Showing papers on "Topological string theory published in 2009"

Spin Chains in N = 6 Superconformal Chern-Simons-Matter Theory

Abstract: In this note we study spin chain operators in the N = 6 Chern-Simons-matter theory recently proposed by Aharony, Bergman, Jafferis and Maldacena to be dual to type IIA string theory in AdS4 × CP 3 . We study the two-loop dilatation operator in the gauge theory, and compare to the Penrose limit on the string theory side.

String hypothesis for the AdS5 × S5 mirror

Abstract: We discuss the states which contribute in the thermodynamic limit of the mirror theory, the latter is obtained from the light-cone gauge-fixed string theory in the AdS_5 x S^5 background by the double-Wick rotation. We analyze the Bethe-Yang equations for the mirror theory and formulate the string hypothesis. We show that in the thermodynamic limit solutions of the Bethe-Yang equations arrange themselves into Bethe string configurations similar to the ones appearing in the Hubbard model. We also derive a set of equations describing the bound states and the Bethe string configurations of the mirror theory

A mathematical theory of the topological vertex

Abstract: We have developed a mathematical theory of the topological vertex—a theory that was originally proposed by M Aganagic, A Klemm, M Marino and C Vafa on effectively computing Gromov–Witten invariants of smooth toric Calabi–Yau threefolds derived from duality between open string theory of smooth Calabi–Yau threefolds and Chern–Simons theory on three-manifolds.

Dirichlet Branes and Mirror Symmetry

Abstract: Research in string theory over the last several decades has yielded a rich interaction with algebraic geometry. In 1985, the introduction of Calabi-Yau manifolds into physics as a way to compactify ten-dimensional space-time has led to exciting cross-fertilization between physics and mathematics, especially with the discovery of mirror symmetry in 1989. A new string revolution in the mid-1990s brought the notion of branes to the forefront. As foreseen by Kontsevich, these turned out to have mathematical counterparts in the derived category of coherent sheaves on an algebraic variety and the Fukaya category of a symplectic manifold. This has led to exciting new work, including the Strominger-Yau-Zaslow conjecture, which used the theory of branes to propose a geometric basis for mirror symmetry, the theory of stability conditions on triangulated categories, and a physical basis for the McKay correspondence. These developments have led to a great deal of new mathematical work. One difficulty in understanding all aspects of this work is that it requires being able to speak two different languages, the language of string theory and the language of algebraic geometry. The 2002 Clay School on Geometry and String Theory set out to bridge this gap, and this monograph builds on the expository lectures given there to provide an up-to-date discussion including subsequent developments. A natural sequel to the first Clay monograph on Mirror Symmetry, it presents the new ideas coming out of the interactions of string theory and algebraic geometry in a coherent logical context. We hope it will allow students and researchers who are familiar with the language of one of the two fields to gain acquaintance with the language of the other. The book first introduces the notion of Dirichlet brane in the context of topological quantum field theories, and then reviews the basics of string theory. After showing how notions of branes arose in string theory, it turns to an introduction to the algebraic geometry, sheaf theory, and homological algebra needed to define and work with derived categories. The physical existence conditions for branes are then discussed and compared in the context of mirror symmetry, culminating in Bridgeland's definition of stability structures, and its applications to the McKay correspondence and quantum geometry. The book continues with detailed treatments of the Strominger-Yau-Zaslow conjecture, Calabi-Yau metrics and homological mirror symmetry, and discusses more recent physical developments. This book is suitable for graduate students and researchers with either a physics or mathematics background, who are interested in the interface between string theory and algebraic geometry.

Crystal Melting and Toric Calabi-Yau Manifolds

Abstract: We construct a statistical model of crystal melting to count BPS bound states of D0 and D2 branes on a single D6 brane wrapping an arbitrary toric Calabi-Yau threefold. The three-dimensional crystalline structure is determined by the quiver diagram and the brane tiling which characterize the low energy effective theory of D branes. The crystal is composed of atoms of different colors, each of which corresponds to a node of the quiver diagram, and the chemical bond is dictated by the arrows of the quiver diagram. BPS states are constructed by removing atoms from the crystal. This generalizes the earlier results on the BPS state counting to an arbitrary non-compact toric Calabi-Yau manifold. We point out that a proper understanding of the relation between the topological string theory and the crystal melting involves the wall crossing in the Donaldson-Thomas theory.

