Matching higher symmetries across Intriligator-Seiberg duality

We study higher symmetries and anomalies of 4d $$ \mathfrak{so} $$ so (2nc) gauge theory with 2nf flavors. We find that they depend on the parity of nc and nf, the global form of the gauge group, and the discrete theta angle. The contribution from the fermions plays a central role in our analysis. Furthermore, our conclusion applies to $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 supersymmetric cases as well, and we see that higher symmetries and anomalies match across the Intriligator-Seiberg duality between $$ \mathfrak{so} $$ so (2nc) ↔$$ \mathfrak{so} $$ so (2nf − 2nc + 4).

Vector dominance, one flavored baryons, and QCD domain walls from the "hidden" Wess-Zumino term

We further explore a recent proposal that the vector mesons in QCD have a special role as Chern-Simons fields on various QCD objects such as domain walls and the one flavored baryons. We compute contributions to domain wall theories and to the baryon current coming from a generalized Wess-Zumino term including vector mesons. The conditions that lead to the expected Chern-Simons terms and the correct spectrum of baryons, coincide with the conditions for vector meson dominance. This observation provides a theoretical explanation to the phenomenological principle of vector dominance, as well as an experimental evidence for the identification of vector mesons as the Chern-Simons fields. By deriving the Chern-Simons theories directly from an action, we obtain new results about QCD domain walls. One conclusion is the existence of a first order phase transition between domain walls as a function of the quarks' masses. We also discuss applications of our results to Seiberg duality between gluons and vector mesons and provide new evidence supporting the duality.

Partition functions of 𝒩 = 1 gauge theories on S2 × ℝ𝜀2 and duality

We compute the partition functions of [Formula: see text] gauge theories on [Formula: see text] using supersymmetric localization. The path integral reduces to a sum over vortices at the poles of [Formula: see text] and at the origin of [Formula: see text]. The exact partition functions allow us to test Seiberg duality beyond the supersymmetric index. We propose the [Formula: see text] partition functions on the [Formula: see text]-background, and show that the Nekrasov partition functions can be recovered from these building blocks.

𝒩 = 2 dualities and Z-extremization in three dimensions

We use localization techniques to study duality in 𝒩 = 2 supersymmetric gauge theories in three dimensions. Specifically, we consider a duality due to Aharony involving unitary and symplectic gauge groups, which is similar to Seiberg duality in four dimensions, as well as related dualities involving Chern-Simons terms. These theories have the possibility of non trivial anomalous dimensions for the chiral multiplets and were previously difficult to examine. We use a matrix model to compute the partition functions on both sides of the duality, deformed by real mass and FI terms. The results provide strong evidence for the validity of the proposed dualities. We also comment on a recent proposal for recovering the exact IR conformal dimensions in such theories using localization.

Tests of Seiberg-like dualities in three dimensions

We use localization techniques to study several duality proposals for supersymmetric gauge theories in three dimensions reminiscent of Seiberg duality. We compare the partition functions of dual theories deformed by real mass terms and FI parameters. We find that Seiberg-like duality for $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 3 Chern-Simons gauge theories proposed by Giveon and Kutasov holds on the level of partition functions and is closely related to level-rank duality in pure Chern-Simons theory. We also clarify the relationship between the Giveon-Kutasov duality and a duality in theories of fractional M2 branes and propose a generalization of the latter. Our analysis also confirms previously known results concerning decoupled free sectors in $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 gauge theories realized by monopole operators.