805
Twisted baryon number in N = 2 supersymmetric QCD
Abstract We show that the baryon number of N = 2 supersymmetric QCD can be twisted in order to couple the topological field theory of non-abelian monopoles to Spin c -structures. To motivate the construction, we also consider some aspects of the twisting procedure as a gauging of global currents in two and four dimensions, in particular the role played by anomalies.
53394947
Resumming the string perturbation series
A bstractWe use the AdS/CFT correspondence to study the resummation of a perturbative genus expansion appearing in the type II superstring dual of ABJM theory. Although the series is Borel summable, its Borel resummation does not agree with the exact non-perturbative answer due to the presence of complex instantons. The same type of behavior appears in the WKB quantization of the quartic oscillator in Quantum Mechanics, which we analyze in detail as a toy model for the string perturbation series. We conclude that, in these examples, Borel summability is not enough for extracting non-perturbative information, due to non-perturbative effects associated to complex instantons. We also analyze the resummation of the genus expansion for topological string theory on local ℙ1×ℙ1$$ {\mathrm{\mathbb{P}}}^1\times {\mathrm{\mathbb{P}}}^1 $$, which is closely related to ABJM theory. In this case, the non-perturbative answer involves membrane instantons computed by the refined topological string, which are crucial to produce a well-defined result. We give evidence that the Borel resummation of the perturbative series requires such a non-perturbative sector.
119202302
A one-loop test of quantum supergravity
The partition function on the three-sphere of ABJM theory and its generalizations has, at large N, a universal, subleading logarithmic term. Inspired by the success of one-loop quantum gravity for computing the logarithmic corrections to black hole entropy, we try to reproduce this universal term by a one-loop calculation in Euclidean 11-dimensional supergravity on AdS4 × X7. We find perfect agreement between the results of ABJM theory and the 11-dimensional supergravity.
119634813
Instanton Effects and Quantum Spectral Curves
We study a spectral problem associated to the quantization of a spectral curve arising in local mirror symmetry. The perturbative WKB quantization condition is determined by the quantum periods, or equivalently by the refined topological string in the Nekrasov–Shatashvili (NS) limit. We show that the information encoded in the quantum periods is radically insufficient to determine the spectrum: there is an infinite series of instanton corrections, which are non-perturbative in $${\hbar}$$ħ, and lead to an exact WKB quantization condition. Moreover, we conjecture the precise form of the instanton corrections: they are determined by the standard or unrefined topological string free energy, and we test our conjecture successfully against numerical calculations of the spectrum. This suggests that the non-perturbative sector of the NS refined topological string contains information about the standard topological string. As an application of the WKB quantization condition, we explain some recent observations relating membrane instanton corrections in ABJM theory to the refined topological string.
7030705
Counting BPS States on the Enriques Calabi-Yau
We study topological string amplitudes for the FHSV model using various techniques. This model has a type II realization involving a Calabi-Yau threefold with Enriques fibres, which we call the Enriques Calabi-Yau. By applying heterotic/type IIA duality, we compute the topological amplitudes in the fibre to all genera. It turns out that there are two different ways to do the computation that lead to topological couplings with different BPS content. One of them gives the standard D0-D2 counting amplitudes, and from the other one we obtain information about bound states of D0-D4-D2 branes on the Enriques fibre. We also study the model using mirror symmetry and the holomorphic anomaly equations. We verify in this way the heterotic results for the D0-D2 generating functional for low genera and find closed expressions for the topological amplitudes on the total space in terms of modular forms, and up to genus three. This model turns out to be much simpler than the generic B-model and might be exactly solvable.
116193420
Comments on arXiv:0902.4693v1 'Search for Axions with the CDMS Experiment'
We offer a few remarks that should help clarify the relative sensitivity of CoGeNT, CDMS and DAMA to dark pseudoscalars. An alternative dark matter origin for the DAMA modulation is briefly mentioned within this context.
22684568
MaGe-a Geant4-Based Monte Carlo Application Framework for Low-Background Germanium Experiments
We describe a physics simulation software framework, MaGe, that is based on the Geant4 simulation toolkit. MaGe is used to simulate the response of ultra-low radioactive background detectors to ionizing radiation, specifically the Majorana and Gerda neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments. Majorana and Gerda use high-purity germanium detectors to search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76Ge and MaGe is jointly developed between these two collaborations. The MaGe framework contains the geometry models of common objects, prototypes, test stands and the actual experiments. It also implements customized event generators, Geant4 physics lists and output formats. All of these features are available as class libraries that are typically compiled into a single executable. The user selects the particular experimental setup implementation at run-time via macros. The combination of all these common classes into one framework reduces duplication of efforts, eases comparison between simulated data and experiment and simplifies the addition of new detectors to be simulated. This paper focuses on the software framework, custom event generators and physics lists.
119108760
CoGeNT: A Search for Low-Mass Dark Matter using p-type Point Contact Germanium Detectors
CoGeNT employs $p$-type point-contact (PPC) germanium detectors to search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). By virtue of its low-energy threshold and ability to reject surface backgrounds, this type of device allows an emphasis on low-mass dark matter candidates (${m}_{\ensuremath{\chi}}\ensuremath{\sim}10\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}/{c}^{2}$). We report on the characteristics of the PPC detector presently taking data at the Soudan Underground Laboratory, elaborating on aspects of shielding, data acquisition, instrumental stability, data analysis, and background estimation. A detailed background model is used to investigate the low-energy excess of events previously reported and to assess the possibility of temporal modulations in the low-energy event rate. Extensive simulations of all presently known backgrounds do not provide a viable background explanation for the excess of low-energy events in the CoGeNT data or the previously observed temporal variation in the event rate. Also reported for the first time is a determination of the surface (slow pulse rise time) event contamination in the data as a function of energy. We conclude that the CoGeNT detector technology is well suited to search for the annual modulation signature expected from dark matter particle interactions in the region of WIMP mass and coupling favored by the DAMA/LIBRA results.
121657706
A Pulse Shape Analysis Technique for the MAJORANA Experiment
Abstract In order to achieve background count rates sufficiently low so as to allow the observation of rare events such as neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay, background suppression techniques are routinely employed. In this paper we present details of a novel Pulse Shape Analysis algorithm, which allows single-site events such as 0νββ decay to be distinguished from multi-site background events in germanium detectors. The algorithm, which is based on the event-by-event χ 2 fitting of experimental signals to a basis data set of unique single-site pulse shapes, has been developed through simulation studies and tested experimentally using a Broad Energy Germanium detector. It is found experimentally that the technique is able to successfully identify and reject 99% of multi-site events in the single escape peak associated with the gamma decay of 208 Tl, whilst maintaining a survival probability of 98% for neutrinoless double-beta-decay-like double escape peak events.
24822628
Results from a search for light-mass dark matter with a p-type point contact germanium detector.
We report on several features in the energy spectrum from an ultralow-noise germanium detector operated deep underground. By implementing a new technique able to reject surface events, a number of cosmogenic peaks can be observed for the first time. We discuss an irreducible excess of bulklike events below 3 keV in ionization energy. These could be caused by unknown backgrounds, but also dark matter interactions consistent with DAMA/LIBRA. It is not yet possible to determine their origin. Improved constraints are placed on a cosmological origin for the DAMA/LIBRA effect.