Showing papers on "Superpotential published in 2020"

T T flows and (2, 2) supersymmetry

Abstract: We construct a solvable deformation of two-dimensional theories with (2, 2) supersymmetry using an irrelevant operator which is a bilinear in the supercurrents. This supercurrent-squared operator is manifestly supersymmetric and equivalent to T (T) over bar after using conservation laws. As illustrative examples, we deform theories involving a single (2, 2) chiral superfield. We show that the deformed free theory is on-shell equivalent to the (2, 2) Nambu-Goto action. At the classical level, models with a superpotential exhibit more surprising behavior: the deformed theory exhibits poles in the physical potential which modify the vacuum structure. This suggests that irrelevant deformations of T (T) over bar type might also affect infrared physics.

Conifold Vacua with Small Flux Superpotential

Abstract: We introduce a method for finding flux vacua of type IIB string theory in which the flux superpotential is exponentially small and at the same time one or more complex structure moduli are stabilized exponentially near to conifold points.

Supersymmetric protection and the Swampland

Abstract: For certain terms in the action, supersymmetry can forbid an infinite number of possible contributions. We study whether such protection can occur in quantum gravity even without sufficient supersymmetry. We focus on whether the superpotential can vanish exactly in four-dimensional $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 1 theories, and if the prepotential can be exactly cubic in $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 theories. We investigate these questions in string theory and find that for almost all known string constructions the corrections allowed by supersymmetry do occur. However, we do find some special settings where all the corrections can be proven to vanish. These examples all share the common feature that they are related, through a certain orbifolding by a discrete gauged R-symmetry element, to a higher supersymmetric theory. Motivated by these results, we propose a Swampland criterion that any theory which enjoys such protection beyond its realised supersymmetry must have a direct connection to a higher supersymmetric theory.

Conifold Vacua with Small Flux Superpotential

Abstract: We introduce a method for finding flux vacua of type IIB string theory in which the flux superpotential is exponentially small and at the same time one or more complex structure moduli are stabilized exponentially near to conifold points.

3d dualities from 2d free field correlators: recombination and rank stabilization

Abstract: We propose various new 3d $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 dualities exploiting their recently discovered connection to the duality relations for 2d free field CFT correlators. Most of the dualities involve, as the main building block, a quiver theory with monopole superpotential which enjoys various interesting properties such as being self-dual and reducing, in a suitable real mass deformation, to the familiar T [SU(N )] theory. In particular we propose a duality for the U(N) theory with one adjoint and k + 1 fundamental flavors. By iterating some basic dualities we can bring the theory to a stable form which, in turns, allows us to find a dual frame where the rank of the original theory appears as a parameter.

Stringy Structure at the BPS Bound

Abstract: We explore the stringy structure of 1/2-BPS bound states of NS fivebranes carrying momentum or fundamental string charge, in the decoupling limits leading to little string theory and to AdS3/CFT2 duality. We develop an exact worldsheet description of these states using null-gauged sigma models, and illustrate the construction by deriving the closed-form solution sourced by an elliptical NS5-F1 supertube. The Calabi-Yau/Landau-Ginsburg correspondence maps this geometrical worldsheet description to a non-compact LG model whose superpotential is determined by the fivebrane source configuration. Singular limits of the 1/2-BPS configuration space result when the fivebrane worldvolume self-intersects, as can be seen from both sides of the CY/LG duality — on the Landau-Ginsburg side from the degeneration of the superpotential(s), and on the geometrical side from an analysis of D-brane probes. These singular limits are a portal to black hole formation via the condensation of the branes that are becoming massless, and thus exhibit in the gravitational bulk description the central actors in the non-gravitational dual theory underlying black hole thermodynamics.

