arXiv subjects

Sameer Murthy

Publications and source records attributed to Sameer Murthy.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Fermions on replica geometries and the $Θ$-$θ$ relation

In arXiv:1706:09426 we conjectured and provided evidence for an identity between Siegel $Θ$-constants for special Riemann surfaces of genus $n$ and products of Jacobi $θ$-functions. This arises by comparing two different ways of computing the \nth \Renyi entropy of free fermions at finite temperature. Here we show that for $n=2$ the identity is a consequence of an old result due to Fay for doubly branched Riemann surfaces. For $n>2$ we provide a detailed matching of certain zeros on both sides of the identity. This amounts to an elementary proof of the identity for $n=2$, while for $n\ge 3$ it gives new evidence for it. We explain why the existence of additional zeros renders the general proof difficult.

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arXiv2018

Entanglement, Replicas, and Thetas

We compute the single-interval Renyi entropy (replica partition function) for free fermions in 1+1d at finite temperature and finite spatial size by two methods: (i) using the higher-genus partition function on the replica Riemann surface, and (ii) using twist operators on the torus. We compare the two answers for a restricted set of spin structures, leading to a non-trivial proposed equivalence between higher-genus Siegel $Θ$-functions and Jacobi $θ$-functions. We exhibit this proposal and provide substantial evidence for it. The resulting expressions can be elegantly written in terms of Jacobi forms. Thereafter we argue that the correct Renyi entropy for modular-invariant free-fermion theories, such as the Ising model and the Dirac CFT, is given by the higher-genus computation summed over all spin structures. The result satisfies the physical checks of modular covariance, the thermal entropy relation, and Bose-Fermi equivalence.

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arXiv2017

Squashed toric sigma models and mock modular forms

We study a class of two-dimensional N=(2,2) sigma models called squashed toric sigma models, using their Gauged Linear Sigma Models (GLSM) description. These models are obtained by gauging the global U(1) symmetries of toric GLSMs and introducing a set of corresponding compensator superfields. The geometry of the resulting vacuum manifold is a deformation of the corresponding toric manifold in which the torus fibration maintains a constant size in the interior of the manifold, thus producing a neck-like region. We compute the elliptic genus of these models, using localization, in the case when the unsquashed vacuum manifolds obey the Calabi-Yau condition. The elliptic genera have a non-holomorphic dependence on the modular parameter $τ$ coming from the continuum produced by the neck. In the simplest case corresponding to squashed $\mathbb{C}/\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ the elliptic genus is a mixed mock Jacobi form which coincides with the elliptic genus of the N=(2,2) SL(2,R)/U(1) cigar coset.

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arXiv2017

Localization of supersymmetric field theories on non-compact hyperbolic three-manifolds

We study supersymmetric gauge theories with an R-symmetry, defined on non-compact, hyperbolic, Riemannian three-manifolds, focusing on the case of a supersymmetry-preserving quotient of Euclidean AdS$_3$. We compute the exact partition function in these theories, using the method of localization, thus reducing the problem to the computation of one-loop determinants around a supersymmetric locus. We evaluate the one-loop determinants employing three different techniques: an index theorem, the method of pairing of eigenvalues, and the heat kernel method. Along the way, we discuss aspects of supersymmetry in manifolds with a conformal boundary, including supersymmetric actions and boundary conditions.

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arXiv2016

Single-centered black hole microstate degeneracies from instantons in supergravity

We obtain holographic constraints on the microscopic degeneracies of black holes by computing the exact macroscopic quantum entropy using localization, including the effects of string worldsheet instantons in the supergravity effective action. For $\frac14$-BPS black holes in type II string theory on $K3 \times T^{2}$, the constraints can be explicitly checked against expressions for the microscopic BPS counting functions that are known in terms of certain mock modular forms. We find that the effect of including the infinite sum over instantons in the holomorphic prepotential of the supergravity leads to a sum over Bessel functions with successively sub-leading arguments as in the Rademacher expansion of Jacobi forms -- but begins to disagree with such a structure near an order where the mock modular nature becomes relevant. This leads to a systematic method to recover the polar terms of the microscopic degeneracies from the degeneracy of instantons (the Gromov-Witten invariants). We check explicitly that our formula agrees with the known microscopic answer for the first seven values of the magnetic charge invariant.

