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Chiung Hwang

Publications and source records attributed to Chiung Hwang.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2018

Holonomy Saddles and Supersymmetry

In gauge theories on a spacetime equipped with a circle, the holonomy variables, living in the Cartan torus, play special roles. With their periodic nature properly taken into account, we find that a supersymmetric gauge theory in $d$ dimensions tends to reduce in the small radius limit to a disjoint sum of multiple $(d-1)$ dimensional theories at distinct holonomies, called $H$-saddles. The phenomenon occurs regardless of the spacetime dimensions, and here we explore such $H$-saddles for $d=4$ $\cal N=1$ theories on $T^2$ fibred over $Σ_g$, in the limits of elongated $T^2$. This naturally generates novel relationships between 4d and 3d partition functions, including ones between 4d and 3d Witten indices, and also leads us to re-examine recent studies of the Cardy exponents and the Casimir energies and of their purported connections to the 4d anomalies.

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arXiv2017

Twisted Partition Functions and $H$-Saddles

While studying supersymmetric $G$-gauge theories, one often observes that a zero-radius limit of the twisted partition function $Ω^G$ is computed by the partition function ${\cal Z}^G$ in one less dimensions. We show that this type of identification fails generically due to integrations over Wilson lines. Tracing the problem, physically, to saddles with reduced effective theories, we relate $Ω^G$ to a sum of distinct ${\cal Z}^H$'s and classify the latter, dubbed $H$-saddles. This explains why, in the context of pure Yang-Mills quantum mechanics, earlier estimates of the matrix integrals ${\cal Z}^{G}$ had failed to capture the recently constructed bulk index ${\cal I}^G_{\rm bulk}$. The purported agreement between 4d and 5d instanton partition functions, despite such subtleties also present in the ADHM data, is explained.

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arXiv2017

Fundamental Vortices, Wall-Crossing, and Particle-Vortex Duality

We explore 1d vortex dynamics of 3d supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories, as inferred from factorization of exact partition functions. Under Seiberg-like dualities, the 3d partition function must remain invariant, yet it is not a priori clear what should happen to the vortex dynamics. We observe that the 1d quivers for the vortices remain the same, and the net effect of the 3d duality map manifests as 1d Wall-Crossing phenomenon; Although the vortex number can shift along such duality maps, the ranks of the 1d quiver theory are unaffected, leading to a notion of fundamental vortices as basic building blocks for topological sectors. For Aharony-type duality, in particular, where one must supply extra chiral fields to couple with monopole operators on the dual side, 1d wall-crossings of an infinite number of vortex quiver theories are neatly and collectively encoded by 3d determinant of such extra chiral fields. As such, 1d wall-crossing of the vortex theory encodes the particle-vortex duality embedded in the 3d Seiberg-like duality. For $\mathcal N = 4$, the D-brane picture is used to motivate this 3d/1d connection, while, for $\mathcal N = 2$, this 3d/1d connection is used to fine-tune otherwise ambiguous vortex dynamics. We also prove some identities of 3d supersymmetric partition functions for the Aharony duality using this vortex wall-crossing interpretation.

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arXiv2015

General instanton counting and 5d SCFT

Instanton partition functions of 5d N=1 gauge theories are Witten indices for the ADHM gauged quantum mechanics with (0,4) SUSY. We derive the integral contour prescriptions for these indices using the Jeffrey-Kirwan method, for gauge theories with hypermultiplets in various representations. The results can be used to study various 4d/5d/6d QFTs. In this paper, we study 5d SCFTs which are at the UV fixed points of 5d SYM theories. In particular, we focus on the Sp(N) theories with N_f \leq 7 fundamental and 1 antisymmetric hypermultiplets, living on the D4-D8-O8 systems. Their superconformal indices calculated from instantons all show E_{N_f+1} symmetry enhancements. We also discuss some aspects of the 6d SCFTs living on the M5-M9 system. It is crucial to understand the UV incompleteness of the 5d SYM, coming from small instantons in our problem. We explain in our examples how to fix them. As an aside, we derive the index for general gauged quantum mechanics with (0,2) SUSY.

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arXiv2015

Factorization of the 3d superconformal index with an adjoint matter

We work out the factorization of the 3d superconformal index for N = 2 $U(N_c)$ gauge theory withone adjoint chiral multiplet as well as $N_f$ fundamental, $N_a$ anti-fundamental chiral multiplets. Using the factorization,one can prove the Seiberg-like duality for N = 4 $U(N_c)$ theory with $N_f$ hypermultiplets at the index level. We explicitlyshow that monopole operators violating unitarity bound in a bad theory are mapped to free hypermultiplets in the dual side. For N = 2 $U(N_c)$ theory with one adjoint matter $X$, $N_f$ fundamental, $N_a$ anti-fundamental chiral multiplets with superpotential $W = tr X^{n+1}$, we work out Seiberg-like duality for this theory. The index computation provides combinatorial identities for a dual pair, which we carry out intensive numerical checks.

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arXiv2015

Hilbert Series for Theories with Aharony Duals

The algebraic structure of moduli spaces of 3d N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories is studied by computing the Hilbert series which is a generating function that counts gauge invariant operators in the chiral ring. These U(N_c) theories with N_f flavors have Aharony duals and their moduli spaces receive contributions from both mesonic and monopole operators. In order to compute the Hilbert series, recently developed techniques for Coulomb branch Hilbert series in 3d N=4 are extended to 3d N=2. The Hilbert series computation leads to a general expression of the algebraic variety which represents the moduli space of the U(N_c) theory with N_f flavors and its Aharony dual theory. A detailed analysis of the moduli space is given, including an analysis of the various components of the moduli space.

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arXiv2013

Factorization of the 3d superconformal index

We prove that 3d superconformal index for general $\mathcal N=2$ U(N) gauge group with fundamentals and anti-fundmentals with/without Chern-Simons terms is factorized into vortex and anti-vortex partition function. We show that for simple cases, 3d vortex partition function coincides with a suitable topological open string partition function. We provide much more elegant derivation at the index level for $\mathcal N=2$ Seiberg-like dualities of unitary gauge groups with fundamantal matters and $\mathcal N=4$ mirror symmetry

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arXiv2012

Duality between N=5 and N=6 Chern-Simons matter theory

We provide evidences for the duality between ${\cal N}=6$ $U(M)_{4} \times U(N)_{-4}$ Chern-Simons matter theory and ${\cal N}=5$ $O(\hat{M})_{2} \times USp(2\hat{N})_{-1}$ theory for a suitable $\hat{M},\hat{N}$ by working out the superconformal index, which shows perfect matching. For ${\cal N}=5$ theories, we show that supersymmetry is enhanced to ${\cal N}=6$ by explicitly constructing monopole operators filling in $SO(6)_R$ $R$-currents. Finally we work out the large $N$ index of $O(2N)_{2k} \times USp(2N)_{-k}$ and show that it exactly matches with the gravity index on $AdS_4 \times S^7/D_k$, which further provides additional evidence for the duality between the ${\cal N}=5$ and ${\cal N}=6$ theory for $k=1$

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arXiv2011

Evidence for Aharony duality for orthogonal gauge groups

We study the Aharony duality for three dimensional $\mathcal N=2$ supersymmetric gauge theories for orthogonal gauge groups with matters in vector representation. We provide the evidence for the duality by working out the partition function on $S^3$ and the superconformal index, which show perfect agreement.

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