Non-geometric Backgrounds and the First Order String Sigma Model

Abstract: We study the first order form of the NS string sigma model allowing for worldsheet couplings corresponding on the target space to a bi-vector, a two-form and an inverse metric. Lifting the topological sector of this action to three dimensions produces several Wess-Zumino like terms which encode the bi-vector generalization of the Courant bracket. This bracket may be familiar to physicists through the (H_{ijk},F_{ij}^{k},Q_i^{jk},R^{ijk}) notation for non-geometric backgrounds introduced by Shelton-Taylor-Wecht. The non-geometricity of the string theory in encoded in the global properties of the bi-vector, when the bi-vector is a section then the string theory is geometric. Another interesting situation emerges when one considers membrane actions which are not equivalent to string theories on the boundary of the membrane. Such a situation arises when one attempts to describe the so-called R-space (the third T-dual of a T^3 with H_3 flux). This model appears to be, at least classically, described by a membrane sigma model, not a string theory. Examples of geometric backgrounds with bi-vector couplings and non-vanishing Q-coefficients are provided by gauged WZW models.

A Prehistory of n -Categorical Physics

Abstract: This paper traces the growing role of categories and n-categories in physics, starting with groups and their role in relativity, and leading up to more sophisticated concepts which manifest themselves in Feynman diagrams, spin networks, string theory, loop quantum gravity, and topological quantum field theory. Our chronology ends around 2000, with just a taste of later developments such as open-closed topological string theory, the categorification of quantum groups, Khovanov homology, and Lurie's work on the classification of topological quantum field theories.

The Classical Exchange Algebra of AdS5 x S^5

Abstract: The classical exchange algebra satisfied by the monodromy matrix of AdS5× S 5 string theory in the Green-Schwarz formulation is determined by using a first-order Hamiltonian formulation and by adding to the Bena-PolchinskiRoiban Lax connection terms proportional to constraints. This enables in particular to show that the conserved charges of this theory are in involution. This result is obtained for a general world-sheet metric. The same exchange algebra is obtained within the pure spinor description of AdS5 × S 5 string theory. These results are compared to the one obtained

Emergent Calabi-Yau geometry

Abstract: We show how the smooth geometry of Calabi-Yau manifolds emerges from the thermodynamic limit of the statistical mechanical model of crystal melting defined in our previous paper. In particular, the thermodynamic partition function of molten crystals is shown to be equal to the classical limit of the partition function of the topological string theory by relating the Ronkin function of the characteristic polynomial of the crystal melting model to the holomorphic 3-form on the corresponding Calabi-Yau manifold.

The Laplace transform of the cut-and-join equation and the Bouchard-Marino conjecture on Hurwitz numbers

Abstract: We calculate the Laplace transform of the cut-and-join equation of Goulden, Jackson and Vakil. The result is a polynomial equation that has the topological structure identical to the Mirzakhani recursion formula for the Weil-Petersson volume of the moduli space of bordered hyperbolic surfaces. We find that the direct image of this Laplace transformed equation via the inverse of the Lambert W-function is the topological recursion formula for Hurwitz numbers conjectured by Bouchard and Marino using topological string theory.

The Volume Conjecture and Topological Strings

Abstract: In this paper, we discuss a relation between Jones-Witten theory of knot invariants and topological open string theory on the basis of the volume conjecture. We find a similar Hamiltonian structure for both theories, and interpret the AJ conjecture as the D-module structure for a D-brane partition function. In order to verify our claim, we compute the free energy for the annulus contributions in the topological string using the Chern-Simons matrix model, and find that it coincides with the Reidemeister torsion in the case of the figure-eight knot complement and the SnapPea census manifold m009.

