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

We study the correspondence between AdS$_3$ massive IIA supergravity vacua and two-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=(0,4)$ quiver quantum field theories. After categorizing all kinds of gravity solutions, we demystify the ones that seem to reflect anomalous gauge theories. In particular, we prove that there are bound states of D-branes on the boundary of the space which provide the dual quiver theory with exactly the correct amount of flavor symmetry in order to cancel its gauge anom...

We review the connection of $Y$- and $Q$-systems with the BPS spectra of $4D$ $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric QFTs. For each finite BPS chamber of a $\mathcal{N}=2$ model which is UV superconformal, one gets a periodic $Y$-system, while for each finite BPS chamber of an asymptotically-free $\mathcal{N}=2$ QFT one gets a $Q$-system i.e. a rational recursion all whose solutions satisfy a linear recursion with constant coefficients (depending on the initial conditions). For insta...

A large class of N=2 quantum field theories admits a BPS quiver description and the study of their BPS spectra is then reduced to a representation theory problem. In such theories the coupling to a line defect can be modelled by framed quivers. The associated spectral problem characterises the line defect completely. Framed BPS states can be thought of as BPS particles bound to the defect. We identify the framed BPS degeneracies with certain enumerative invariants associated ...

We exactly evaluate the partition function (index) of N=4 supersymmetric quiver quantum mechanics in the Higgs phase by using the localization techniques. We show that the path integral is localized at the fixed points, which are obtained by solving the BRST equations, and D-term and F-term conditions. We turn on background gauge fields of R-symmetries for the chiral multiplets corresponding to the arrows between quiver nodes, but the partition function does not depend on the...

After an introduction to N=2 susy Yang-Mills theories, I review in some detail, for the SU(2) gauge group, how the low-energy effective action is obtained using duality and the constraints arising from the supersymmetry. Then I discuss how knowledge of this action, duality and certain discrete symmetries allow us to determine the spectra of stable BPS states at any point in moduli space. This is done for gauge group SU(2), without and with fundamental matter hypermultiplets w...

We study BPS line defects in N=2 supersymmetric four-dimensional field theories. We focus on theories of "quiver type," those for which the BPS particle spectrum can be computed using quiver quantum mechanics. For a wide class of models, the renormalization group flow between defects defined in the ultraviolet and in the infrared is bijective. Using this fact, we propose a way to compute the BPS Hilbert space of a defect defined in the ultraviolet, using only infrared data. I...

The spectrum of chiral operators in supersymmetric quiver gauge theories is typically much larger in the free limit, where the superpotential terms vanish. We find that the finite N counting of operators in any free quiver theory, with a product of unitary gauge groups, can be described by associating Young diagrams and Littlewood-Richardson multiplicities to a simple modification of the quiver, which we call the split-node quiver. The large N limit leads to a surprisingly si...

We study the BPS particle spectrum of five-dimensional superconformal field theories (SCFTs) on $\mathbb{R}^4\times S^1$ with one-dimensional Coulomb branch, by means of their associated BPS quivers. By viewing these theories as arising from the geometric engineering within M-theory, the quivers are naturally associated to the corresponding local Calabi-Yau threefold. We show that the symmetries of the quiver, descending from the symmetries of the Calabi-Yau geometry, togethe...

The BPS state spectrum in four-dimensional gauge theories or string vacua with N=2 supersymmetries is well known to depend on the values of the parameters or moduli at spatial infinity. The BPS index is locally constant, but discontinuous across real codimension-one walls where some of the BPS states decay. By postulating that BPS states are bound states of more elementary constituents carrying their own degrees of freedom and interacting via supersymmetric quantum mechanics,...

We show the existence of a supersymmetry-breaking mechanism in string theory, where N=4 supersymmetry is broken spontaneously to N=2 and N=1 with moduli-dependent gravitino masses. The BPS spectrum of the theory with lower supersymmetry is in one-to-one correspondence with the spectrum of the heterotic N=4 string. The mass splitting of the N=4 spectrum depends on the moduli as well as the three R-symmetry charges. In the case of N=4 \to N=2, the perturbative N=2 prepotential ...