Exact String Theory Instantons by Dimensional Reduction

TL;DR

This paper finds exact string theory instanton solutions through dimensional reduction, including Polyakov instantons and generalized Yang-Mills merons, revealing their charge dissociation and deformations.

Contribution

It introduces a method to identify exact gauge-instanton-like solutions in string theory via dimensional reduction, including new classes of solutions.

Findings

Polyakov instanton of 3d QED identified

Generalized Yang-Mills merons constructed

Charge dissociation in 3d instantons demonstrated

Abstract

We identify exact gauge-instanton-like solutions to (super)-string theory using the method of dimensional reduction. We find in particular the Polyakov instanton of 3d QED, and a class of generalized Yang-Mills merons. We discuss their marginal deformations, and show that for the $3d$ instanton they correspond to a dissociation of vector- and axial-magnetic charges.