# Publications

• by Finotello, Riccardo on 13 December 2018 at 3:44

arXiv:1812.04643by: Finotello, RiccardoAbstract: We consider the classical instantonic contribution to the open string configuration associated with three D-branes with relative rotation matrices in SO(4) which corresponds to the computation of the classical part of the correlator of three non Abelian twist fields. We write the classical solution as a sum of a product of two hypergeometric functions. Differently from all the previous cases with three D-branes, the solution is not holomorphic and suggests that the classical bosonic string knows when the configuration may be supersymmetric. We show how this configuration reduces to the standard Abelian twist field computation. From the phenomenological point of view, the Yukawa couplings between chiral matter at the intersection in this configuration are more suppressed with respect to the factorized case in the literature. […]

• by Orlando, Domenico on 30 November 2018 at 3:25

arXiv:1811.11764by: Orlando, DomenicoAbstract: In this note we give an explicit formula for the preserved Killing spinors in deformed string theory backgrounds corresponding to integrable Yang--Baxter deformations realized via (sequences of) TsT transformations. The Killing spinors can be expressed only in terms of the bi-vector $\Theta$ which encodes the deformation. This formula is applicable to deformed backgrounds related to $r$-matrices of various ranks, including those that do not satisfy the unimodularity condition and give rise to backgrounds in generalized supergravity. We conjecture that our formula also remains valid for integrable deformations which are not realized via TsT transformations and motivate this conjecture by explicit examples. […]

• by Castellani, Leonardo on 12 October 2018 at 2:08

arXiv:1810.03624ARC-18-06by: Castellani, LeonardoAbstract: It is convenient to describe a quantum system at all times by means of a "history operator" $C$, encoding measurements and unitary time evolution between measurements. These operators naturally arise when computing the probability of measurement sequences, and generalize the "sum over position histories " of the Feynman path-integral. As we argue in the present note, this description has some computational advantages over the usual state vector description, and may help to clarify some issues regarding nonlocality of quantum correlations and collapse. A measurement on a system described by $C$ modifies the history operator, $C \rightarrow PC$, where $P$ is the projector corresponding to the measurement. We refer to this modification as "history operator collapse". Thus $C$ keeps track of the succession of measurements on a system, and contains all histories compatible with the results of these measurements. The collapse modifies the history content of $C$, and therefore modifies also the past (relative to the measurement), but never in a way to violate causality. Probabilities of outcomes are obtained as $Tr(C^\dagger P C)/Tr(C^\dagger C)$. A similar formula yields probabilities for intermediate measurements, and reproduces the result of the two-vector formalism in the case of given initial and final states. We apply the history operator formalism to a few examples: entangler circuit, Mach-Zehnder interferometer, teleportation circuit, three-box experiment. Not surprisingly, the propagation of coordinate eigenstates $|q\rangle$ is described by a history operator $C$ containing the Feynman path-integral. […]

• by Favrod, Samuel on 19 September 2018 at 2:21

arXiv:1809.06371by: Favrod, Samuel (Zurich, ETH) et al.Abstract: In this note, we perform the large-charge expansion for non-relativistic systems with a global $U(1)$ symmetry in $3+1$ and $2+1$ space-time dimensions, motivated by applications to the unitary Fermi gas and anyons. These systems do not have full conformal invariance, but are invariant under the Schrödinger group. Also here, the low-energy physics is encoded by a Goldstone boson which is due to the breaking of the global symmetry when fixing the charge. We find that in $2+1$ dimensions and higher, there is a large-charge expansion in which quantum corrections are suppressed with respect to the next-to-leading order terms in the Lagrangian. We give the next-to-leading-order expressions for the ground state energy and the speed of sound. […]

