Lessons on interacting quantum field theories from string theory

In this thesis, we use string theory constructions and dualities to explore various features of interacting quantum field theories. We begin with an overview in Chapter 1, of past and recent developments in quantum field theories, explaining the advantages of string theoretic techniques over traditional approaches in answering a range of questions about interacting dynamics. In Chapter 2 we study the holographic duality between the 6d (1, 1) Ak-1 little string theory (LST) and type II string theory in the double scaled limit. By identifying the low energy states, which are Cartan gluons in the 6d maximal super-Yang-Mills (SYM) that describes the massless sector of the LST, we compute the four-point amplitudes from both sides of the duality and demonstrate matching results. Since the two computations concern different regimes in the parameter space, their amazing agreement implies the presence of certain nonrenormalization theorems in the 6d SYM. In Chapter 3, motivated by the AdS/CFT duality, we develop a systematic procedure to derive an off-shell action for hydrodynamics from classical Einstein gravity. We first identity the boundary fluid degrees of freedom in the hydrodynamic regime, in terms of gapless modes of the metric in the bulk gravity. This allows us to derive an off-shell action, for relativistic fluids that have gravity duals, at leading order in derivative expansion, by explicitly integrating out gapped degrees of freedom in the bulk. We also explain the strategy to incorporate dissipation and higher order effects. In Chapter 4, we discuss 4d N = 2 superconformal field theories (SCFT) of the Argyres-Douglas (AD) type, which can be constructed in string/M theory by either wrapping M5 branes on punctured Riemann surface or probing 3-fold singularity by IIB string. We classify the punctures (irregular defects in Hitchin system) on the Riemann surface in the former construction, that will give rise to N = 2 SCFTs and demonstrate how to extract exact information about the Coulomb branch spectrum and central charges. We further identify these AD theories constructed from M5 branes with a special class of theories from IIB probing compound Du Val (cDV) singularities, thereby establishing a mathematical connection between singular Hitchin systems and cDV singularities through N = 2 SCFTs. We end with a short summary and outlook for future directions in Chapter 5.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Wang, Yifan, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Hong Liu and Xi Yin.

• Physics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106452

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/106452