SciPost logo

SciPost Submission Page

Coulomb branch surgery: Holonomy saddles, S-folds and discrete symmetry gaugings

by Elias Furrer, Horia Magureanu

This Submission thread is now published as

Submission summary

Authors (as registered SciPost users): Elias Furrer · Horia Magureanu
Submission information
Preprint Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.02955v2  (pdf)
Date accepted: 2024-08-21
Date submitted: 2024-07-17 11:31
Submitted by: Furrer, Elias
Submitted to: SciPost Physics
Ontological classification
Academic field: Physics
Specialties:
  • High-Energy Physics - Theory
Approaches: Theoretical, Computational

Abstract

Symmetries of Seiberg-Witten (SW) geometries capture intricate physical aspects of the underlying 4d $\mathcal{N} = 2$ field theories. For rank-one theories, these geometries are rational elliptic surfaces whose automorphism group is a semi-direct product between the Coulomb branch (CB) symmetries and the Mordell-Weil group. We study quotients of the SW geometry by subgroups of its automorphism group, which most naturally become gaugings of discrete 0- and 1-form symmetries. Yet, new interpretations of these surgeries become evident when considering 5d $\mathcal{N}=1$ superconformal field theories. There, certain CB symmetries are related to symmetries of the corresponding $(p,q)$-brane web and, as a result, CB surgeries can give rise to (fractional) S-folds. Another novel interpretation of these quotients is the folding across dimensions: circle compactifications of the 5d $E_{2N_f + 1}$ Seiberg theories lead in the infrared to two copies of locally indistinguishable 4d SU(2) SQCD theories with $N_f$ fundamental flavours. This extends earlier results on holonomy saddles, while also reproducing detailed computations of 5d BPS spectra and predicting new 5d and 6d BPS quivers. Finally, we argue that the semi-direct product structure of the automorphism group of the SW geometry includes mixed 't Hooft anomalies between the 0- and 1-form symmetries, and we also present some new results on non-cyclic CB symmetries.

Author indications on fulfilling journal expectations

  • Provide a novel and synergetic link between different research areas.
  • Open a new pathway in an existing or a new research direction, with clear potential for multi-pronged follow-up work
  • Detail a groundbreaking theoretical/experimental/computational discovery
  • Present a breakthrough on a previously-identified and long-standing research stumbling block

Author comments upon resubmission

We thank the referees for their careful reading and their comments and suggestions. We made all requested changes (see below).

List of changes

- Updated discussion on BPS spectrum on p. 41-42
- Quiver (4.38) added
- references added
- typos fixed

Published as SciPost Phys. 17, 073 (2024)


Reports on this Submission

Anonymous Report 2 on 2024-7-31 (Invited Report)

Report

The requested changes have been appropriately addressed, and the current version of the manuscript meets the expectations for publication in SciPost.
I therefore recommend the publication of the manuscript.

Recommendation

Publish (surpasses expectations and criteria for this Journal; among top 10%)

  • validity: -
  • significance: -
  • originality: -
  • clarity: -
  • formatting: -
  • grammar: -

Anonymous Report 1 on 2024-7-19 (Invited Report)

Report

The updated discussions are presented in an appropriate manner and, therefore, I recommend that this paper be considered for publication.

Recommendation

Publish (easily meets expectations and criteria for this Journal; among top 50%)

  • validity: -
  • significance: -
  • originality: -
  • clarity: -
  • formatting: -
  • grammar: -

Login to report or comment