P T -symmetric non-Hermitian quantum field theories with supersymmetry

Abstract: We formulate supersymmetric non-Hermitian quantum field theories with $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$ symmetry, starting with free chiral boson/fermion models and then including trilinear superpotential interactions. We consider models with both Dirac and Majorana fermions, analyzing them in terms of superfields and at the component level. We also discuss the relation between the equations of motion, the (non)invariance of the Lagrangian and the (non)conservation of the supercurrents in the two models. We exhibit a similarity transformation that maps the free-field supersymmetric $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$-symmetric Dirac model to a supersymmetric Hermitian theory, but there is, in general, no corresponding similarity transformation for the Majorana model. In this model, we find generically a mass splitting between bosons and fermions, even though its construction is explicitly supersymmetric, offering a novel non-Hermitian mechanism for soft supersymmetry breaking.

Stringy Structure at the BPS Bound

Abstract: We explore the stringy structure of 1/2-BPS bound states of NS fivebranes carrying momentum or fundamental string charge, in the decoupling limits leading to little string theory and to AdS3/CFT2 duality. We develop an exact worldsheet description of these states using null-gauged sigma models, and illustrate the construction by deriving the closed-form solution sourced by an elliptical NS5-F1 supertube. The Calabi-Yau/Landau-Ginsburg correspondence maps this geometrical worldsheet description to a non-compact LG model whose superpotential is determined by the fivebrane source configuration. Singular limits of the 1/2-BPS configuration space result when the fivebrane worldvolume self-intersects, as can be seen from both sides of the CY/LG duality - on the Landau-Ginsburg side from the degeneration of the superpotential(s), and on the geometrical side from an analysis of D-brane probes. These singular limits are a portal to black hole formation via the condensation of the branes that are becoming massless, and thus exhibit in the gravitational bulk description the central actors in the non-gravitational dual theory underlying black hole thermodynamics.

Supersymmetric Protection and the Swampland

Abstract: For certain terms in the action, supersymmetry can forbid an infinite number of possible contributions. We study whether such protection can occur in quantum gravity even without sufficient supersymmetry. We focus on whether the superpotential can vanish exactly in four-dimensional N=1 theories, and if the prepotential can be exactly cubic in N=2 theories. We investigate these questions in string theory and find that for almost all known string constructions the corrections allowed by supersymmetry do occur. However, we do find some special settings where all the corrections can be proven to vanish. These examples all share the common feature that they are related, through a certain orbifolding by a discrete gauged R-symmetry element, to a higher supersymmetric theory. Motivated by these results, we propose a Swampland criterion that any theory which enjoys such protection beyond its realised supersymmetry must have a direct connection to a higher supersymmetric theory.

Kähler moduli stabilization and the propagation of decidability

Abstract: Diophantine equations are in general undecidable, yet appear readily in string theory. We demonstrate that numerous classes of Diophantine equations arising in string theory are decidable and propose that decidability may propagate through networks of string vacua due to additional structure in the theory. Diophantine equations arising in index computations relevant for D3-instanton corrections to the superpotential exhibit propagation of decidability, with new and existing solutions propagating through networks of geometries related by topological transitions. In the geometries we consider, most divisor classes appear in at least one solution, significantly improving prospects for K\"ahler moduli stabilization across large ensembles of string compactifications.

Automorphic Forms and Fermion Masses

Abstract: We extend the framework of modular invariant supersymmetric theories to encompass invariance under more general discrete groups $\Gamma$, that allow the presence of several moduli and make connection with the theory of automorphic forms. Moduli span a coset space $G/K$, where $G$ is a Lie group and $K$ is a compact subgroup of $G$, modded out by $\Gamma$. For a general choice of $G$, $K$, $\Gamma$ and a generic matter content, we explicitly construct a minimal Kahler potential and a general superpotential, for both rigid and local $N=1$ supersymmetric theories. We also specialize our construction to the case $G=Sp(2g,R)$, $K=U(g)$ and $\Gamma=Sp(2g,Z)$, whose automorphic forms are Siegel modular forms. We show how our general theory can be consistently restricted to multi-dimensional regions of the moduli space enjoying residual symmetries. After choosing $g=2$, we present several examples of models for lepton and quark masses where Yukawa couplings are Siegel modular forms of level 2.

