Supersymmetric Gauge Theories from Branes and Orientifold Six-planes

TL;DR

This paper explores brane configurations with orientifold six-planes to derive supersymmetric gauge theories, analyze their nonperturbative effects, and study their Higgs branches, advancing understanding of string theory realizations of gauge theories.

Contribution

It introduces new brane configurations for N=2 and N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories with various matter representations, including nonperturbative effects and topological insights.

Findings

Derived curves for N=2 SU(Nc) gauge theories with matter

Identified nonperturbative effects leading to torus topology

Discussed Higgs branches for Sp/SO gauge groups

Abstract

We study brane configurations in the presence of orientifold six-planes. After deriving the curves for N=2 supersymmetric SU(Nc) gauge theories with one flavor in the symmetric or antisymmetric representation and Nf fundamental flavors, we rotate the brane configuration, reducing the supersymmetry to N=1. For the case of an antisymmetric flavor and less than two fundamental flavors, nonperturbative effects lead to a brane configuration that is topologically a torus. Using the description of the orientifold six-planes as Dn singularities we discuss the Higgs branches for N=2 brane configurations with Sp/SO gauge groups and the related N=1 theories with tensor representations.