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arXiv2015

F-Theory, Spinning Black Holes and Multi-string Branches

We study 5d supersymmetric black holes which descend from strings of generic $\mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ supergravity in 6d. These strings have an F-theory realization in 6d as D3 branes wrapping smooth genus $g$ curves in the base of elliptic 3-folds. They enjoy $(0,4)$ worldsheet supersymmetry with an extra $SU(2)_L$ current algebra at level $g$ realized on the left-movers. When the smooth curves degenerate they lead to multi-string branches and we find that the microscopic worldsheet theory flows in the IR to disconnected 2d CFTs having different central charges. The single string sector is the one with maximal central charge, which when wrapped on a circle, leads to a 5d spinning BPS black hole whose horizon volume agrees with the leading entropy prediction from the Cardy formula. However, we find new phenomena where this branch meets other branches of the CFT. These include multi-string configurations which have no bound states in 6 dimensions but are bound through KK momenta when wrapping a circle, as well as loci where the curves degenerate to spheres. These loci lead to black hole configurations which can have total angular momentum relative to a Taub-Nut center satisfying $J^2 > M^3$ and whose number of states, though exponentially large, grows much slower than those of the large spinning black hole.

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arXiv2015

Functional determinants, index theorems, and exact quantum black hole entropy

The exact quantum entropy of BPS black holes can be evaluated using localization in supergravity. An important ingredient in this program, that has been lacking so far, is the one-loop effect arising from the quadratic fluctuations of the exact deformation (the $Q\mathcal{V}$ operator). We compute the fluctuation determinant for vector multiplets and hyper multiplets around $Q$-invariant off-shell configurations in four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ supergravity with $AdS_{2} \times S^{2}$ boundary conditions, using the Atiyah-Bott fixed-point index theorem and a subsequent zeta function regularization. Our results extend the large-charge on-shell entropy computations in the literature to a regime of finite charges. Based on our results, we present an exact formula for the quantum entropy of BPS black holes in $\mathcal{N}=2$ supergravity. We explain cancellations concerning $\frac18$-BPS black holes in $\mathcal{N}=8$ supergravity that were observed in arXiv:1111.1161. We also make comments about the interpretation of a logarithmic term in the topological string partition function in the low energy supergravity theory.

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arXiv2015

Nonperturbative black hole entropy and Kloosterman sums

Non-perturbative quantum corrections to supersymmetric black hole entropy often involve nontrivial number-theoretic phases called Kloosterman sums. We show how these sums can be obtained naturally from the functional integral of supergravity in asymptotically AdS_2 space for a class of black holes. They are essentially topological in origin and correspond to charge-dependent phases arising from the various gauge and gravitational Chern-Simons terms and boundary Wilson lines evaluated on Dehn-filled solid 2-torus. These corrections are essential to obtain an integer from supergravity in agreement with the quantum degeneracies, and reveal an intriguing connection between topology, number theory, and quantum gravity. We give an assessment of the current understanding of quantum entropy of black holes.

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arXiv2014

ADE Double Scaled Little String Theories, Mock Modular Forms and Umbral Moonshine

We consider double scaled little string theory on $K3$. These theories are labelled by a positive integer $k \ge 2$ and an $ADE$ root lattice with Coxeter number $k$. We count BPS fundamental string states in the holographic dual of this theory using the superconformal field theory $K3 \times \left( \frac{SL(2,\mathbb{R})_k}{U(1)} \times \frac{SU(2)_k}{U(1)} \right) \big/ \mathbb{Z}_k$. We show that the BPS fundamental string states that are counted by the second helicity supertrace of this theory give rise to weight two mixed mock modular forms. We compute the helicity supertraces using two separate techniques: a path integral analysis that leads to a modular invariant but non-holomorphic answer, and a Hamiltonian analysis of the contribution from discrete states which leads to a holomorphic but not modular invariant answer. From a mathematical point of view the Hamiltonian analysis leads to a mixed mock modular form while the path integral gives the completion of this mixed mock modular form. We also compare these weight two mixed mock modular forms to those that appear in instances of Umbral Moonshine labelled by Niemeier root lattices $X$ that are powers of $ADE$ root lattices and find that they are equal up to a constant factor that we determine. In the course of the analysis we encounter an interesting generalization of Appell-Lerch sums and generalizations of the Riemann relations of Jacobi theta functions that they obey.

