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Giulio Bonelli

Publications and source records attributed to Giulio Bonelli.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Flags of sheaves, quivers and symmetric polynomials

We study the representation theory of the nested instantons quiver presented in [1], which describes a particular class of surface defects in four-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories. We show that the moduli space of its stable representations provides an ADHM-like construction for nested Hilbert schemes of points on $\mathbb C^2$, for rank one, and for the moduli space of flags of framed torsion-free sheaves on $\mathbb P^2$, for higher rank. We introduce a natural torus action on this moduli space and use equivariant localization to compute some of its (virtual) topological invariants, including the case of compact toric surfaces. We conjecture that the generating function of holomorphic Euler characteristics for rank one is given in terms of polynomials in the equivariant weights, which, for specific numerical types, coincide with (modified) Macdonald polynomials.

math.AG↗

Circular quiver gauge theories, isomonodromic deformations and $W_N$ fermions on the torus

We study the relation between class S theories on punctured tori and isomonodromic deformations of flat SL(N) connections on the two dimensional torus with punctures. Turning on the self dual $Ω$-background corresponds to a deautonomization of the Seiberg-Witten integrable system which implies a specific time dependence in its Hamiltonians. We show that the corresponding $τ$-function is proportional to the dual gauge theory partition function, the proportionality factor being a non trivial function of the solution of the deautonomized Seiberg-Witten integrable system. This is obtained by mapping the isomonodromic deformation problem to $W_N$ free fermion correlators on the torus.

hep-th↗

Elliptic non-Abelian Donaldson-Thomas invariants of $\mathbb{C}^3$

We compute the elliptic genus of the D1/D7 brane system in flat space, finding a non-trivial dependence on the number of D7 branes, and provide an F-theory interpretation of the result. We show that the JK-residues contributing to the elliptic genus are in one-to-one correspondence with coloured plane partitions and that the elliptic genus can be written as a chiral correlator of vertex operators on the torus. We also study the quantum mechanical system describing D0/D6 bound states on a circle, which leads to a plethystic exponential formula that can be connected to the M-theory graviton index on a multi-Taub-NUT background. The formula is a conjectural expression for higher-rank equivariant K-theoretic Donaldson-Thomas invariants on $\mathbb{C}^3$.

hep-th↗

$\mathcal{N}=2^*$ gauge theory, free fermions on the torus and Painlevé VI

In this paper we study the extension of Painlevé/gauge theory correspondence to circular quivers by focusing on the special case of $SU(2)$ $\mathcal{N}=2^*$ theory. We show that the Nekrasov-Okounkov partition function of this gauge theory provides an explicit combinatorial expression and a Fredholm determinant formula for the tau-function describing isomonodromic deformations of $SL_2$ flat connections on the one-punctured torus. This is achieved by reformulating the Riemann-Hilbert problem associated to the latter in terms of chiral conformal blocks of a free-fermionic algebra. This viewpoint provides the exact solution of the renormalization group flow of the $SU(2)$ $\mathcal{N}=2^*$ theory on self-dual $Ω$-background and, in the Seiberg-Witten limit, an elegant relation between the IR and UV gauge couplings.

hep-th↗

Defects, nested instantons and comet shaped quivers

We introduce and study a surface defect in four dimensional gauge theories supporting nested instantons with respect to the parabolic reduction of the gauge group at the defect. This is engineered from a D3/D7-branes system on a non compact Calabi-Yau threefold $X$. For $X=T^2\times T^*{\mathcal C}_{g,k}$, the product of a two torus $T^2$ times the cotangent bundle over a Riemann surface ${\mathcal C}_{g,k}$ with marked points, we propose an effective theory in the limit of small volume of ${\mathcal C}_{g,k}$ given as a comet shaped quiver gauge theory on $T^2$, the tail of the comet being made of a flag quiver for each marked point and the head describing the degrees of freedom due to the genus $g$. Mathematically, we obtain for a single D7-brane conjectural explicit formulae for the virtual equivariant elliptic genus of a certain bundle over the moduli space of the nested Hilbert scheme of points on the affine plane. A connection with elliptic cohomology of character varieties and an elliptic version of modified Macdonald polynomials naturally arises.