• by Aschieri, Paolo on 18 September 2018 at 9:34

arXiv:1809.05426by: Aschieri, Paolo (Piemonte Orientale U., Alessandria) et al.Abstract: Seiberg-Witten maps are a well-established method to locally construct noncommutative gauge theories starting from commutative gauge theories. We revisit and classify the ambiguities and the freedom in the definition. Geometrically, Seiberg-Witten maps provide a quantization of bundles with connections. We study the case of U(n)-vector bundles on two-dimensional tori, prove the existence of globally defined Seiberg-Witten maps (induced from the plane to the torus) and show their compatibility with Morita equivalence. […]

• by Catenacci, R. on 26 July 2018 at 3:33

arXiv:1807.09563DISIT-18ARC-18-05by: Catenacci, R. (Piemonte Orientale U., Alessandria) et al.Abstract: Inspired by superstring field theory, we study differential, integral, and inverse forms and their mutual relations on a supermanifold from a sheaf-theoretical point of view. In particular, the formal distributional properties of integral forms are recovered in this scenario in a geometrical way. Further, we show how inverse forms extend the ordinary de Rham complex on a supermanifold, thus providing a mathematical foundation of the Large Hilbert Space used in superstrings. Last, we briefly discuss how the Hodge diamond of a supermanifold looks like, and we explicitly compute it for super Riemann surfaces. […]

• by Ashok, S.K. on 18 July 2018 at 2:24

arXiv:1807.06316by: Ashok, S.K. (IMSc, Chennai) et al.Abstract: We study half-BPS surface operators in four dimensional N=2 SU(N) gauge theories, and analyze their low-energy effective action on the four dimensional Coulomb branch using equivariant localization. We also study surface operators as coupled 2d/4d quiver gauge theories with an SU(N) flavour symmetry. In this description, the same surface operator can be described by different quivers that are related to each other by two dimensional Seiberg duality. We argue that these dual quivers correspond, on the localization side, to distinct integration contours that can be determined by the Fayet-Iliopoulos parameters of the two dimensional gauge nodes. We verify the proposal by mapping the solutions of the twisted chiral ring equations of the 2d/4d quivers onto individual residues of the localization integrand. […]

• by Aschieri, Paolo on 6 June 2018 at 15:50

arXiv:1806.01841by: Aschieri, PaoloAbstract: We study noncommutative principal bundles (Hopf--Galois extensions) in the context of coquasitriangular Hopf algebras and their monoidal category of comodule algebras. When the total space is quasi-commutative, and thus the base space subalgebra is central, we define the gauge group as the group of vertical automorphisms or equivalently as the group of equivariant algebra maps. We study Drinfeld twist (2-cocycle) deformations of Hopf--Galois extensions and show that the gauge group of the twisted extension is isomorphic to the gauge group of the initial extension. In particular noncommutative principal bundles arising via twist deformation of commutative principal bundles have classical gauge group. We illustrate the theory with a few examples. […]

• by Orlando, Domenico on 4 May 2018 at 2:03

arXiv:1805.00948KUNS-2731J.Phys. A51 (2018) 395401by: Orlando, Domenico (INFN, Turin) et al.Abstract: The Yang–Baxter deformation (yb deformation) is a systematic way of performing integrable deformations of 2D symmetric non-linear sigma models. The deformations can be labeled by classical r-matrices satisfying the classical yb equation. This yb deformation is also applicable to type IIB superstring theory defined on AdS. In this case, a simple class of yb deformations is associated with TsT transformations of string backgrounds. The data of this transformation is encoded in an antisymmetric bi-vector Θ (which is often called β field or non-commutativity parameter). In this article, we give a simple recipe for obtaining the explicit expression for the Killing spinors of the TsT transformed background starting from Θ. We moreover discuss the M-theory equivalent of the TsT transformation, allowing us to also give Killing spinors of 11D backgrounds. We discuss examples of TsT transformed backgrounds starting from flat space, and . We find that in this way we can relate the Ω-deformation to yb deformations. […]