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arXiv2014

A holomorphic anomaly in the elliptic genus

We consider a class of gauged linear sigma models (GLSMs) in two dimensions that flow to non-compact (2,2) superconformal field theories in the infra-red, a prototype of which is the SL(2,\IR)/U(1) (cigar) coset. We compute the elliptic genus of the GLSMs as a path-integral on the torus using supersymmetric localization. We find that the result is a Jacobi-like form that is non-holomorphic in the modular parameter $τ$ of the torus, with mock modular behavior. This agrees with a previously-computed expression in the cigar coset. We show that the lack of holomorphicity of the elliptic genus arises from the contributions of a compact boson with momentum and winding around the torus. This boson has an axionic shift symmetry and plays the role of a compensator field that is needed to cancel the chiral anomaly in the rest of the theory.

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arXiv2014

Elliptic genera of ALE and ALF manifolds from gauged linear sigma models

We compute the equivariant elliptic genera of several classes of ALE and ALF manifolds using localization in gauged linear sigma models. In the sigma model computation the equivariant action corresponds to chemical potentials for U(1) currents and the elliptic genera exhibit interesting pole structure as a function of the chemical potentials. We use this to decompose the answers into polar terms that exhibit wall crossing and universal terms. We compare our results to previous results on the large radius limit of the Taub-NUT elliptic genus and also discuss applications of our results to counting of BPS world-sheet spectrum of monopole strings in the 5d N=2 super Yang-Mills theory and self-dual strings in the 6d N=(2,0) theories.

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arXiv2014

Quantum Black Holes, Wall Crossing, and Mock Modular Forms

We show that the meromorphic Jacobi form that counts the quarter-BPS states in N=4 string theories can be canonically decomposed as a sum of a mock Jacobi form and an Appell-Lerch sum. The quantum degeneracies of single-centered black holes are Fourier coefficients of this mock Jacobi form, while the Appell-Lerch sum captures the degeneracies of multi-centered black holes which decay upon wall-crossing. The completion of the mock Jacobi form restores the modular symmetries expected from $AdS_3/CFT_2$ holography but has a holomorphic anomaly reflecting the non-compactness of the microscopic CFT. For every positive integral value m of the magnetic charge invariant of the black hole, our analysis leads to a special mock Jacobi form of weight two and index m, which we characterize uniquely up to a Jacobi cusp form. This family of special forms and another closely related family of weight-one forms contain almost all the known mock modular forms including the mock theta functions of Ramanujan, the generating function of Hurwitz-Kronecker class numbers, the mock modular forms appearing in the Mathieu and Umbral moonshine, as well as an infinite number of new examples.

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arXiv2013

Moonshine in Fivebrane Spacetimes

We consider type II superstring theory on $K3 \times S^1 \times \mathbb{R}^{1,4}$ and study perturbative BPS states in the near-horizon background of two Neveu-Schwarz fivebranes whose world-volume wraps the $K3 \times S^1$ factor. These states are counted by the spacetime helicity supertrace $χ_2(τ)$ which we evaluate. We find a simple expression for $χ_2(τ)$ in terms of the completion of the mock modular form $H^{(2)}(τ)$ that has appeared recently in studies of the decomposition of the elliptic genus of K3 surfaces into characters of the N=4 superconformal algebra and which manifests a moonshine connection to the Mathieu group $M_{24}$.

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arXiv2013

Quantum black hole entropy and the holomorphic prepotential of N=2 supergravity

Supersymmetric terms in the effective action of N=2 supergravity in four dimensions are generically classified into chiral-superspace integrals and full-superspace integrals. For a theory of N=2 vector multiplets coupled to supergravity, a special class of couplings is given by chiral-superspace integrals that are governed by a holomorphic prepotential function. The quantum entropy of BPS black holes in such theories depends on the prepotential according to a known integral formula. We show, using techniques of localization, that a large class of full-superspace integrals in the effective action of N=2 supergravity do not contribute to the quantum entropy of BPS black holes at any level in the derivative expansion. Our work extends similar results for semi-classical supersymmetric black hole entropy, and goes towards providing an explanation of why the prepotential terms capture the exact microscopic quantum black hole entropy.

