High Energy Theory Seminar

One way in which supersymmetric gauge theories can arise in string theory is as worldvolume theories of probe branes at toric Calabi-Yau singularities. For N=1 4d worldvolume theories of D3 branes at Calabi-Yau 3-fold singularities, the field theory information can be represented by a bipartite graph on a torus, which is known as a brane tiling. Bipartite graphs as brane tilings have recently caught much attention in relation to quantum integrable systems, SYM scattering amplitudes and superconformal indices. The talk will give an introduction to brane tilings and explore recent developments. In particular, I will outline how a new correspondence called specular duality between moduli spaces of brane tilings can be used to study a new class of field theories.