• by Loukas, Orestis on 13 April 2018 at 2:47

arXiv:1804.04151Nucl.Phys. B934 (2018) 437-458by: Loukas, Orestis (U. Bern, AEC) et al.Abstract: Considering theories in sectors of large global charge Q results in a semiclassical effective field theory ( eft ) description for some strongly-coupled conformal field theories ( cfts ) with continuous global symmetries. Hence, when studying dualities at large charge, we can have control over the strongly coupled side of the duality and gain perturbative access to both dual pairs. […]

• by Hellerman, Simeon on 6 April 2018 at 2:45

arXiv:1804.01535CALT-TH-2018-014IPMU18-0059by: Hellerman, Simeon (Tokyo U., IPMU) et al.Abstract: Carrying to higher precision the large-$\mathcal{J}$ expansion of Hellerman and Maeda, we calculate to all orders in $1/\mathcal{J}$ the power-law corrections to the two-point functions $\mathcal{Y}_n \equiv |x - y|^{2n\Delta_{\mathcal{O}}} \langle {\mathcal{O}}_n(x) \bar{\mathcal{O}}_n(y) \rangle$ for generators $\mathcal{O}$ of Coulomb branch chiral rings in four-dimensional $\mathcal{N} =2$ superconformal field theories. We show these correlators have the universal large-$n$ expansion $\log(\mathcal{Y}_n) \simeq \mathcal{J} \mathbf{A} + \mathbf{B} + \log(\Gamma( \mathcal{J} + \alpha + 1)) ,$ where $\mathcal{J} \equiv 2 n \Delta_{\mathcal{O}}$ is the total $R$-charge of $\mathcal{O}_n$, the $\mathbf{A}$ and $\mathbf{B}$ are theory-dependent coefficients, $\alpha$ is the coefficient of the Wess-Zumino term for the Weyl $a$-anomaly, and the $\simeq$ denotes equality up to terms exponentially small in $\mathcal{J}$. Our methods combine the structure of the Coulomb-branch effective field theory (EFT) with the supersymmetric recursion relations. However, our results constrain the power-law corrections to all orders, even for non-Lagrangian theories to which the recursion relations do not apply. For the case of $\mathcal{N} = 2$ SQCD, we also comment on the nature of the exponentially small corrections, which can be calculated to high precision in the double-scaling limit recently discussed by Bourget et al. We show the exponentially small correction is consistent with the interpretation of the EFT breaking down due to the propagation of massive BPS particles over distances of order of the infrared scale $|x - y|$. […]

• by Samsonyan, Marine on 29 March 2018 at 10:13

PoS EPS-HEP2017 (2017) 546by: Samsonyan, Marine (CERN) et al.Abstract: We present a D-brane realisation of the Abelian and non-Abelian N = 2 ∗ theory both in five and four dimensions. We compute topological amplitudes in string theory for Ω deformed spacetime first with one and then with two parameters. In the field theory limit we recover the perturbative partition function of the deformed N = 2 ∗ theory in agreement with the existing literature. […]

• by Lambert, Neil on 19 March 2018 at 2:39

arXiv:1803.05916JHEP 1806 (2018) 136by: Lambert, Neil (King's Coll. London, Dept. Math) et al.Abstract: We consider supersymmetric deformations of gauge theories in various dimensions obtained from a String Theory realisation of branes embedded in flux backgrounds. In particular we obtain deformations which take the form of Wilson line defects, also obtained by a twisting of the R-symmetry into the gauge symmetry. Furthermore we construct higher-order generalisations, also expressed a twisting of the R-symmetry, that have symmetries associated to co-dimension two and three defects. […]

