T-branes as branes within branes

Abstract

Bound states of 7-branes known as 'T-branes' have properties that defy usual geometric intuition. For instance, the gauge group of n coincident branes may not be U(n). More surprisingly, matter may show up at unexpected loci, such as points. By analyzing T-branes of perturbative type IIB string theory in the tachyon condensation picture we gain the following insights: In a large class of models, the tachyon can be diagonalized even though the worldvolume Higgs cannot. In those cases, we see the structure of these bound states more manifestly, thereby drastically simplifying analysis of gauge groups and spectra. Whenever the tachyon is not diagonalizable, matter localizes at unexpected loci, and we find that there is a lower-dimensional brane bound to the 7-brane.

27 pages, 2 figures, discussion on Pi-stability and compact models added

References in corpus (3)

• T-Branes and Monodromy
• T-Branes and Geometry
• N = 1 SCFTs from Brane Monodromy

Cited by in corpus (37)

• De Sitter from T-branes
• 6D RG Flows and Nilpotent Hierarchies
• Fission, Fusion, and 6D RG Flows
• Global Orientifolded Quivers with Inflation
• The frozen phase of F-theory
• The Standard Model Quiver in de Sitter String Compactifications
• 4D Gauge Theories with Conformal Matter
• UV Completions for Non-Critical Strings
• T-Branes at the Limits of Geometry
• Gauge Backgrounds and Zero-Mode Counting in F-Theory
• General Prescription for Global U(1)'s in 6D SCFTs
• T-Branes, String Junctions, and 6D SCFTs
• There and back again: A T-brane's tale
• Towards Exotic Matter and Discrete Non-Abelian Symmetries in F-theory
• SUSY enhancement from T-branes
• T-branes, monopoles and S-duality
• T-Branes and $G_2$ Backgrounds
• T-branes and ${\alpha }^{\prime }$-corrections
• Compact T-branes
• Genus zero Gopakumar-Vafa invariants from open strings
• Higgs Branches of rank-0 5d theories from M-theory on $(A_j,A_l)$ and $(A_k,D_n)$ singularities
• Fitting fermion masses and mixings in F-theory GUTs
• 5d Higgs Branches from M-theory on quasi-homogeneous cDV threefold singularities
• Holography, Matrix Factorizations and K-stability
• Anyonic Defect Branes and Conformal Blocks in Twisted Equivariant Differential (TED) K-theory
• $E_6$ Yukawa couplings in F-theory as D-brane instanton effects
• Nilpotent Networks and 4D RG Flows
• T-branes and Matrix Models
• Geometric Unification of Higgs Bundle Vacua
• The two faces of T-branes
• Generalized Toric Polygons, T-branes, and 5d SCFTs
• T-branes and defects
• String (gravi)photons, "dark brane photons", holography and the hypercharge portal
• A vanishing theorem for T-branes
• Four-dimensional $N=1$ theories, S-fold constraints on T-branes, and behaviors in IR and UV
• A note on transition in discrete gauge groups in F-theory
• A Database of Calabi-Yau Orientifolds and the Size of D3-Tadpoles