New dynamics and dualities in supersymmetric chiral gauge theories

TL;DR

This paper explores the complex phase structure and dualities of supersymmetric chiral gauge theories with SU(N) gauge group, revealing new dual descriptions, self-dual points, and rich IR dynamics using a-maximization.

Contribution

It uncovers a family of magnetic duals, including self-dual and infinitely many variants, and analyzes their IR fixed points and phase transitions in supersymmetric chiral gauge theories.

Findings

Discovery of new dual descriptions and self-dual points.

Identification of phase transitions and nonperturbative instabilities.

Confirmation that diverse theories flow to the same superconformal fixed point.

Abstract

We analyze the phase structure of supersymmetric chiral gauge theories with gauge group SU(N), an antisymmetric, and F<N+4 flavors, in the presence of a cubic superpotential. When F=N+3 the theory flows to a superconformal fixed point in the infrared, and new dual descriptions of this theory are uncovered. The theory with odd N admits a self-dual magnetic description. For general N, we find an infinite family of magnetic dual descriptions, characterized by arbitrarily large gauge groups and additional classical global symmetries that are truncated by nonperturbative effects. The infrared dynamics of these theories are analyzed using a-maximization, which supports the claim that all these theories flow to the same superconformal fixed point. A very rich phase structure is found when the number of flavors is reduced below N+3, including a new self-dual point, transitions from conformal to confining, and a nonperturbative instability for F<N+1. We also give examples of chiral theories with antisymmetrics that have nonchiral duals.