• by Billo, M. on 28 February 2018 at 3:21

ARC-18-03arXiv:1802.09813JHEP 1803 (2018) 193by: Billo, M. (Turin U.) et al.Abstract: We consider conformal N=2 super Yang-Mills theories with gauge group SU(N) and Nf=2N fundamental hypermultiplets in presence of a circular 1/2-BPS Wilson loop. It is natural to conjecture that the matrix model which describes the expectation value of this system also encodes the one-point functions of chiral scalar operators in presence of the Wilson loop. We obtain evidence of this conjecture by successfully comparing, at finite N and at the two-loop order, the one-point functions computed in field theory with the vacuum expectation values of the corresponding normal-ordered operators in the matrix model. For the part of these expressions with transcendentality zeta(3), we also obtain results in the large-N limit that are exact in the 't Hooft coupling lambda. […]

• by Castellani, Leonardo on 13 February 2018 at 3:19

ARC-18-02arXiv:1802.03407Fortsch.Phys. 66 (2018) 040014by: Castellani, Leonardo (Piemonte Orientale U., Alessandria)Abstract: We review the group-geometric approach to supergravity theories, in the perspective of recent developments and applications. Usual diffeomorphisms, gauge symmetries and supersymmetries are unified as superdiffeomorphisms in a supergroup manifold. Integration on supermanifolds is briefly revisited, and used as a tool to provide a bridge between component and superspace actions. As an illustration of the constructive techniques, the cases of $d=3,4$ off-shell supergravities and $d=5$ Chern-Simons supergravity are discussed in detail. A cursory account of $d=10+2$ supergravity is also included. We recall a covariant canonical formalism, well adapted to theories described by Lagrangians $d$-forms, that allows to define a form hamiltonian and to recast constrained hamiltonian systems in a covariant form language. Finally, group geometry and properties of spinors and gamma matrices in $d=s+t$ dimensions are summarized in Appendices. […]

• by Andrianopoli, L. on 25 January 2018 at 5:15

arXiv:1801.08081JHEP 1804 (2018) 007by: Andrianopoli, L. (Turin Polytechnic) et al.Abstract: In this paper we perform, in the spirit of the holographic correspondence, a particular asymptotic limit of N=2, AdS_4 supergravity to N=2 supergravity on a locally AdS_3 boundary. Our boundary theory enjoys OSp(2|2) x SO(1,2) invariance and is shown to contain the D=3 super-Chern Simons OSp(2|2) theory considered in [Alvarez:2011gd] and featuring "unconventional local supersymmetry". The model constructed in that reference describes the dynamics of a spin-1/2 Dirac field in the absence of spin 3/2 gravitini and was shown to be relevant for the description of graphene, near the Dirac points, for specific spatial geometries. Our construction yields the model in [Alvarez:2011gd] with a specific prescription on the parameters. In this framework the Dirac spin-1/2 fermion originates from the radial components of the gravitini in D=4. […]

• by Maccaferri, Carlo on 24 January 2018 at 2:21

arXiv:1801.07607JHEP 1803 (2018) 112by: Maccaferri, Carlo (INFN, Turin) et al.Abstract: We consider the construction of the algebraic part of D-branes tree-level effective action from Berkovits open superstring field theory. Applying this construction to the quartic potential of massless fields carrying a specific worldsheet charge, we show that the full contribution to the potential localizes at the boundary of moduli space, reducing to elementary two-point functions. As examples of this general mechanism, we show how the Yang-Mills quartic potential and the instanton effective action of a Dp/D(p − 4) system are reproduced. […]

• by Catenacci, Roberto on 16 January 2018 at 4:58

ARC-18-01arXiv:1801.04854Universe 4 (2018) 60by: Catenacci, Roberto (Rome U.) et al.Abstract: We use the techniques of integral forms to analyse the easiest example of two dimensional sigma models on a supermanifold. We write the action as an integral of a top integral form over a D=2 supermanifold and we show how to interpolate between different superspace actions. Then, we consider curved supermanifolds and we show that the definitions used for flat supermanifold can also be used for curved supermanifolds. We prove it by first considering the case of a curved rigid supermanifold and then the case of a generic curved supermanifold described by a single superfield $E$. […]