hep-th↗

$T\bar T$-deformations in closed form

We consider the problem of exact integration of the $T\bar{T}$-deformation of two dimensional quantum field theories, as well as some higher dimensional extensions in the form of $\det T$-deformations. When the action can be shown to only depend algebraically on the background metric the solution of the deformation equation on the Lagrangian can be given in closed form in terms of solutions of the (extended) Burgers' equation. We present such examples in two and higher dimensions.

hep-th↗

Quantum curves and $q$-deformed Painlevé equations

We propose that the grand canonical topological string partition functions satisfy finite-difference equations in the closed string moduli. In the case of genus one mirror curve these are conjectured to be the q-difference Painlevé equations as in Sakai's classification. More precisely, we propose that the tau-functions of q-Painlevé equations are related to the grand canonical topological string partition functions on the corresponding geometry. In the toric cases we use topological string/spectral theory duality to give a Fredholm determinant representation for the above tau-functions in terms of the underlying quantum mirror curve. As a consequence, the zeroes of the tau-functions compute the exact spectrum of the associated quantum integrable systems. We provide details of this construction for the local $\mathbb{P}^1\times \mathbb{P}^1$ case, which is related to q-difference Painlevé with affine $A_1$ symmetry, to $SU(2)$ Super Yang-Mills in five dimensions and to relativistic Toda system.

hep-th↗

$\mathcal{N}=2$ gauge theories on unoriented/open four-manifolds and their AGT counterparts

We compute the exact path integral of $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric gauge theories with general gauge group on $\mathbb{RP}^4$ and a $\mathbb{Z}_2$-quotient of the hemi-$S^4$. By specializing to $SU(2)$ superconformal quivers, we show that these, together with hemi-$S^4$ partition functions, compute Liouville correlators on unoriented/open Riemann surfaces. We perform explicit checks for Riemann surfaces obtained as $\mathbb{Z}_2$ quotients of the sphere and the torus. We also discuss the coupled $3d\!-\!4d$ systems associated to Liouville amplitudes with boundary punctures.

hep-th↗

New results in $\mathcal{N}=2$ theories from non-perturbative string

We describe the magnetic phase of SU(N) $\mathcal{N}=2$ Super Yang-Mills theories in the self-dual Omega background in terms of a new class of multi-cut matrix models. These arise from a non-perturbative completion of topological strings in the dual four dimensional limit which engineers the gauge theory in the strongly coupled magnetic frame. The corresponding spectral determinants provide natural candidates for the tau functions of isomonodromy problems for flat spectral connections associated to the Seiberg-Witten geometry.

hep-th↗

On Painlevé/gauge theory correspondence

We elucidate the relation between Painlevé equations and four-dimensional rank one ${\cal N= 2}$ theories by identifying the connection associated to Painlevé isomonodromic problems with the oper limit of the flat connection of the Hitchin system associated to gauge theories and by studying the corresponding renormalisation group flow. Based on this correspondence we provide long-distance expansions at various canonical rays for all Painlevé functions in terms of magnetic and dyonic Nekrasov partition functions for ${\cal N= 2}$ SQCD and Argyres-Douglas theories at self-dual Omega background $ε_1+ε_2= 0$, or equivalently in terms of $c= 1$ irregular conformal blocks.

hep-th↗

Seiberg-Witten theory as a Fermi gas

We explore a new connection between Seiberg-Witten theory and quantum statistical systems by relating the dual partition function of SU(2) Super Yang-Mills theory in a self-dual Omega-background to the spectral determinant of an ideal Fermi gas. We show that the spectrum of this gas is encoded in the zeroes of the Painleve III tau function. In addition we find that the Nekrasov partition function on this background can be expressed as an O(2) matrix model. Our construction arises as a four-dimensional limit of a recently proposed conjecture relating topological strings and spectral theory. In this limit, we provide a mathematical proof of the conjecture for the local P1xP1 geometry.

hep-th↗

Symmetry enhancements via 5d instantons, qW-algebrae and (1,0) superconformal index

We explore N=(1,0) superconformal six-dimensional theories arising from M5-branes probing a transverse A_k singularity. Upon circle compactification to 5 dimensions, we describe this system with a dual pq-web of five-branes and propose the spectrum of basic five-dimensional instanton operators driving global symmetry enhancement. For a single M5-brane, we find that the exact partition function of the 5d quiver gauge theory matches the 6d (1,0) index, which we compute by letter counting. We finally show that S-duality of the pq-web implies new relations among vertex correlators of qW-algebrae.

