New N=1 dualities from orientifold transitions - Part II: String Theory

TL;DR

This paper provides a string theory framework for dual gauge theories using branes and orientifolds, linking field theory dualities to S-duality in type IIB string theory, with detailed analysis of complex geometries and fluxes.

Contribution

It introduces a string-theoretic description of N=1 dualities via branes and orientifolds, connecting dualities to S-duality and exploring complex geometries and flux components.

Findings

Duality in gauge theories is inherited from S-duality in string theory.

Analysis of the complex cone over the zeroth del Pezzo surface reveals duality mechanisms.

The role of exotic orientifolds and torsional flux components is clarified.

Abstract

We present a string theoretical description, given in terms of branes and orientifolds wrapping vanishing cycles, of the dual pairs of gauge theories analyzed in 1210.7799. Based on the resulting construction we argue that the duality that we observe in field theory is inherited from S-duality of type IIB string theory. We analyze in detail the complex cone over the zeroth del Pezzo surface and discuss an infinite family of orbifolds of flat space. For the del Pezzo case we describe the system in terms of large volume objects, and show that in this language the duality can be understood from the strongly coupled behavior of the O7^+ plane, which we analyze using simple F-theory considerations. For all cases we also give a different argument based on the existence of appropriate torsional components of the 3-form flux lattice. Along the way we clarify some aspects of the description of orientifolds in the derived category of coherent sheaves, and in particular we discuss the important role played by exotic orientifolds - ordinary orientifolds composed with auto-equivalences of the category - when describing orientifolds of ordinary quiver gauge theories.