• by Ashok, S.K. on 20 December 2017 at 5:57

ARC-17-12arXiv:1712.06946JHEP 1805 (2018) 046by: Ashok, S.K. (IMSc, Chennai) et al.Abstract: We study half-BPS surface operators in 5d $\mathcal{N}$ = 1 gauge theories compactified on a circle. Using localization methods and the twisted chiral ring relations of coupled 3d/5d quiver gauge theories, we calculate the twisted chiral superpotential that governs the infrared properties of these surface operators. We make a detailed analysis of the localization integrand, and by comparing with the results from the twisted chiral ring equations, we obtain constraints on the 3d and 5d Chern-Simons levels so that the instanton partition function does not depend on the choice of integration contour. For these values of the Chern-Simons couplings, we comment on how the distinct quiver theories that realize the same surface operator are related to each other by Aharony-Seiberg dualities. […]

• by Rajan John, Renjan on 19 December 2017 at 6:38

by: Rajan John, Renjan (Chennai Math. Inst.)Abstract: In this thesis, we study gauge theories with N = 2 supersymmetry in four dimensions. The low energy effective action of these theories on their Coulomb branch is described by a holomorphic function called the prepotential. In the first half, we study linear conformal quiver theories with gauge group SU(2). These theories have an SU(2) gauge group at each node of the quiver, and matter arranged in the fundamental and the bi-fundamental representations, such that at each node the beta-function vanishes. To compute the prepotential for these theories, we follow three different approaches. These are (i) the classic Seiberg-Witten approach, in which we consider an M-theory construction of the Seiberg-Witten curve and the associated differential, (ii) equivariant localization as developed by Nekrasov, and (iii) the 2d/4d correspondence of the four dimensional gauge theory with the two dimensional Liouville conformal field theory, as put forward by Alday, Gaiotto, and Tachikawa. Matching the prepotential, we find out the precise map between the various parameters that appear in the three descriptions. In the latter half of the thesis, we study surface operators in the context of N=2* theories with gauge group SU(N). These theories describe the dynamics of a vector multiplet, and a massive hypermultiplet in the adjoint representation of the gauge group. Surface operators are non-local operators that have support on a two dimensional sub-manifold of the four dimensional spacetime. They are defined by the singularities they induce in the four-dimensional gauge fields, or can be characterized by the two-dimensional theory they support on their world-volume. The infrared dynamics on the world-volume of the two-dimensional surface operator is described by a holomorphic function called the twisted superpotential. Using localization techniques, we obtain the instanton partition function, and thereby the twisted superpotential of these theories. This involves taking a suitable orbifold of the original action without the surface operator. Imposing constraints from S-duality, we obtain a modular anomaly equation for the coefficients that appear in the mass expansion of the twisted superpotential. Solving the modular anomaly equation at each order, and comparing with the results obtained from localization, we resum the twisted superpotential in a mass series, whose coefficient functions depend on (quasi-) modular forms and elliptic functions of the bare coupling constant and the continuous (complex) parameters that describe the surface operator. We further show that our results for monodromy defects in the four-dimensional theory, match the effective twisted superpotential that describes the infrared properties of certain two dimensional sigma models couples to N=2* gauge theories. This provides strong evidence for the proposed duality between the two descriptions. […]

• by Castellani, L. on 21 November 2017 at 5:10

DISIT-2017YITP-17-68ARC-17-09arXiv:1711.07194JHEP 1805 (2018) 040JHEP 1807 (2018) 175by: Castellani, L. (Piemonte Orientale U., Alessandria) et al.Abstract: We reconstruct the action of $N=1, D=4$ Wess-Zumino and $N=1, 2, D=4$ super-Yang-Mills theories, using integral top forms on the supermanifold ${\cal M}^{(4|4)}$. Choosing different Picture Changing Operators, we show the equivalence of their rheonomic and superspace actions. The corresponding supergeometry and integration theory are discussed in detail. This formalism is an efficient tool for building supersymmetric models in a geometrical framework. […]

