arXiv subjects

Francesco Mignosa

Publications and source records attributed to Francesco Mignosa.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Non-Abelian R-symmetry and dielectric branes

We study the holographic realization of the $SO(6)_R$ R-symmetry of $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills with unitary gauge group. Focusing on 1/2 BPS states in the $[0,J,0]$ representation of $SO(6)_R$, it is known that depending on the scaling of $J$ with $N$, these are best described holographically in terms of gravitational waves ($J\ll N$) or D3 brane giant gravitons ($J\sim N$). These two descriptions are bridged by the dielectric effect, as the D3 giant can be regarded as a puffed-up configuration of gravitational waves. The natural non-BPS branes for symmetry operators are either 4-branes or non-BPS Kaluza-Klein monopoles. We show that the former can be regarded as a dielectric expansion of the latter, in parallel to the charged operators. We also propose symTh and symTFT candidates for the $SO(6)_R$ symmetry, whose operators at the boundary must correspond to the non-BPS branes.

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arXiv2025

A Proposal for symTFTs and symThs from Holography

We propose an embedding of the symTFT construction in (finite cut-off) holography. The proposal passes several non-trivial consistency checks reproducing the expected symTFTs in various cases, including the recently discussed symTFT for the 1-form symmetry of 4d $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM. Moreover, we comment on the possibility of unifying the symTFT and the symTh descriptions via the democratic formulation of Supergravity, using the 4d $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM theory as an example.

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arXiv2025

The SymTFT of $u(N)$ Yang-Mills Theory and Holography

We propose a SymTFT for 4d $U(N)$ Yang-Mills theory and its variants. We show that the SymTFT reproduces the structure of the global one-form symmetry in these theories. We consider the holographic embedding of this SymTFT, and observe that SymTFT's containing continuous symmetries are not always obtained as a near boundary limit of the supergravity action.

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arXiv2025

R-symmetries, anomalies and non-invertible defects from non-BPS branes

We propose a holographic realization of symmetry operators for symmetries associated to isometries in terms of non-BPS Kaluza-Klein monopoles. Their existence is supported by dualities, and their action can be inferred by consistency with well-known String Theory constructions. We use our proposal to describe the $U(1)$ superconformal R-symmetry of the Klebanov-Witten 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ theory dual to Type IIB String Theory on $AdS_5\times T^{1,1}$. We precisely reproduce the expectations from field theory, including the 't Hooft self-anomaly of the R-symmetry and the mixed 't Hooft anomaly with the baryonic symmetry. For a choice of boundary conditions, the R-symmetry becomes non-invertible and the worldvolume action for the non-BPS Kaluza-Klein monopole precisely accounts for this.

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arXiv2025

Continuous symmetry defects and brane/anti-brane systems

We explicitly compute correlation functions with the insertion of a continuous symmetry defect in bosonic field theories. To recover the expected action, the definition of the defect must be modified to include a specific contact term. This can be regarded as a singular background gauge field for the global symmetry. It can be traced to the definition of the generating functional for current correlators, where the source is akin to a background gauge field for the symmetry. For holographic theories, it has been proposed that continuous symmetry defects are realized in terms of non-BPS $D(q-1)$ branes. We argue that these can be regarded as $Dq/\overline{Dq}$ system and show its application to the case of the baryonic symmetry in the Klebanov-Witten theory. The $Dq/\overline{Dq}$ can be regarded as a particular regularization of the defect, holographically realizing the field theory discussion.

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arXiv2024

String theory and the SymTFT of 3d orthosymplectic Chern-Simons theory

We revisit the 3d ${\cal N}=5$ Chern-Simons-Matter theory with orthosymplectic gauge group and its gravity dual from the perspective of generalized symmetries. We derive the corresponding 4d symmetry topological field theory from the gravity dual and relate the allowed boundary conditions to the different variants of the 3d theory. Concentrating on a specific variant that has a discrete non-abelian global symmetry, we explain how the structure of this symmetry arises from brane dynamics.

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arXiv2024

Non-BPS branes and continuous symmetries

We propose a holographic description of the operators implementing $U(1)$ global symmetries that are dual to superstring gauge fields in terms of non-BPS D-branes. We check the consistency of our proposal in a number of examples.