Aspects of $(2,2)$ and $(0,2)$ hybrid models

Abstract: In this work we study the topological rings of two dimensional (2,2) and (0,2) hybrid models. In particular, we use localization to derive a formula for the correlators in both cases, focusing on the B- and B/2-twists. Although our methods apply to a vast range of hybrid CFTs, we focus on hybrid models suitable for compactifications of the heterotic string. In this case, our formula provides unnormalized Yukawa couplings of the spacetime superpotential. We apply our techniques to hybrid phases of linear models, and we find complete agreement with known results in other phases. We also obtain a prediction for a certain class of correlators involving twisted operators in (2,2) Landau-Ginzburg orbifolds. For (0,2) theories, our argument does not rely on the existence of a (2,2) locus. Finally, we derive vanishing conditions concerning worldsheet instanton corrections in (0,2) B/2-twisted hybrid models.

Family Floer program and non-archimedean SYZ mirror construction.

Abstract: Given a Lagrangian fibration, we provide a natural construction of a mirror Landau-Ginzburg model consisting of a rigid analytic space, a superpotential function, and a dual fibration based on Fukaya's family Floer theory. The mirror in the B-side is constructed by the counts of holomorphic disks in the A-side together with the non-archimedean analysis and the homological algebra of the $A_\infty$ structures. It fits well with the SYZ dual fibration picture and explains the quantum/instanton corrections and the wall crossing phenomenon. Instead of a special Lagrangian fibration, we only need to assume a weaker semipositive Lagrangian fibration to carry out the non-archimedean SYZ mirror reconstruction.

Mass production of type IIA dS vacua

Abstract: A three-step procedure is proposed in type IIA string theory to stabilize multiple moduli in a dS vacuum. The first step is to construct a progenitor model with a localized stable supersymmetric Minkowski vacuum, or a discrete set of such vacua. It can be done, for example, using two non-perturbative exponents in the superpotential for each modulus, as in the KL model [1]. A large set of supersymmetric Minkowski vacua with strongly stabilized moduli is protected by a theorem on stability of these vacua in absence of flat directions [2]. The second step involves a parametrically small downshift to a supersymmetric AdS vacuum, which can be achieved by a small change of the superpotential. The third step is an uplift to a dS vacuum with a positive cosmological constant using the $$ \overline{D6} $$-brane contribution [3, 4]. Stability of the resulting dS vacuum is inherited from the stability of the original supersymmetric Minkowski vacuum if the supersymmetry breaking in dS vacuum is parametrically small [2, 5].

A counterexample to the Nelson-Seiberg theorem

Abstract: We present a counterexample to the Nelson-Seiberg theorem and its extensions. The model has 4 chiral fields, including one R-charge 2 field and no R-charge 0 filed. Giving generic values of coefficients in the renormalizable superpotential, there is a supersymmetric vacuum with one complex dimensional degeneracy. The superpotential equals zero and the R-symmetry is broken everywhere on the degenerated vacuum. The existence of such a vacuum disagrees with both the original Nelson-Seiberg theorem and its extensions, and can be viewed as the consequence of a non-generic R-charge assignment. Such counterexamples may introduce error to the field counting method for surveying the string landscape, and are worth further investigations.

Local $G_2$-Manifolds, Higgs Bundles and a Colored Quantum Mechanics

Abstract: M-theory on local $G_2$-manifolds engineers 4d minimally supersymmetric gauge theories. We consider ALE-fibered $G_2$-manifolds and study the 4d physics from the view point of a partially twisted 7d supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory and its Higgs bundle. Euclidean M2-brane instantons descend to non-perturbative effects of the 7d supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, which are found to be in one to one correspondence with the instantons of a colored supersymmetric quantum mechanics. We compute the contributions of M2-brane instantons to the 4d superpotential in the effective 7d description via localization in the colored quantum mechanics. Further we consider non-split Higgs bundles and analyze their 4d spectrum.

