Quiver Topology and RG Dynamics

Quivers, gauge theories and singular geometries are of great interest in both mathematics and physics. In this note, we collect a few open questions which have arisen in various recent works at the intersection between gauge theories, representation theory, and algebraic geometry. The questions originate from the study of supersymmetric gauge theories in different dimensions with different supersymmetries. Although these constitute merely the tip of a vast iceberg, we hope th...

The possibility that non-supersymmetric quiver theories may have a renormalization-group fixed point at which there is conformal invariance requires non-perturbative information.

Abelian quiver gauge theories provide nonsupersymmetric candidates for the conformality approach to physics beyond the standard model. Written as ${\cal N}=0$, $U(N)^n$ gauge theories, however, they have mixed $U(1)_p U(1)_q^2$ and $U(1)_p SU(N)_q^2$ triangle anomalies. It is shown how to construct explicitly a compensatory term $\Delta{\cal L}_{comp}$ which restores gauge invariance of ${\cal L}_{eff} = {\cal L} + \Delta {\cal L}_{comp}$ under $U(N)^n$. It can lead to a nega...

We study the duality group of $\hat{A}_{n-1}$ quiver gauge theories, primarily using their M5-brane construction. For $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetry, this duality group was first noted by Witten to be the mapping class group of a torus with $n$ punctures. We find that it is a certain quotient of this group that acts faithfully on gauge couplings. This quotient group contains the affine Weyl group of $\hat{A}_{n-1}$, $\mathbb{Z}_n$ and $SL(2,\mathbb{Z})$. In fact there are $n$ ...

We describe an infinite family of quiver gauge theories that are AdS/CFT dual to a corresponding class of explicit horizon Sasaki-Einstein manifolds. The quivers may be obtained from a family of orbifold theories by a simple iterative procedure. A key aspect in their construction relies on the global symmetry which is dual to the isometry of the manifolds. For an arbitrary such quiver we compute the exact R-charges of the fields in the IR by applying a-maximization. The value...

In this work we compare different descriptions of the space of vacua of certain three dimensional N=4 superconformal field theories, compactified on a circle and mass-deformed to N=2 in a canonical way. The original N=4 theories are known to admit two distinct mirror descriptions as linear quiver gauge theories, and many more descriptions which involve the compactification on a segment of four-dimensional N=4 super Yang-Mills theory. Each description gives a distinct presenta...

We study effective quiver gauge theories arising from a stack of D3-branes on certain Calabi-Yau singularities. Our point of view is a first principle approach via open topological string theory. This means that we construct the natural A-infinity-structure of open string amplitudes in the associated D-brane category. Then we show that it precisely reproduces the results of the method of brane tilings, without having to resort to any effective field theory computations. In pa...

This review describes the conformality approach to extending the standard model of particle phenomenology using an assumption of no conformal anomaly at high energy. Topics include quiver gauge theory, the conformality approach to phenomenology, strong-electroweak unification at 4 TeV, cancellation of quadratic divergences, cancellation of U(1) anomalies, and a dark matter candidate.

We propose a scenario for dynamical supersymmetry breaking in string compactifications based on geometric engineering of quiver gauge theories. In particular we show that the runaway behavior of fractional branes at del Pezzo singularities can be stabilized by a flux superpotential in compact models. Our construction relies on homological mirror symmetry for orientifolds.

We examine orbifolds of the IIB string via gauged supergravity. For the gravity duals of the A_{n-1} quiver gauge theories, we extract the massless degrees of freedom and assemble them into multiplets of N=4 gauged supergravity in five dimensions. We examine the embedding of the gauge group into the isometry group of the scalar manifold, as well as the symmetries of the scalar potential. From this we find that there is a large SU(1,n) symmetry group which relates different RG...