• by Gliozzi, Ferdinando on 16 November 2017 at 7:23

arXiv:1711.05530JHEP 1801 (2018) 113by: Gliozzi, Ferdinando (INFN, Turin)Abstract: We compute, to the first non-trivial order in the ϵ-expansion of a perturbed scalar field theory, the anomalous dimensions of an infinite class of primary operators with arbitrary spin ℓ = 0, 1, . . . , including as a particular case the weakly broken higher-spin currents, using only constraints from conformal symmetry. Following the bootstrap philosophy, no reference is made to any Lagrangian, equations of motion or coupling constants. Even the space dimensions d are left free. The interaction is implicitly turned on through the local operators by letting them acquire anomalous dimensions. […]

• by Fré, Pietro on 1 November 2017 at 5:48

YITP-17-114ARC-17-10arXiv:1710.11498by: Fré, Pietro (INFN, Turin) et al.Abstract: We consider super Yang-Mills theory on supermanifolds $\mathcal{M}^{(D|m)}$ using integral forms. The latter are used to define a geometric theory of integration and are essential for a consistent action principle. The construction relies on Picture Changing Operators $\mathbb{Y}^{(0|m)}$, analogous to those introduced in String Theory, that admit the geometric interpretation of Poincar\'e duals of closed submanifolds of superspace $\mathcal{S}^{(D|0)} \subset \mathcal{M}^{(D|m)}$ having maximal bosonic dimension $D$. We discuss the case of Super-Yang-Mills theory in $D=10$ with $\mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmetry and we show how to retrieve its pure-spinor formulation from the rheonomic lagrangian $\mathcal{L}_{rheo}$ of D'Auria, Fr\'e and Da Silva, choosing a suitable $\mathbb{Y}^{(0|m)}_{ps}$. From the same lagrangian $\mathcal{L}_{rheo}$, with another choice $\mathbb{Y}^{(0|m)}_{comp}$ of the PCO, one retrieves the component form of the SYM action. Equivalence of the formulations is ensured when the corresponding PCO.s are cohomologous, which is true, in this case, of $\mathbb{Y}^{(0|m)}_{ps}$ and $\mathbb{Y}^{(0|m)}_{comp}$. […]

• by Aschieri, Paolo on 1 November 2017 at 5:48

EMPG-17-16arXiv:1710.11467JHEP 1802 (2018) 036by: Aschieri, Paolo (Piemonte Orientale U., Alessandria) et al.Abstract: We systematically develop the metric aspects of nonassociative differential geometry tailored to the parabolic phase space model of constant locally non-geometric closed string vacua, and use it to construct preliminary steps towards a nonassociative theory of gravity on spacetime. We obtain explicit expressions for the torsion, curvature, Ricci tensor and Levi-Civita connection in nonassociative Riemannian geometry on phase space, and write down Einstein field equations. We apply this formalism to construct R-flux corrections to the Ricci tensor on spacetime, and comment on the potential implications of these structures in non-geometric string theory and double field theory. […]

• by Playle, Sam on 2 October 2017 at 3:27

arXiv:1709.10117JHEP 1802 (2018) 093by: Playle, Sam (INFN, Turin) et al.Abstract: We present an approach to the parametrization of (super) Schottky space obtained by sewing together three-punctured discs with strips. Different cubic ribbon graphs classify distinct sets of pinching parameters, we show how they are mapped onto each other. The parametrization is particularly well-suited to describing the region within (super) moduli space where open bosonic or Neveu-Schwarz string propagators become very long and thin, which dominates the IR behaviour of string theories. We show how worldsheet objects such as the Green’s function converge to graph theoretic objects such as the Symanzik polynomials in the α$^{′}$ → 0 limit, allowing us to see how string theory reproduces the sum over Feynman graphs. The (super) string measure takes on a simple and elegant form when expressed in terms of these parameters. […]