Instantons and hilbert functions

Abstract: We study superpotentials from worldsheet instantons in heterotic Calabi-Yau compactifications for vector bundles constructed from line bundle sums, monads and extensions. Within a certain class of manifolds and for certain second homology classes, we derive simple necessary conditions for a non-vanishing instanton superpotential. These show that non-vanishing instanton superpotentials are rare and require a specific pattern for the bundle construction. For the class of monad and extension bundles with this pattern, we derive a sufficient criterion for non-vanishing instanton superpotentials based on an affine Hilbert function. This criterion shows that a non-zero instanton superpotential is common within this class. The criterion can be checked using commutative algebra methods only and depends on the topological data defining the Calabi-Yau X and the vector bundle V.

Heterotic backgrounds via generalised geometry: moment maps and moduli

Abstract: We describe the geometry of generic heterotic backgrounds preserving minimal supersymmetry in four dimensions using the language of generalised geometry. They are characterised by an SU(3) × Spin(6 + n) structure within O(6, 6 + n) × ℝ+ generalised geometry. Supersymmetry of the background is encoded in the existence of an involutive subbundle of the generalised tangent bundle and the vanishing of a moment map for the action of diffeomorphisms and gauge symmetries. We give both the superpotential and the Kahler potential for a generic background, showing that the latter defines a natural Hitchin functional for heterotic geometries. Intriguingly, this formulation suggests new connections to geometric invariant theory and an extended notion of stability. Finally we show that the analysis of infinitesimal deformations of these geometric structures naturally reproduces the known cohomologies that count the massless moduli of supersymmetric heterotic backgrounds.

A cubic deformation of ABJM: the squashed, stretched, warped, and perturbed gets invaded

Abstract: A superpotential deformation that is cubic in one of the chiral superfields of ABJM makes the latter theory flow into a new $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 superconformal phase. This is holographically dual to a warped AdS4 ×w S7 solution of M-theory equipped with a squashed and stretched metric on S7. We determine the spectrum of spin-2 operators of the cubic deformation at low energies by computing the spectrum of Kaluza-Klein (KK) gravitons over the dual AdS4 solution. We calculate, numerically, the complete graviton spectrum and, analytically, the spectrum of gravitons that belong to short multiplets. We also use group theory to assess the structure of the full KK spectrum, and conclude that $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 supermultiplets cannot be allocated KK level by KK level. This phenomenon, usually referred to as “space invaders scenario”, is also known to occur for another AdS4 solution based on a different squashed S7.

Perelman's Ricci Flow in Topological Quantum Gravity

Abstract: We find the regime of our recently constructed topological nonrelativistic quantum gravity, in which Perelman's Ricci flow equations on Riemannian manifolds appear precisely as the localization equations in the path integral. In this mapping between physics and mathematics, the role of Perelman's dilaton is played by our lapse function. Perelman's local fixed volume condition emerges dynamically as the $\lambda$ parameter in our kinetic term approaches $\lambda\to-\infty$. The DeTurck trick that decouples the metric flow from the dilaton flow is simply a gauge-fixing condition for the gauge symmetry of spatial diffeomorphisms. We show how Perelman's ${\cal F}$ and ${\cal W}$ entropy functionals are related to our superpotential. We explain the origin of Perelman's $\tau$ function, which appears in the ${\cal W}$ entropy functional for shrinking solitons, as the Goldstone mode associated with time translations and spatial rescalings: In fact, in our quantum gravity, Perelman's $\tau$ turns out to play the role of a dilaton for anisotropic scale transformations. The map between Perelman's flow and the localization equations in our topological quantum gravity requires an interesting redefinition of fields, which includes a reframing of the metric. With this embedding of Perelman's equations into topological quantum gravity, a wealth of mathematical results on the Ricci flow can now be imported into physics and reformulated in the language of quantum field theory.

