Gauge theories and holography

Project title: Gauge theories and holography
Main applicant: Joseph Minahan, Division of Theoretical Physics
Grant amount: 3 120 000 SEK for the period 2021-2024

The proposed project will involve research in strongly coupled supersymmetric gauge theories with a large number of colors. It will use localization and holography to study the relationships between the gauge theories and their gravitational duals. Among its applications it will study the recently discovered unusual behavior of gauge theories in seven dimensions as well as the behavior of three and two dimensional theories with the maximal amount of supersymmetry. It will also compute various correlation functions in N=4 super Yang-Mills using techniques from localization and supergravity.

The project will further investigate gauge theories with the minimal amount of supersymmetry in four dimensions, where in principle interesting phenomena such as confinement and chiral symmetry breaking can occur. To this end it will continue to develop new techniques in localization which can be applied to gauge theories with fewer supersymmetries. It will also study the N=1* model through its holographic dual, both at zero and nonzero temperatures, to better understand its various phases at strong coupling.

Another part of the project will apply recent developments in mathematics to issues in model building in particle physics. This includes anomaly cancelation conditions and the quantization of charges in Abelian gauge theories. The proposed project will last for four years and be led by the applicant. It will include one post-doc and one graduate student.