Mina Aganagic

The Topological Vertex

We construct a cubic field theory which provides all genus amplitudes of the topological A-model for all non-compact toric Calabi-Yau threefolds. The topology of a given Feynman diagram encodes the topology of a fixed Calabi-Yau, with Schwinger parameters playing the role of Kähler classes of the threefold. We interpret this result as an operatorial computation of the amplitudes in the B-model mirror which is the quantum Kodaira-Spencer theory. The only degree of freedom of this theory is an unconventional chiral scalar on a Riemann surface. In this setup we identify the B-branes on the mirror Riemann surface as fermions related to the chiral boson by bosonization.

Matrix model as a mirror of Chern-Simons theory

Using mirror symmetry, we show that Chern-Simons theory on certain manifolds such as lens spaces reduces to a novel class of hermitean matrix models, where the measure is that of unitary matrix models. We show that this agrees with the more conventional canonical quantization of Chern-Simons theory. Moreover, large-N dualities in this context lead to computation of all genus A-model topological amplitudes on toric Calabi-Yau manifolds in terms of matrix integrals. In the context of type-IIA superstring compactifications on these Calabi-Yau manifolds with wrapped D6 branes (which are dual to M-theory on G2 manifolds) this leads to engineering and solving F-terms for = 1 supersymmetric gauge theories with superpotentials involving certain multi-trace operators.

Disk Instantons, Mirror Symmetry and the Duality Web

We apply the methods recently developed for computation of type IIA disk instantons using mirror symmetry to a large class of D-branes wrapped over Lagrangian cycles of non-compact Calabi-Yau 3-folds. Along the way we clarify the notion of “flat coordinates” for the boundary theory. We also discover an integer IR ambiguity needed to define the quantum theory of D-branes wrapped over non-compact Lagrangian submanifolds. In the large N dual Chern-Simons theory, this ambiguity is mapped to the UV choice of the framing of the knot. In a type IIB dual description involving (p; q) 5-branes, disk instantons of type IIA get mapped to (p; q) string instantons. The M-theory lift of these results lead to computation of superpotential terms generated by M2 brane instantons wrapped over 3-cycles of certain manifolds of G2 holonomy

Black holes, q-deformed 2d Yang–Mills, and non-perturbative topological strings

We count the number of bound states of BPS black holes on local Calabi-Yau three-folds involving a Riemann surface of genus g. We show that the corresponding gauge theory on the brane reduces to a q-deformed Yang-Mills theory on the Riemann surface. Following the recent connection between the black hole entropy and the topological string partition function, we find that for a large black hole charge N, up to corrections of O(e^-N), Z_BH is given as a sum of a square of chiral blocks, each of which corresponds to a specific D-brane amplitude. The leading chiral block, the vacuum block, corresponds to the closed topological string amplitudes. The sub-leading chiral blocks involve topological string amplitudes with D-brane insertions at 2g-2 points on the Riemann surface analogous to the Omega points in the large N 2d Yang-Mills theory. The finite N amplitude provides a non-perturbative definition of topological strings in these backgrounds. This also leads to a novel non-perturbative formulation of c=1 non-critical string at the self-dual radius.

All Loop Topological String Amplitudes from Chern-Simons Theory

We demonstrate the equivalence of all loop closed topological string amplitudes on toric local Calabi-Yau threefolds with computations of certain knot invariants for Chern-Simons theory. We use this equivalence to compute the topological string amplitudes in certain cases to very high degree and to all genera. In particular we explicitly compute the topological string amplitudes for 2 up to degree 12 and 1× 1 up to total degree 10 to all genera. This also leads to certain novel large N dualities in the context of ordinary superstrings, involving duals of type II superstrings on local Calabi-Yau three-folds without any fluxes.

Quantum Geometry of Refined Topological Strings

A bstractWe consider branes in refined topological strings. We argue that their wavefunctions satisfy a Schrödinger equation depending on multiple times and prove this in the case where the topological string has a dual matrix model description. Furthermore, in the limit where one of the equivariant rotations approaches zero, the brane partition function satisfies a time-independent Schrödinger equation. We use this observation, as well as the back reaction of the brane on the closed string geometry, to offer an explanation of the connection between integrable systems and

Unstable solitons in noncommutative gauge theory

\mathcal{N}=2

A stringy origin of M2 brane Chern–Simons theories

gauge systems in four dimensions observed by Nekrasov and Shatashvili.

Mirror symmetry and a G2 flop

We find a class of exact solutions of noncommutative gauge theories corresponding to unstable non-BPS solitons. In the two-dimensional euclidean (or 2+1 dimensional lorentzian) U(1) theory we find localized solutions carrying nonzero magnetic flux. In four euclidean dimensions we find non-BPS solutions with the same Pontrjagin charge but greater energy than the usual self-dual Yang-Mills instanton. We conjecture that these solutions and generalizations thereof correspond to nonsupersymmetric configurations of D(p−2k)-branes (or intersections thereof) in a Dp-brane in the noncommutative scaling limit of large B-field. In the particular case of a 0-brane on a 2-brane the analysis of small fluctuations reveals an infinite tower of states which agrees exactly with that of the 0-2 CFT in the scaling limit. The spectrum contains a tachyon, and we show explicitly that the endpoint of tachyon condensation corresponds to the 0-brane dissolved in the 2-brane.

Mirror symmetry in 2+1 and 1+1 dimensions

Abstract We show that string duality relates M-theory on a local Calabi–Yau fourfold singularity X 4 to type IIA string theory on a Calabi–Yau threefold X 3 fibered over a real line, with RR 2-form fluxes turned on. The RR flux encodes how the M-theory circle is fibered over the IIA geometry. The theories on N D2 branes probing X 3 are the well-known quiver theories with N = 2 supersymmetry in three dimensions. We show that turning on fluxes, and fibering the X 3 over a direction transverse to the branes, corresponds to turning on N = 2 Chern–Simons couplings. String duality implies that, in the strong coupling limit, the N D2 branes on X 3 in this background become N M2 branes on X 4 . This provides a string theory derivation for the recently conjectured description of the M2 brane theories on Calabi–Yau fourfolds in terms of N = 2 quiver Chern–Simons theories. We also provide a new N = 2 Chern–Simons theory dual to AdS 4 × Q 1 , 1 , 1 . Type IIA/M-theory duality also relates IIA string theory on X 3 with only the RR fluxes turned on, to M-theory on a G 2 holonomy manifold. We show that this implies that the N M2 branes probing the G 2 manifold are described by the quiver Chern–Simons theory originating from the D2 branes probing X 3 , except that now Chern–Simons terms preserve only N = 1 supersymmetry in three dimensions.