Abstract We study webs of 5-branes with 7-branes in Type IIB string theory from a geometric perspective. Mathematically, a web of 5-branes with 7-branes is a tropical curve in$$\mathbb {R}^2$$ with focus-focus singularities introduced. To any such a webW, we attach a log Calabi–Yau surface (Y, D) with a line bundleL. We then describe supersymmetric webs, which are webs defining 5d superconformal field theories (SCFTs), in terms of the geometry of (Y, D, L). We also introduce particular supersymmetric webs called “consistent webs, and show that any 5d SCFT defined by a supersymmetric web can be obtained from a consistent web by adding free hypermultiplets. Using birational geometry of degenerations of log Calabi–Yau surfaces, we provide an algorithm to test the consistency of a web in terms of its dual polygon. Moreover, for a consistent webW, we provide an algebro-geometric construction of the mirror$$\mathcal {X}^{\textrm{can}}$$ to (Y, D, L), as a non-toric canonical 3-fold singularity, and show that M-theory on$$\mathcal {X}^{\textrm{can}}$$ engineers the same 5d SCFT asW. We also explain how to derive explicit equations for$$\mathcal {X}^{\textrm{can}}$$ using scattering diagrams, encoding disk worldsheet instantons in the A-model, or equivalently the BPS states of an auxiliary rank one 4d$$\mathcal {N}=2$$ theory.
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On supergravity and noncritical strings
A<sc>bstract</sc> Motivated by the long-term goal of finding holographic descriptions for$$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 1 and$$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 super QCD, we revisit the subject of “noncritical” superstring theory. Focusing on string models with 6d super Poincaré invariance, we provide a careful worldsheet derivation of the leading-order effective theories for the lowest modes. We identify them asseven-dimensional,maximally supersymmetricgauged supergravities: the SO(4) theory for noncritical IIA and the ISO(4) theory for noncritical IIB. The same theories also arise as consistent truncations onS3of the 10d IIB and IIA supergravities, respectively, where the chirality flip is as expected from T-duality. These effective supergravities should be interpreted in the following sense. The noncritical string can be viewed as a special case of a discrete series of backgrounds labelled by an integerk(which counts the number of NS5 branes in a certain duality frame); the “noncritical” value isk= 2, while fork→ ∞ one recovers a weakly-curved 10d target space. The effective supergravities described here give an accurate description of the interactions among the lowest modes fork→ ∞, with higher derivative corrections suppressed by powers of 1/k. We discuss BPS solutions of the 7d gauged supergravities and their uplift to 10d solutions. In particular, we find a novel class of solutions with RR flux, parametrized by a function of three variables that solves an elegant PDE. While we cannot solve the PDE in closed form except in trivial cases, we confirm that our solutions correspond to a 10d IIA Hanany-Witten setup with continuous distributions of both “color” D4 branes and “flavor” D6 branes.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2210533
- PAR ID:
- 10646413
- Publisher / Repository:
- Springer
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of High Energy Physics
- Volume:
- 2025
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1029-8479
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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