Phases of planar 5-dimensional supersymmetric Chern-Simons theory

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the large-N behavior and phase structure of 5D supersymmetric Chern-Simons theories, revealing an $N^{5/2}$ free energy scaling at superconformal points and identifying phase transitions influenced by the Chern-Simons level and contours.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed large-N analysis of 5D supersymmetric Chern-Simons theories, including free energy scaling, phase transitions, and Wilson loop properties, using localization and matrix model techniques.

Findings

Free energy scales as N^{5/2} at superconformal fixed points.

Existence of a third order phase transition between Yang-Mills and Chern-Simons phases.

Different Wilson loop behaviors depending on gauge group and contour choices.

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the large-$N$ behavior of 5-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ super Yang-Mills with a level $k$ Chern-Simons term and an adjoint hypermultiplet. As in three-dimensional Chern-Simons theories, one must choose an integration contour to completely define the theory. Using localization, we reduce the path integral to a matrix model with a cubic action and compute its free energy in various scenarios. In the limit of infinite Yang-Mills coupling and for particular choices of the contours, we find that the free-energy scales as $N^{5/2}$ for $U(N)$ gauge groups with large values of the Chern-Simons 't\,Hooft coupling, $\tilde\lambda\equiv N/k$. If we also set the hypermultiplet mass to zero, then this limit is a superconformal fixed point and the $N^{5/2}$ behavior parallels other fixed points which have known supergravity duals. We also demonstrate that $SU(N)$ gauge groups cannot have this $N^{5/2}$ scaling for their free-energy. At finite Yang-Mills coupling we establish the existence of a third order phase transition where the theory crosses over from the Yang-Mills phase to the Chern-Simons phase. The phase transition exists for any value of $\tilde\lambda$, although the details differ between small and large values of $\tilde\lambda$. For pure Chern-Simons theories we present evidence for a chain of phase transitions as $\tilde\lambda$ is increased. We also find the expectation values for supersymmetric circular Wilson loops in these various scenarios and show that the Chern-Simons term leads to different physical properties for fundamental and anti-fundamental Wilson loops. Different choices of the integration contours also lead to different properties for the loops.