hep-th↗

Exact results for ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric gauge theories on compact toric manifolds and equivariant Donaldson invariants

We provide a contour integral formula for the exact partition function of ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric $U(N)$ gauge theories on compact toric four-manifolds by means of supersymmetric localisation. We perform the explicit evaluation of the contour integral for $U(2)$ ${\cal N}=2$ theory on $\mathbb{P}^2$ for all instanton numbers. In the zero mass case, corresponding to the ${\cal N}=4$ supersymmetric gauge theory, we obtain the generating function of the Euler characteristics of instanton moduli spaces in terms of mock-modular forms. In the decoupling limit of infinite mass we find that the generating function of local and surface observables computes equivariant Donaldson invariants, thus proving in this case a long-standing conjecture by N. Nekrasov. In the case of vanishing first Chern class the resulting equivariant Donaldson polynomials are new.

hep-th↗

$\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric gauge theories on $S^2\times S^2$ and Liouville Gravity

We consider $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric gauge theories on four manifolds admitting an isometry. Generalized Killing spinor equations are derived from the consistency of supersymmetry algebrae and solved in the case of four manifolds admitting a $U(1)$ isometry. This is used to explicitly compute the supersymmetric path integral on $S^2\times S^2$ via equivariant localization. The building blocks of the resulting partition function are shown to contain the three point functions and the conformal blocks of Liouville Gravity.

hep-th↗

Quantum Cohomology and Quantum Hydrodynamics from Supersymmetric Quiver Gauge Theories

We study the connection between N = 2 supersymmetric gauge theories, quantum cohomology and quantum integrable systems of hydrodynamic type. We consider gauge theories on ALE spaces of A and D-type and discuss how they describe the quantum cohomology of the corresponding Nakajima's quiver varieties. We also discuss how the exact evaluation of local BPS observables in the gauge theory can be used to calculate the spectrum of quantum Hamiltonians of spin Calogero integrable systems and spin Intermediate Long Wave hydrodynamics. This is explicitly obtained by a Bethe Ansatz Equation provided by the quiver gauge theory in terms of its adjacency matrix.

hep-th↗

Vortex partition functions, wall crossing and equivariant Gromov-Witten invariants

In this paper we identify the problem of equivariant vortex counting in a $(2,2)$ supersymmetric two dimensional quiver gauged linear sigma model with that of computing the equivariant Gromov-Witten invariants of the GIT quotient target space determined by the quiver. We provide new contour integral formulae for the ${\cal I}$ and ${\cal J}$-functions encoding the equivariant quantum cohomology of the target space. Its chamber structure is shown to be encoded in the analytical properties of the integrand. This is explained both via general arguments and by checking several key cases. We show how several results in equivariant Gromov-Witten theory follow just by deforming the integration contour. In particular we apply our formalism to compute Gromov-Witten invariants of the $\mathbb{C}^3/\mathbb{Z}_n$ orbifold, of the Uhlembeck (partial) compactification of the moduli space of instantons on $\mathbb {C}^2$ and of $A_n$ and $D_n$ singularities both in the orbifold and resolved phases. Moreover, we analyse dualities of quantum cohomology rings of holomorphic vector bundles over Grassmannians, which are relevant to BPS Wilson loop algebrae.

hep-th↗

Six-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories, quantum cohomology of instanton moduli spaces and gl(N) Quantum Intermediate Long Wave Hydrodynamics

We show that the exact partition function of U(N) six-dimensional gauge theory with eight supercharges on C^2 x S^2 provides the quantization of the integrable system of hydrodynamic type known as gl(N) periodic Intermediate Long Wave (ILW). We characterize this system as the hydrodynamic limit of elliptic Calogero-Moser integrable system. We compute the Bethe equations from the effective gauged linear sigma model on S^2 with target space the ADHM instanton moduli space, whose mirror computes the Yang-Yang function of gl(N) ILW. The quantum Hamiltonians are given by the local chiral ring observables of the six-dimensional gauge theory. As particular cases, these provide the gl(N) Benjamin-Ono and Korteweg-de Vries quantum Hamiltonians. In the four dimensional limit, we identify the local chiral ring observables with the conserved charges of Heisenberg plus W_N algebrae, thus providing a gauge theoretical proof of AGT correspondence.

hep-th↗