Instanton Operators in Five-Dimensional Gauge Theories

TL;DR

This paper explores instanton operators in five-dimensional gauge theories, highlighting their role as higher-dimensional analogues of monopole operators and their importance in symmetry enhancement at strong coupling.

Contribution

It introduces and analyzes instanton operators in 5D gauge theories, emphasizing their significance in symmetry enhancement and their definition as disorder operators.

Findings

Instanton operators create non-vanishing second Chern class on surrounding spheres.

They are higher-dimensional analogues of monopole operators.

These operators are crucial for Lorentz symmetry enhancement at strong coupling.

Abstract

We discuss instanton operators in five-dimensional gauge theories. These are defined as disorder operators which create a non-vanishing second Chern class on a four-sphere surrounding their insertion point. As such they may be thought of as higher-dimensional analogues of three-dimensional monopole (or `t Hooft) operators. We argue that they play an important role in the enhancement of the Lorentz symmetry for maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills to SO(1,5) at strong coupling.