Generalized toric polygons, T-branes, and 5d SCFTs
5d Superconformal Field Theories (SCFTs) are intrinsically strongly-coupled UV fixed points, whose realization hinges on string theoretic methods: they can be constructed by compactifying M-theory on local Calabi-Yau threefold singularities or alternatively from the world-volume of 5-brane-webs in type IIB string theory. There is a correspondence between 5-brane-webs and toric Calabi-Yau threefolds, however this breaks down when multiple 5-branes are allowed to end on a single 7-brane. In this paper, we extend this connection and provide a geometric realization of brane configurations including 7-branes. A web with 7-branes defines a so-called generalized toric polygon (GTP), which corresponds to combinatorial data that is obtained by removing vertices along external edges of a toric polygon. We identify the geometries associated to GTPs as non-toric deformations of toric Calabi-Yau threefolds and provide a precise, algebraic description of the geometry, when 7-branes are introduced along a single edge. The key ingredients in our analysis are T-branes in a type IIA frame, which includes D6-branes. We show that performing Hanany-Witten moves for the 7-branes on the type IIB side corresponds to switching on semisimple vacuum expectation values on the worldvolume of D6-branes, which in turn uplifts to complex structure deformations of the Calabi-Yau geometries. We test the proposal by computing the crepant resolutions of the deformed geometries, thereby checking consistency with the expected properties of the SCFTs.
Authors
- Sakura Schäfer‐Nameki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0138-0407)
- Antoine Bourget (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1408-4615)
- Andrés Collinucci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9781-389X)
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Université Libre de Bruxelles (BE)
- Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR)
- Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- CEA Paris-Saclay - Etablissement de Saclay (FR)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- École Normale Supérieure (BI)
- CEA Paris-Saclay (FR)
- International Solvay Institutes (BE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- SciPost Physics
- Published
- 2025-03-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.21468/scipostphys.18.3.079
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Black Holes and Theoretical Physics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 7.48
Funders
- Simons Foundation
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS
- Fondation Philippe Wiener - Maurice Anspach
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
- European Research Council