String theory and the Kauffman polynomial

Abstract: We propose a new, precise integrality conjecture for the colored Kauffman polynomial of knots and links inspired by large N dualities and the structure of topological string theory on orientifolds. According to this conjecture, the natural knot invariant in an unoriented theory involves both the colored Kauffman polynomial and the colored HOMFLY polynomial for composite representations, i.e. it involves the full HOMFLY skein of the annulus. The conjecture sheds new light on the relationship between the Kauffman and the HOMFLY polynomials, and it implies for example Rudolph's theorem. We provide various non-trivial tests of the conjecture and we sketch the string theory arguments that lead to it.

Black holes and large order quantum geometry

Abstract: We study five-dimensional black holes obtained by compactifying M theory on Calabi-Yau threefolds. Recent progress in solving topological string theory on compact, one-parameter models allows us to test numerically various conjectures about these black holes. We give convincing evidence that a microscopic description based on Gopakumar-Vafa invariants accounts correctly for their macroscopic entropy, and we check that highly nontrivial cancellations--which seem necessary to resolve the so-called entropy enigma in the Ooguri-Strominger-Vafa conjecture--do in fact occur. We also study analytically small 5d black holes obtained by wrapping M2 branes in the fiber of K3 fibrations. By using heterotic/type II duality we obtain exact formulae for the microscopic degeneracies in various geometries, and we compute their asymptotic expansion for large charges.

D-brane instantons and the effective field theory of flux compactifications

Abstract: We provide a description of the effects of fluxes on euclidean D-brane instantons purely in terms of the 4d effective action. The effect corresponds to the dressing of the effective non-perturbative 4d effective vertex with 4d flux superpotential interactions, generated when the moduli fields made massive by the flux are integrated out. The description in terms of effective field theory allows a unified description of non-perturbative effects in all flux compactifications of a given underlying fluxless model, globally in the moduli space of the latter. It also allows us to describe explicitly the effects on D-brane instantons of fluxes with no microscopic description, like non-geometric fluxes. At the more formal level, the description has interesting connections with the bulk-boundary map of open-closed two-dimensional topological string theory, and with the = 1 special geometry.

Remarks on Chern-Simons theory

Abstract: In the late 1980s Witten used the Chern-Simons form of a connection to construct new invariants of 3-manifolds and knots, recovering in particular the Jones invariants. Since then the associated topological quantum field theory (TQFT) has served as a key example in understanding the structure of TQFTs in general. We survey some of that structure with a particular focus on the "multi-tier" aspects. We discuss general axioms, generators-and-relations theorems, a priori constructions, dimensional reduction and K-theory, and Chern-Simons as a 0-1-2-3 theory. An appendix gives a lightening treatment of the Chern-Simons-Weil theory of connections. The paper concludes with general remarks about the Geometry-QFT-Strings interaction.

The Real Topological String on a local Calabi-Yau

Abstract: We study the topological string on local P2 with O-plane and D-brane at its real locus, using three complementary techniques. In the A-model, we refine localization on the moduli space of maps with respect to the torus action preserved by the anti-holomorphic involution. This leads to a computation of open and unoriented Gromov-Witten invariants that can be applied to any toric Calabi-Yau with involution. We then show that the full topological string amplitudes can be reproduced within the topological vertex formalism. We obtain the real topological vertex with trivial fixed leg. Finally, we verify that the same results derive in the B-model from the extended holomorphic anomaly equation, together with appropriate boundary conditions. The expansion at the conifold exhibits a gap structure that belongs to a so far unidentified universality class.

Matrix factorisations and open topological string theory

Abstract: Amplitudes in open topological string theory may be described completely by certain A∞-categories. We detail a general construction of all cyclic minimal models for a given A∞-algebra and apply this result to the case of = 2 supersymmetric Landau-Ginzburg models. This allows to solve the tree-level theory in the sense that all amplitudes and hence the effective superpotential can be computed algorithmically. Furthermore, the construction provides a novel derivation of the topological metric of such models.

Topological Strings and Quantum Curves

Abstract: This thesis presents several new insights on the interface between mathematics and theoretical physics, with a central role for Riemann surfaces. First of all, the duality between Vafa-Witten theory and WZW models is embedded in string theory. Secondly, this model is generalized to a web of dualities connecting topological string theory and N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories to a configuration of D-branes that intersect over a Riemann surface. This description yields a new perspective on topological string theory in terms of a KP integrable system based on a quantum curve. Thirdly, this thesis describes a geometric analysis of wall-crossing in N=4 string theory. And lastly, it offers a novel approach to constuct metastable vacua in type IIB string theory.