Flips, dualities and symmetry enhancements

Abstract: We present various 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ theories enjoying IR global symmetry enhancement. The models we consider have the $USp(2n)$ gauge group, 8 fundamental, one antisymmetric chirals and various numbers of gauge singlets. By suitably turning on superpotential deformations involving the singlets which break part of the UV symmetry we flow to SCFTs with $E_6$, $SO(10)$, $SO(9)$, $SO(8)$ and $F_4$ IR global symmetry. We explain these patterns of symmetry enhancement following two arguments due to Razamat, Sela and Zafrir. The first one involves the study of the relations satisfied by marginal operators, while the second one relies on the existence of self-duality frames.

Dualities for three-dimensional $\mathcal{N} = 2$ $SU(N_c)$ chiral adjoint SQCD

Abstract: We study dualities for 3d $\mathcal{N} = 2$ $SU(N_c)$ SQCD at Chern-Simons level $k$ in presence of an adjoint with polynomial superpotential. The dualities are dubbed chiral because there is a different amount of fundamentals $N_f$ and antifundamentals $N_a$. We build a complete classification of such dualities in terms of $ |N_f - N_a| $ and $k$. The classification is obtained by studying the flow from the non-chiral case, and we corroborate our proposals by matching the three-sphere partition functions. Finally, we revisit the case of $SU(N_c)$ SQCD without the adjoint, comparing our results with previous literature.

On the Construction of Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians with All-Real Spectra Through Supersymmetric Algorithms

Abstract: The energy spectra of two different quantum systems are paired through supersymmetric algorithms. One of the systems is Hermitian and the other is characterized by a complex-valued potential, both of them with only real eigenvalues in their spectrum. The superpotential that links these systems is complex-valued, parameterized by the solutions of the Ermakov equation, and may be expressed either in nonlinear form or as the logarithmic derivative of a properly chosen complex-valued function. The non-Hermitian systems can be constructed to be either parity-time-symmetric or non-parity-time-symmetric.

Superpotential of three dimensional N=1 heterotic supergravity

Abstract: We dimensionally reduce the ten dimensional heterotic supergravity action on spacetimes of the form M-(1,M- 2) x Y, where M-(1,M- 2) is three dimensional maximally symmetric Anti de Sitter or Minko ...

Gaugino mass term for D-branes and Generalized Complex Geometry

Abstract: We compute the four-dimensional gaugino mass for a Dp-brane extended in spacetime and wrapping a cycle on the internal geometry in a warped compactification with fluxes. Motivated by the backreaction of gaugino bilinear VEVs, we use Generalized Complex Geometry to characterize the internal geometry as well as the cycle wrapped by the brane. We find that the RR fluxes and the non-closure of the generalized complex structures combine in the gaugino mass terms in the same form as they do in the bulk superpotential, while for the NSNS fluxes there is a crucial minus sign in the component normal to the brane. Our expression extends the known result for D3 and D7-branes in Calabi-Yau manifolds, where the gaugino masses are induced respectively by the imaginary anti-self dual and imaginary self-dual components of the complex 3-form flux G3.

The Nelson-Seiberg theorem generalized with nonpolynomial superpotentials

Abstract: The Nelson-Seiberg theorem relates - symmetries to - term supersymmetry breaking and provides a guiding rule for new physics model building beyond the Standard Model. A revision of the theorem gives a necessary and sufficient condition to supersymmetry breaking in models with polynomial superpotentials. This work revisits the theorem to include models with nonpolynomial superpotentials. With a generic - symmetric superpotential, a singularity at the origin of the field space implies both - symmetry breaking and supersymmetry breaking. We give a generalized necessary and sufficient condition for supersymmetry breaking which applies to both perturbative and nonperturbative models.