Michele Cirafici

Topological strings and large N phase transitions. II. Chiral expansion of q-deformed Yang-Mills theory

We continue our study of the large N phase transition in q-deformed Yang-Mills theory on the sphere and its role in connecting topological strings to black hole entropy. We study in detail the chiral theory defined in terms of uncoupled single U(N) representations at large N and write down the resulting partition function by means of the topological vertex. The emergent toric geometry has three Kaehler parameters, one of which corresponds to the expected fibration over the sphere. By taking a suitable double-scaling limit we recover the chiral Gross-Taylor string expansion. To analyse the phase transition we construct a matrix model which describes the chiral gauge theory. It has three distinct phases, one of which should be described by the closed topological string expansion. We verify this expectation by explicit comparison between the matrix model and the chiral topological string free energies. We also show that the critical point in the pertinent phase of the matrix model corresponds to a divergence of the topological string perturbation series.

Effective superpotentials via Konishi anomaly

We use Ward identities derived from the generalized Konishi anomaly in order to compute effective superpotentials for SU(N), SO(N) and Sp(N) supersymmetric gauge theories coupled to matter in various representations. In particular we focus on cubic and quartic tree level superpotentials. With this technique higher order corrections to the perturbative part of the effective superpotential can be easily evaluated.

Cohomological gauge theory, quiver matrix models and Donaldson-Thomas theory

We study the relation between Donaldson–Thomas theory of Calabi–Yau threefolds and a six-dimensional topological Yang–Mills theory. Our main example is the topological U(N) gauge theory on flat space in its Coulomb branch. To evaluate its partition function we use equivariant localization techniques on its noncommutative deformation. As a result the gauge theory localizes on noncommutative instantons which can be classified in terms of N-coloured three-dimensional Young diagrams. We give to these noncommutative instantons a geometrical description in terms of certain stable framed coherent sheaves on projective space by using a higher-dimensional generalization of the ADHM formalism. From this formalism we construct a topological matrix quantum mechanics which computes an index of BPS states and provides an alternative approach to the six-dimensional gauge theory.

Gravitational F-terms through anomaly equations and deformed chiral rings

We study effective gravitational F-terms, obtained by integrating an U(N) adjoint chiral superfield Φ coupled to the = 1 gauge chiral superfield Wα and supergravity, to arbitrary orders in the gravitational background. The latter includes in addition to the = 1 Weyl superfield Gαβγ, the self-dual graviphoton field strength Fαβ of the parent, broken = 2 theory. We first study the chiral ring relations resulting from the above non-standard gravitational background and find agreement, for gauge invariant operators, with those obtained from the dual closed string side via Bianchi identities for = 2 supergravity coupled to vector multiplets. We then derive generalized anomaly equations for connected correlators on the gauge theory side, which allow us to solve for the basic one-point function TrW2/(z−Φ) to all orders in F2. By generalizing the matrix model loop equation to the generating functional of connected correlators of resolvents, we prove that the gauge theory result coincides with the genus expansion of the associated matrix model, after identifying the expansion parameters on the two sides.

Topological strings and largeNphase transitions I: Nonchiral expansion ofq-deformed Yang-Mills theory

We continue our study of the large N phase transition in q-deformed Yang-Mills theory on the sphere and its role in connecting topological strings to black hole entropy. We study in detail the chiral theory defined in terms of uncoupled single U(N) representations at large N and write down the resulting partition function by means of the topological vertex. The emergent toric geometry has three Kahler parameters, one of which corresponds to the expected fibration over 1. By taking a suitable double-scaling limit we recover the chiral Gross-Taylor string expansion. To analyse the phase transition we construct a matrix model which describes the chiral gauge theory. It has three distinct phases, one of which should be described by the closed topological string expansion. We verify this expectation by explicit comparison between the matrix model and the chiral topological string free energies. We also show that the critical point in the pertinent phase of the matrix model corresponds to a divergence of the topological string perturbation series.

Black-holes, topological strings and large N phase transitions

The counting of microstates of BPS black-holes on local Calabi-Yau of the form (p−2)⊕(−p) → S2 is explored by computing the partition function of q-deformed Yang-Mills theory on S2. We obtain, at finite N, the instanton expansion of the gauge theory. It can be written exactly as the partition function for U(N) Chern-Simons gauge theory on a Lens space, summed over all non-trivial vacua, plus a tower of non-perturbative instanton contributions. In the large N limit we find a peculiar phase structure in the model. At weak string coupling the theory reduces to the trivial sector and the topological string partition function on the resolved conifold is reproduced in this regime. At a certain critical point, instantons are enhanced and the theory undergoes a phase transition into a strong coupling regime. The transition from the strong coupling phase to the weak coupling phase is of third order.

Crystal melting on toric surfaces

Abstract We study the relationship between the statistical mechanics of crystal melting and instanton counting in N = 4 supersymmetric U ( 1 ) gauge theory on toric surfaces. We argue that, in contrast to their six-dimensional cousins, the two problems are related but not identical. We develop a vertex formalism for the crystal partition function, which calculates a generating function for the dimension 0 and 1 subschemes of the toric surface, and describe the modifications required to obtain the corresponding gauge theory partition function.

Morita duality and noncommutative Wilson loops in two dimensions

We describe a combinatorial approach to the analysis of the shape and orientation dependence of Wilson loop observables on two-dimensional noncommutative tori. Morita equivalence is used to map the computation of loop correlators onto the combinatorics of non-planar graphs. Several strong nonperturbative evidences of symmetry breaking under area-preserving diffeomorphisms are thereby presented. Analytic expressions for correlators of Wilson loops with infinite winding number are also derived and shown to agree with results from ordinary Yang-Mills theory.

An example of localized D-branes solution on PP-wave backgrounds

In this note we provide an explicit example of type-IIB supersymmetric D3-branes solution on a pp-wave like background, consisting in the product of an eight-dimensional pp-wave times a two-dimensional flat space. An interesting property of our solution is the fully localization of the D3-branes (i.e. the solution depends on all the transverse coordinates). Then we show the generalization to other Dp-branes and to the D1/D5 system.

Instantons, Quivers and Noncommutative Donaldson-Thomas Theory

Abstract We construct noncommutative Donaldson–Thomas invariants associated with abelian orbifold singularities by analyzing the instanton contributions to a six-dimensional topological gauge theory. The noncommutative deformation of this gauge theory localizes on noncommutative instantons which can be classified in terms of three-dimensional Young diagrams with a colouring of boxes according to the orbifold group. We construct a moduli space for these gauge field configurations which allows us to compute its virtual numbers via the counting of representations of a quiver with relations. The quiver encodes the instanton dynamics of the noncommutative gauge theory, and is associated to the geometry of the singularity via the generalized McKay correspondence. The index of BPS states which compute the noncommutative Donaldson–Thomas invariants is realized via topological quantum mechanics based on the quiver data. We illustrate these constructions with several explicit examples, involving also higher rank Coulomb branch invariants and geometries with compact divisors, and connect our approach with other ones in the literature.