The quiver approach to the BPS spectrum of a 4d N=2 gauge theory

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...

We apply ideas that have appeared in the study of D-branes on Calabi-Yau compactifications to the derivation of the BPS spectrum of field theories. In particular, we identify an orbifold point whose fractional branes can be thought of as ``partons'' of the BPS spectrum of N=2 pure SU(N) SYM. We derive the BPS spectrum and lines of marginal stability branes near that orbifold, and compare our results with the spectrum of the field theories.

We describe a simple method for determining the strong-coupling BPS spectrum of four dimensional N=2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. The idea is to represent the magnetic monopoles and dyons in terms of D-brane boundary states of a non-compact d=2 N=2 Landau-Ginzburg model. In this way the quantum truncated BPS spectrum at the origin of the moduli space can be directly mapped to the finite number of primary fields of the superconformal minimal models.

The BPS spectrum of many 4d N=2 theories may be seen as the (categorical) Galois cover of the BPS spectrum of a different 4d N=2 model. The Galois group G acts as a physical symmetry of the covering N=2 model. The simplest instance is SU(2) SQCD with N_f=2 quarks, whose BPS spectrum is a Z_2-cover of the BPS spectrum of pure SYM. More generally, N=2 SYM with simply--laced gauge group admits Z_k-covers for all k; e.g. the Z_2-cover of SO(8) SYM is SO(8) SYM coupled to two copi...

We demonstrate that $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric non-Abelian gauge theories have towers of BPS particles obeying a Regge relation, $J \sim m^{2},$ between their angular momenta, $J,$ and their masses, $m$. For $SU(N)$ Yang-Mills theories, we estimate the slope of these Regge trajectories using a non-relativistic quiver quantum mechanics model. Along the way, we also prove various structure theorems for the quiver moduli spaces that appear in the calculation.

It is possible to understand whether a given BPS spectrum is generated by a relevant deformation of a 4D N=2 SCFT or of an asymptotically free theory from the periodicity properties of the corresponding quantum monodromy. With the aim of giving a better understanding of the above conjecture, in this paper we revisit the description of framed BPS states of four-dimensional relativistic quantum field theories with eight conserved supercharges in terms of supersymmetric quantum ...

The weak coupling spectrum of BPS saturated states of pure $N=2$ supersymmetric SU$(n)$ gauge theory is investigated. The method uses known results on the dyon spectrum of the analogous theory with $N=4$ supersymmetry, along with the action on these states of the semi-classical monodromy transformations. For dyons whose magnetic charge is not a simple root of the Lie algebra, it is found that the weak coupling region is divided into a series of domains, for which the dyons ha...

We define the notion of a complete N=2 supersymmetric theory in 4 dimensions as a UV complete theory for which all the BPS central charges can be arbitrarily varied as we vary its Coulomb branch parameters, masses, and coupling constants. We classify all such theories whose BPS spectrum can be obtained via a quiver diagram. This is done using the 4d/2d correspondence and by showing that such complete N=2 theories map to quivers of finite mutation type. The list of such theori...

We study the spectrum of BPS particles on the Coulomb branch of five-dimensional superconformal field theories (5d SCFTs) compactified on a circle. By engineering these theories in M-theory on ${\mathbf X} \times S^1 $, for ${\mathbf X}$ an isolated Calabi-Yau threefold singularity, we naturally identify the BPS category of the 5d theory on a circle with the derived category of coherent sheaves on a resolution of ${\mathbf X}$. It follows that the BPS spectrum can be studied ...

The BPS spectrum of d=4 N=2 field theories in general contains not only hyper- and vector-multipelts but also short multiplets of particles with arbitrarily high spin. This paper extends the method of spectral networks to give an algorithm for computing the spin content of the BPS spectrum of d=4 N=2 field theories of class S. The key new ingredient is an identification of the spin of states with the writhe of paths on the Seiberg-Witten curve. Connections to quiver represent...