Six-Dimensional Superconformal Field Theories and Their Torus Compactifications

Description

This thesis describes the structures of six-dimensional (6d) superconformal field theories and its torus compactifications. The first half summarizes various aspects of 6d field theories, while the latter half investigates torus compactifications of these theories, and relates them to four-dimensional superconformal field theories in the class, called class S. It is known that compactifications of 6d conformal field theories with maximal supersymmetries provide numerous insights into four-dimensional superconformal field theories. This thesis generalizes the story to the theories with smaller supersymmetry, constructing those six-dimensional theories as brane configurations in the M-theory, and highlighting the importance of fractionalization of M5-branes. This result establishes new dualities between the theories with eight supercharges. Front Matter ....Pages i-xii Introduction (Kantaro Ohmori)....Pages 1-7 Six-Dimensional Superconformal Field Theories (Kantaro Ohmori)....Pages 9-55 Circle and Torus Compactifications (Kantaro Ohmori)....Pages 57-111 Conclusion (Kantaro Ohmori)....Pages 113-115