M5-Branes, D4-Branes and Quantum 5D super-Yang-Mills

Abstract

We revisit the relation of the six-dimensional (2,0) M5-brane Conformal Field Theory compactified on a circle to 5D maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills Gauge Theory. We show that in the broken phase 5D super-Yang-Mills contains a spectrum of soliton states that can be identified with the complete Kaluza-Klein modes of an M2-brane ending on the M5-branes. This provides evidence that the (2,0) theory on a circle is equivalent to 5D super-Yang-Mills with no additional UV degrees of freedom, suggesting that the latter is in fact a well-defined quantum theory and possibly finite.

16 pages, Latex; v2: typos corrected and references added; v3: expanded discussion of photon states and revised Higgs mechanism, conclusions unchanged

References in corpus (5)

• Precision holography for non-conformal branes
• The Partonic Nature of Instantons
• Supersymmetric Rings in Field Theory
• BPS states in (2,0) theory on R x T5
• Maximally Supersymmetric Yang-Mills in five dimensions in light-cone superspace

Cited by in corpus (5)

• On D=5 super Yang-Mills theory and (2,0) theory
• A Non-Abelian Self-Dual Gauge Theory in 5+1 Dimensions
• On W-algebras and the symmetries of defects of 6d N=(2,0) theory
• The 3-Lie Algebra (2,0) Tensor Multiplet and Equations of Motion on Loop Space
• On Effective Action of Multiple M5-branes and ABJM Action