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arXiv2013

Quantum black holes, localization and the topological string

We use localization to evaluate the functional integral of string field theory on AdS_2xS^2 background corresponding to the near horizon geometry of supersymmetric black holes in 4d compactifications with N=2 supersymmetry. In particular, for a theory containing n_v + 1 vector multiplets, we show that the functional integral localizes exactly onto an ordinary integral over a finite-dimensional submanifold in the field space labeling a continuous family of instanton solutions in which auxiliary fields in the vector multiplets are excited with nontrivial dependence on AdS_2 coordinates. These localizing solutions are universal in that they follow from the off-shell supersymmetry transformations and do not depend on the choice of the action. They are parametrized by n_v +1 real parameters C^I, ; I= 0,..., n_v that correspond to the values of the auxiliary fields at the center of AdS_2. In the Type-IIA frame, assuming D-terms evaluate to zero on the solutions for reasons of supersymmetry, the classical part of the integrand equals the absolute square of the partition function of the topological string as conjectured by Ooguri, Strominger, and Vafa; however evaluated at the off-shell values of scalar fields at the center of AdS_2. In addition, there are contributions from one-loop determinants, brane-instantons, and nonperturbative orbifolds that are in principle computable. These results thus provide a concrete method to compute exact quantum entropy of these black holes including all perturbative and nonperturbative corrections and can be used to establish a precise relation between the quantum degeneracies of black holes and the topological string.

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arXiv2013

Localization & Exact Holography

We consider the AdS_2/CFT_1 holographic correspondence near the horizon of big four-dimensional black holes preserving four supersymmetries in toroidally compactified Type-II string theory. The boundary partition function of CFT_1 is given by the known quantum degeneracies of these black holes. The bulk partition function is given by a functional integral over string fields in AdS_2. Using recent results on localization we reduce the infinite-dimensional functional integral to a finite number of ordinary integrals over a space of localizing instantons. Under reasonable assumptions about the relevant terms in the effective action, these integrals can be evaluated exactly to obtain a bulk partition function. It precisely reproduces all terms in the exact Rademacher expansion of the boundary partition function as nontrivial functions of charges except for the Kloosterman sum which can in principle follow from an analysis of phases in the background of orbifolded instantons. Our results can be regarded as a step towards proving `exact holography' in that the bulk and boundary partition functions computed independently agree for finite charges. Since the bulk partition function defines the quantum entropy of the black hole, our results enable the evaluation of perturbative as well as nonperturbative quantum corrections to the Bekenstein-Hawking-Wald entropy of these black holes.

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arXiv2012

On the positivity of black hole degeneracies in string theory

Certain helicity trace indices of charged states in N=4 and N=8 superstring theory have been computed exactly using their explicit weakly coupled microscopic description. These indices are expected to count the exact quantum degeneracies of black holes carrying the same charges. In order for this interpretation to be consistent, these indices should be positive integers. We prove this positivity property for a class of four/five dimensional black holes in type II string theory compactified on T^6/T^5 and on K3 \times T^2/S^1. The proof relies on the mock modular properties of the corresponding generating functions.

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arXiv2012

All solutions of the localization equations for N=2 quantum black hole entropy

We find the most general bosonic solution to the localization equations describing the contributions to the quantum entropy of supersymmetric black holes in four-dimensional N=2 supergravity coupled to n_v vector multiplets. This requires the analysis of the BPS equations of the corresponding off-shell supergravity (including fluctuations of the auxiliary fields) with AdS2 \times S2 attractor boundary conditions. Our work completes and extends the results of arXiv:1012.0265 that were obtained for the vector multiplet sector, to include the fluctuations of all the fields of the off-shell supergravity. We find that, when the auxiliary SU(2) gauge field strength vanishes, the most general supersymmetric configuration preserving four supercharges is labelled by n_v+1 real parameters corresponding to the excitations of the conformal mode of the graviton and the scalars of the n_v vector multiplets. In the general case, the localization manifold is labelled by an additional SU(2) triplet of one-forms and a scalar function.

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