T-Branes, String Junctions, and 6D SCFTs

Abstract

Recent work on 6D superconformal field theories (SCFTs) has established an intricate correspondence between certain Higgs branch deformations and nilpotent orbits of flavor symmetry algebras associated with T-branes. In this paper, we return to the stringy origin of these theories and show that many aspects of these deformations can be understood in terms of simple combinatorial data associated with multi-pronged strings stretched between stacks of intersecting 7-branes in F-theory. This data lets us determine the full structure of the nilpotent cone for each semi-simple flavor symmetry algebra, and it further allows us to characterize symmetry breaking patterns in quiver-like theories with classical gauge groups. An especially helpful feature of this analysis is that it extends to "short quivers" in which the breaking patterns from different flavor symmetry factors are correlated.

v2: 83 pages, 45 figures, clarifications added

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• S-fold magnetic quivers
• Classifying Calabi-Yau threefolds using infinite distance limits
• 6d SCFTs, Center-Flavor Symmetries, and Stiefel--Whitney Compactifications
• General Prescription for Global U(1)'s in 6D SCFTs
• One Loop to Rule Them All: Eight and Nine Dimensional String Vacua from Junctions
• Fibrations and Hasse diagrams for 6d SCFTs
• S-folds, String Junctions, and 4D $\mathcal{N}=2$ SCFTs
• Infinitely many 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ SCFTs with $a=c$ and beyond
• Two 6d origins of 4d SCFTs: class $\mathcal{S}$ and 6d (1,0) on a torus
• 6D SCFTs, 4D SCFTs, Conformal Matter, and Spin Chains
• Non-Simply-Connected Symmetries in 6D SCFTs
• Magnetic quivers and negatively charged branes
• Distinguishing 6d (1,0) SCFTs: an extension to the geometric construction
• Higgs branch RG-flows via Decay and Fission
• Higgs Branches of rank-0 5d theories from M-theory on $(A_j,A_l)$ and $(A_k,D_n)$ singularities
• Geometric Unification of Higgs Bundle Vacua
• Atomic Higgsings of 6D SCFTs
• Isomorphisms of 4d N=2 SCFTs from 6d
• Atomic Higgsings of 6D SCFTs II: Induced Flows
• A note on transition in discrete gauge groups in F-theory
• Four-dimensional $N=1$ theories, S-fold constraints on T-branes, and behaviors in IR and UV
• EFT of 6D SUSY RG Flows
• Four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ SCFTs on S-folds with T-branes and AdS/CFT correspondence
• Orbi-Instantons and Class $\mathcal{S}$ Theories of Type D