Two universal results for Wilson loops at strong coupling

We generalize Nakajima-Yoshioka's blowup formula to calculate the partition functions counting the spectrum of bound states to half-BPS Wilson loop operators in 5d (and 6d) supersymmetric field theories. The partition function in the presence of a Wilson loop operator on the $\Omega$-background is factorized when put on the blowup $\hat{\mathbb{C}}^2$ into two Wilson loop partition functions under the localization. This structure provides a set of blowup equations for Wilson ...

We construct the probe D5-brane solution in $AdS_5\times S^5$ dual to the $\frac{1}{4}$-BPS latitude Wilson loop in $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory in the $k$-antisymmetric representation of $SU(N)$. The solution is exact in the latitude parameter $\theta_0$ and correctly reproduces the $\frac{1}{2}$-BPS limit. We compute the string charge $k$ and the renormalized on-shell action perturbatively to order $\mathcal{O}\left(\theta_0^{10}\right)$ and find full agreement w...

This paper is a revised version of our recent publication Faber et al., Phys. Rev. D62 (2000) 025019, hep-th/9907048. The main revision concerns the expansion into group characters that we have used for the evaluation of path integrals over gauge degrees of freedom. In the present paper we apply the expansion recommended by Diakonov and Petrov in hep-lat/0008004. Our former expansion was approximate and in the region of the particular values of parameters violated the complet...

The holographic configurations dual to Wilson loops in higher rank representations in the ABJM theory are described by branes with electric flux along their world volumes. In particular, D2 and D6 branes with electric flux play a central role as potential dual to totally symmetric and totally antisymmetric representations, respectively. We compute the spectra of excitations of these brane configurations in both, the bosonic and fermionic sectors. We highlight a number of aspe...

We consider the VEV of Wilson loop operators by studying the behavior of string probes in solutions of Type IIB string theory generated by Nc D5 branes wrapped on an internal manifold. In particular, we focus on solutions to the background equations that are dual to field theories with a walking gauge coupling as well as for flavored systems. We present in detail our walking solution and emphasize various general aspects of the procedure to study Wilson loops using string dua...

We refine a previous proposal for obtaining the multi-instanton partition function from the supersymmetric index of the 1d supersymmetric gauge theory on the worldline of D0-branes. We provide examples where the refinements are crucial for obtaining the correct result.

We describe the behaviour of the Wilson loops for wrapped $D5$ systems. We start with the simplest such system possible and then add features to it bit by bit, and show how the Wilson loop is affected by them. This analysis led to the discovery of phase transitions. An interpretation why they occur is given and that knowledge is then used to construct systems with several phase transitions.

The Yangian level-one hypercharge generator for the super Wilson loop in N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory is constructed. Moreover, evidence for the presence of a corresponding symmetry generator at all higher levels is provided. The derivation is restricted to the strong-coupling description of the super Wilson loop and based on the construction of novel conserved charges for type IIB superstrings on AdS_5 x S^5.

We study supersymmetric Wilson loops from a geometrical perspective. To this end, we propose a new formulation of these operators in terms of an integral form associated to the immersion of the loop into a supermanifold. This approach provides a unifying description of Wilson loops preserving different sets of supercharges, and clarifies the flow between them. Moreover, it allows to exploit the powerful techniques of super-differential calculus for investigating their symmetr...

We obtain an explicit expression for the supersymmetric Wilson loop in terms of chiral superfields and supercurrents in superspace. The result turns out to be different from what one would expect from the simple replacement of Lie algebra valued connection in the exponent with the corresponding super-Lie algebraic one. Genralizing the super particle coupling represented by the supersymmetric Wilson loop, we show that there exists a unique dimensionless coupling of the superst...