Looking for the $G_2$ Higgs Branch of 4D Rank 1 SCFTs

Abstract

The Schur index of the Higgs branch of 4-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ SCFTs is related to the spectrum of non-unitary 2-dimensional CFTs. The rank 1 case has been shown to lead to the non-unitary CFTs with Deligne-Cvitanovic (DC) exceptional sequence of Lie groups. We show that a subsequence $(A_0,A_{\frac{1}{2}},A_1,A_2,D_4)$ within the non-unitary sequence is related to a subsequence in the Mathur-Mukhi-Sen (MMS) sequence of unitary theories. We show that 2D non-unitary $G_2$ theory is related to unitary $E_6$ theory, and using this result along with the Galois conjugation, we propose that the $G_2$ Higgs branch is a sub-branch of the $E_6$ Higgs branch.

41 pages, improved exposition, version accepted in JHEP