Topological Strings and Quantum Curves

Abstract: This thesis presents several new insights on the interface between mathematics and theoretical physics, with a central role for fermions on Riemann surfaces. First of all, the duality between Vafa-Witten theory and WZW models is embedded into string theory. Secondly, this model is generalized to a web of dualities connecting topological string theory and N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories to a configuration of D-branes that intersect over a Riemann surface. This description yields a new perspective on topological string theory in terms of a KP integrable system based on a quantum curve. Thirdly, this thesis describes a geometric analysis of wall-crossing in N=4 string theory. And lastly, it offers a novel approach to construct metastable vacua in type IIB string theory.

Matrix factorisations and open topological string theory

Abstract: Amplitudes in open topological string theory may be described completely by certain A-infinity-categories. We detail a general construction of all cyclic minimal models for a given A-infinity-algebra and apply this result to the case of N=2 supersymmetric Landau-Ginzburg models. This allows to solve the tree-level theory in the sense that all amplitudes and hence the effective superpotential can be computed algorithmically. Furthermore, the construction provides a novel derivation of the topological metric of such models.

Two-dimensional topological strings revisited

Abstract: The topological string of the type A with a two-dimensional target space is studied, an explicit formula for the string partition function is found and the target space field theory reproducing this partition function is proposed. This field theory has an infinite set of additional deformations overlooked by the standard definition of the topological string. It can be in turn coupled to gravity, thereby realizing the “worldsheets for worldsheets” idea. We also exhibit the wave function nature of the string partition function and suggest a new relation to quantum integrable systems.

Stable String Operations Are Trivial

Abstract: We show that in closed string topology and in open-closed string topology with one D-brane, higher genus stable string operations are trivial. This is a consequence of Harer's stability theorem and related stability results on the homology of mapping class groups of surfaces with boundaries. In fact, this vanishing result is a special case of a general result that applies to all homological conformal field theories with the property that in the associated topological quantum field theories, the string operations associated to genus 1 cobordisms with one or two boundaries vanish. In closed string topology, the base manifold can be either finite-dimensional, or infinite-dimensional with finite-dimensional cohomology for its based loop space. The above vanishing result is based on the triviality of string operations associated to the homology classes of mapping class groups that are in the image of stabilizing maps.

Sources for Chern-Simons theories

Abstract: The coupling between Chern-Simons theories and matter sources defined by branes of different dimensionalities is examined. It is shown that the standard coupling to membranes, such as the one found in supergravity or in string theory, does not operate in the same way for CS theories; the only p-branes that naturally couple seem to be those with p=2n; these p-branes break the gauge symmetry (and supersymmetry) in a controlled and sensible manner.

Borel and Stokes Nonperturbative Phenomena in Topological String Theory and c=1 Matrix Models

Abstract: We address the nonperturbative structure of topological strings and c=1 matrix models, focusing on understanding the nature of instanton effects alongside with exploring their relation to the large-order behavior of the 1/N expansion. We consider the Gaussian, Penner and Chern-Simons matrix models, together with their holographic duals, the c=1 minimal string at self-dual radius and topological string theory on the resolved conifold. We employ Borel analysis to obtain the exact all-loop multi-instanton corrections to the free energies of the aforementioned models, and show that the leading poles in the Borel plane control the large-order behavior of perturbation theory. We understand the nonperturbative effects in terms of the Schwinger effect and provide a semiclassical picture in terms of eigenvalue tunneling between critical points of the multi-sheeted matrix model effective potentials. In particular, we relate instantons to Stokes phenomena via a hyperasymptotic analysis, providing a smoothing of the nonperturbative ambiguity. Our predictions for the multi-instanton expansions are confirmed within the trans-series set-up, which in the double-scaling limit describes nonperturbative corrections to the Toda equation. Finally, we provide a spacetime realization of our nonperturbative corrections in terms of toric D-brane instantons which, in the double-scaling limit, precisely match D-instanton contributions to c=1 minimal strings.