We show how to map Grothendieck’s dessins d’enfants to algebraic curves as Seiberg-Witten curves, then use the mirror map and the AGT map to obtain the corresponding 4d 𝒩 = 2 supersymmetric instanton partition functions and 2d Virasoro conformal blocks. We explicitly demonstrate the 6 trivalent dessins with 4 punctures on the sphere. We find that the parametrizations obtained from a dessin should be related by certain duality for gauge theories. Then we will discuss that some dessins could correspond to conformal blocks satisfying certain rules in different minimal models.

We study chiral rings of 4d 𝒩 = 1 supersymmetric gauge theories via the notion of K-stability. We show that when using Hilbert series to perform the computations of Futaki invariants, it is not enough to only include the test symmetry information in the former’s denominator. We discuss a way to modify the numerator so that K-stability can be correctly determined, and a rescaling method is also applied to simplify the calculations involving test configurations. All of these are illustrated with a host of examples, by considering vacuum moduli spaces of various theories. Using Gröbner basis and plethystic techniques, many non-complete intersections can also be addressed, thus expanding the list of known theories in the literature.

We initiate the study of applications of machine learning to Seiberg duality, focusing on the case of quiver gauge theories, a problem also of interest in mathematics in the context of cluster algebras. Within the general theme of Seiberg duality, we define and explore a variety of interesting questions, broadly divided into the binary determination of whether a pair of theories picked from a series of duality classes are dual to each other, as well as the multiclass determination of the duality class to which a given theory belongs. We study how the performance of machine learning depends on several variables, including number of classes and mutation type (finite or infinite). In addition, we evaluate the relative advantages of Naive Bayes classifiers versus convolutional neural networks. Finally, we also investigate how the results are affected by the inclusion of additional data, such as ranks of gauge/flavor groups and certain variables motivated by the existence of underlying Diophantine equations. In all questions considered, high accuracy and confidence can be achieved.

We study the vacuum geometry prescribed by the gauge invariant operators of the minimal super-symmetric standard model via the plethystic program. This is achieved by using several tricks to perform the highly computationally challenging Molien-Weyl integral, from which we extract the Hilbert series, encoding the invariants of the geometry at all degrees. The fully refined Hilbert series is presented as the explicit sum of 1422 rational functions. We found a good choice of weights to unrefine the Hilbert series into a rational function of a single variable, from which we can read off the dimension and the degree of the vacuum moduli space of the minimal supersymmetric standard model gauge invariants. All data in Mathematica format are also presented.

We study the likelihood for relative minima of random polynomial potentials to support the slow-roll conditions for inflation. Consistent with renormalizability and boundedness, the coefficients that appear in the potential are chosen to be order one with respect to the energy scale at which inflation transpires. Investigation of the single field case illustrates a window in which the potentials satisfy the slow-roll conditions. When there are two scalar fields, we find that the probability depends mildly on the choice of distribution for the coefficients. A uniform distribution yields a 0.05% probability of finding a suitable minimum in the random potential, whereas a maximum entropy distribution yields a 0.1% probability.

An infinite class of 4d N = 1 gauge theories can be engineered on the worldvolume of D3-branes probing toric Calabi-Yau 3-folds. This kind of setup has multiple applications, ranging from the gauge/gravity correspondence to local model building in string phenomenology. Brane tilings fully encode the gauge theories on the D3-branes and have substantially simplified their connection to the probed geometries. The purpose of this paper is to push the boundaries of computation and to produce as comprehensive a database of brane tilings as possible. We develop efficient implementations of brane tiling tools particularly suited for this search. We present the first complete classification of toric Calabi-Yau 3-folds with toric diagrams up to area 8 and the corresponding brane tilings. This classification is of interest to both physicists and mathematicians alike.

We study Ihara's zeta function for graphs in the context of quivers arising from gauge theories, especially under Seiberg duality transformations. The distribution of poles is studied as we proceed along the duality tree, in light of the weak and strong graph versions of the Riemann Hypothesis. As a by-product, we find a refined version of Ihara's zeta function to be the generating function for the generic superpotential of the gauge theory.