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arXiv2024

Complete prepotentials of 5d higher rank theories

We generalize recent methods regarding the construction of complete prepotentials of five dimensional SCFTs to two classes of rank-$N$ theories, i.e. the $X_{1,N}$ and the UV fixed point of the $SU(N+1)_0+2(N+1)$F gauge theories. Their complete prepotentials are consistently constructed starting from their weakly coupled description. The results are verified by employing UV dualities and decoupling of flavors from theories with known complete prepotentials. Applications of these results to the recent investigation of non-supersymmetric conformal field theories from soft supersymmetric breaking deformations are addressed.

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arXiv2023

5d SCFTs and their non-supersymmetric cousins

We consider generalisations of the recently proposed supersymmetry breaking deformation of the 5d rank-1 $E_1$ superconformal field theory to higher rank. We generalise the arguments to theories which admit a mass deformation leading to gauge theories coupled to matter hypermultiplets at low energies. These theories have a richer space of non-supersymmetric deformations, due to the existence of a larger global symmetry. We show that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the non-SUSY deformations of the gauge theory and their $(p,q)$ 5-brane web. We comment on the (in)stability of these deformations both from the gauge theory and the 5-brane web point of view. UV duality plays a key role in our analysis, fixing the effective Chern-Simons level for the background vector multiplets, together with their complete prepotential. We partially classify super-Yang-Mills theories known to enjoy UV dualities which show a phase transition where different phases are separated by a jump of Chern-Simons levels of both a perturbative and an instantonic global symmetry. When this transition can be reached by turning on a non-supersymmetric deformation of the UV superconformal field theory, it can be a good candidate to host a 5d non-supersymmetric CFT. We also discuss consistency of the proposed phase diagram with the 't Hooft anomalies of the models that we analyse.

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arXiv2022

On non-supersymmetric fixed points in five dimensions

We generalize recent results regarding the phase space of the mass deformed $E_1$ fixed point to a full class of five-dimensional superconformal field theories, known as $X_{1,N}$. As in the $E_1$ case, a phase transition occurs as a supersymmetry preserving and a supersymmetry breaking mass deformations are appropriately tuned. The order of such phase transition could not be unequivocally determined in the $E_1$ case. For $X_{1,N}$ instead, we can show that at large $N$ there exists a regime where the phase transition is second order. Our findings give supporting evidence for the existence of non-supersymmetric fixed points in five dimensions.

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arXiv2021

Supersymmetry breaking deformations and phase transitions in five dimensions

We analyze a recently proposed supersymmetry breaking mass deformation of the $E_1$ superconformal fixed point in five dimensions which, at weak gauge coupling, leads to pure $SU(2)$ Yang-Mills and which was conjectured to lead to an interacting CFT at strong coupling. We provide an explicit geometric construction of the deformation using brane-web techniques and show that for large enough gauge coupling a global symmetry is spontaneously broken and the theory enters a new phase which, at infinite coupling, displays an instability. The Yang-Mills and the symmetry broken phases are separated by a phase transition. Depending on the structure of the potential, this can be first or second order.

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arXiv2020

Vacuum structure of large $N$ QCD$_3$ from holography

We study the vacuum structure of three-dimensional $SU(N)$ gauge theory coupled to a Chern-Simons term at level $k$ and to $F$ fundamental Dirac fermions. We use a large $N$ holographic description based on a D3/D7 system in type IIB string theory compactified on a supersymmetry breaking circle. The multiple vacua of the theory and the transitions between them are nicely captured by the dual holographic background. The resulting phase diagram, which we derive both at leading and first subleading orders in the $1/N$ expansion, shows a rich structure where topological field theories, non-linear sigma models and first-order phase transitions appear.

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arXiv2019

Charting the phase diagram of QCD$_\mathbf{3}$

We study the phase diagram of $SU(N)$ gauge theory in three space-time dimensions with a Chern-Simons term at level $k$, coupled to two sets of fundamental fermions with masses $m_1$ and $m_2$, respectively. The two-dimensional phase diagram that we propose shows a rich structure and widens in an interesting way previous results in the literature, to which it reduces in some limits. We present several checks of our proposal, including consistency with boson/fermion dualities. In this respect, we extensively comment on the structure of the scalar potential which is needed on the bosonic side of the duality.

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