Toric Duality, Seiberg Duality and Picard-Lefschetz Transformations

We provide a general set of rules for extracting the data defining a quiver gauge theory from a given toric Calabi-Yau singularity. Our method combines information from the geometry and topology of Sasaki-Einstein manifolds, AdS/CFT, dimers, and brane tilings. We explain how the field content, quantum numbers, and superpotential of a superconformal gauge theory on D3-branes probing a toric Calabi-Yau singularity can be deduced. The infinite family of toric singularities with ...

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 $n$ ...

Fractional branes added to a large stack of D3-branes at the singularity of a Calabi-Yau cone modify the quiver gauge theory breaking conformal invariance and leading to different kinds of IR behaviors. For toric singularities admitting complex deformations we propose a simple method that allows to compute the anomaly free rank distributions in the gauge theory corresponding to the fractional deformation branes. This algorithm fits Altmann's rule of decomposition of the toric...

We present a general solution to the problem of determining all S-dual descriptions for a specific (but very rich) class of $\mathcal{N} = 1$ SCFTs. These SCFTs are indexed by decorated toric diagrams, and can be engineered in string theory by probing orientifolds of isolated toric singularities with D3 branes. The S-dual phases are described by quiver gauge theories coupled to specific types of conformal matter which we describe explicitly. We illustrate our construction wit...

Harnessing the unimodular degree of freedom in the definition of any toric diagram, we present a method of constructing inequivalent gauge theories which are world-volume theories of D-branes probing the same toric singularity. These theories are various phases in partial resolution of Abelian orbifolds. As examples, two phases are constructed for both the zeroth Hirzebruch and the second del Pezzo surfaces. We show that such a phenomenon is a special case of ``Toric Duality'...

We study one-parameter families of $U(1)^2$ preserving deformations relating pairs of toric quiver gauge theories on D-branes probing local toric (pseudo) del Pezzo surfaces. The superpotential deformations are defined by zig-zag paths in the brane tiling and are non-trivial in the chiral ring if the geometry has a non-isolated singularity. In the dual $(p,q)$ web, the deformation is realized as a Hanany-Witten move that reverses a semi-infinite fivebrane. We use these deform...

Three-branes at a given toric Calabi-Yau singularity lead to different phases of the conformal field theory related by toric (Seiberg) duality. Using the dimer model/brane tiling description in terms of bipartite graphs on a torus, we find a new invariant under Seiberg duality, namely the Klein j-invariant of the complex structure parameter in the distinguished isoradial embedding of the dimer, determined by the physical R-charges. Additional number theoretic invariants are d...

In this article we explore the duality between the low energy effective theory of five-dimensional N=1 SU(N)^{M-1} and SU(M)^{N-1} linear quiver gauge theories compactified on S^1. The theories we study are the five-dimensional uplifts of four-dimensional superconformal linear quivers. We study this duality by comparing the Seiberg-Witten curves and the Nekrasov partition functions of the two dual theories. The Seiberg-Witten curves are obtained by minimizing the worldvolume ...

We study the wall-crossing phenomena of BPS D4-D2-D0 states on the conifold and orbifold C^2/Z_2, from the viewpoint of the quiver quantum mechanics on the D-branes. The Kahler moduli dependence of the BPS index is translated into the FI parameter dependence of the Witten index. The wall-crossing phenomena are related to the Seiberg dualities of the quiver quantum mechanics. All the differences from the D6-D2-D0 case arise from the additional superpotential and "anti-quark" i...

We study gauge theories on the world-volume of D3-branes probing singularities. Seiberg duality can be realized as a sequence of Picard-Lefschetz monodromies on 3-cycles in the mirror manifold. In previous work, the precise meaning of gauge theories obtained by monodromies that do not correspond to Seiberg duality was unclear. Recently, it was pointed out that these theories contain tachyons, suggesting that the collection of marginally bound branes at the singularity is unst...