Please find below name, titles and abstract for participants to the poster session.
1. Christian Aoufia: UV/IR relations from the worldsheet
We derive universal scaling relations for the low-energy effective action of string theory, connecting the vacuum energy and gauge couplings to higher-derivative Wilson coefficients. At one-loop in string perturbation theory, these generic parametric relations follow from modular and conformal invariance of the worldsheet, independently of the specific low-energy phase of the theory, and they become non-trivial in species limits. As a result, we substantially strengthen our previous case for the emergent string conjecture and connect UV/IR mixing to swampland principles. We argue that our results persist to higher loops, hinting at a pathway to study strong couplings using dualities. Further accounting for open-string contributions, if any, our results lead to parametric inequalities which reproduce holographic bounds and support the magnetic weak-gravity conjecture and the dark dimension scenario.
2. Manuel Artime: M-theoretic Emergence Proposal
The M-theoretic Emergence Proposal asserts that the full low-energy effective action is generated via quantum effects in a strongly coupled decompactification limit to M-theory by integrating out only the light towers of states. In this poster, we review the main features and checks of this proposal, extend the analysis to the full moduli space of toroidal compactifications and propose a bound on which terms in the effective action are generated by integrating out the light states in generic limits.
3. Saad Eddine Baddis: Dimensional WGC from Black Holes Statistics
In this work, we approach certain black hole issues, including remnants, by providing a statistical description based on the weak gravity conjecture in the swampland program. Inspired by the Pauli exclusion principle in the context of the Fermi sphere, we derive an inequality which can be exploited to verify the instability manifestation of non supersymmetric four dimensional black holes via a characteristic func tion. For several species, we show that this function matches with the weak gravity swampland conjecture. Then, we deal with the cutoff issue as an interval estimation problem by putting a lower bound on the black hole mass scale matching with certain results reported in the literature. Using the developed formalism for the proposed instability scenarios, we present a suppression mechanism to the remnant production rate. Furthermore, we reconsider the stability study of the Reissner–Nordström black holes. As a result, we show that the approached instabilities prohibit naked singularity behaviors.
4. Sam Bennett: Quiver Techniques in Gauge Theories with Eight Supercharges
We recapitulate on new combinatoric techniques discovered in the past couple of years relating to the study of moduli spaces for gauge theories with eight supercharges. This includes the discovery of new 'magnetic quivers' for five and six-dimensional theories, as well as the development of 'quotient quiver subtraction', an operation for gauging Coulomb branch global symmetries in 3d N=4 theories.
5. Valentina Bevilacqua: 7D (non-)susy vacua & DWs from dynamical open strings
We describe the effect of introducing open string degrees of freedom (scalars and fluxes) associated with spacetime-filling branes/orientifold planes in dimensional reductions of massive type IIA supergravity on a 3-sphere. The corresponding supergravity description in 7 dimensions needs extra vector multiplets coupled to the gravity multiplet and new embedding tensor components parametrizing the possible gaugings. The scalar potential of such theory exhibits novel AdS vacuum solutions, with and without supersymmetry. The analysis of interpolating domain wall solutions provides additional information about their stability and possible non-perturbative transitions between vacua.
6. Guido Bonori: Microscopics of Higgs Branch flows in 6d SCFTs
Moduli spaces of supersymmetric theories with 8 supercharges and their renormalization group flow possess a very rich structure. While there is an array of tools at our disposal to study these theories, what happens at the microscopic level during a Higgs branch is not fully understood. For a vast class of 6d SCFTs called Orbi Instantons, we give a prescription to obtain the change in the R-symmetry and the precise set of operators decoupling along the RG flow. We check the validity of the proposal in two ways. First, from the induced change in the anomaly polynomials, we can see the decoupling of the NG bosons. Then, we check the existence of these operators by computing the Higgs branch chiral ring through the computation of the superconformal index in a Class S theory.
7. Alessandro Brolis: SL(2,Z) Dualization Algorithm for Line Defects
Line defects pose a fundamental challenge for dualities. While it is known that gauge theories with radically different gauge groups can be dual in the IR, it is not yet fully understood how the presence of a line defect in one theory maps in the dual. This conundrum was partially solved in the case of 3d N=4 theories related by mirror symmetry [1], where Wilson loops were shown to be exchanged with 't Hooft loops [2]. In this work, we provide a complete derivation of this duality map in SL(2,Z) dual gauge theories, thereby extending the results on mirror symmetry, which only accounts for the S generator of SL(2,Z). Our primary tool is the SL(2,Z) dualization algorithm [3]. This is a purely field-theoretic approach to derive SL(2,Z) duals, which we extend to determine how loop operators are dualized when passing through a duality wall, be it associated with the S or T generator of SL(2,Z). We then reproduce the results of [2], including the derivation of a microscopic description of 't Hooft loops as coupled 1d/3d systems. Finally, we present an SL(2,Z) duality web between gauge theories endowed with codimension-two defects. All our results show perfect agreement with the structure predicted by brane constructions.
[1] K. A. Intriligator and N. Seiberg, “Mirror symmetry in three-dimensional gauge theories,” Phys. Lett. B 387 (1996) 513–519, arXiv:hep-th/9607207. [2] B. Assel and J. Gomis, “Mirror Symmetry And Loop Operators,” JHEP 11 (2015) 055, arXiv:1506.01718 [hep-th]. [3] R. Comi, C. Hwang, F. Marino, S. Pasquetti, and M. Sacchi, “The SL(2, Z) dualization algorithm at work,” JHEP 06 (2023) 119, arXiv:2212.10571 [hep-th].
8. Sachin Chauhan: Open strings on knot complements
In joint work with Tobias Ekholm and Pietro Longhi, we study open topological strings with branes wrapping knot complements. Using skein-valued holomorphic curve counting, we show that the corresponding partition function can be organised in terms of flow loops in the knot complement, giving a flow-loop formula in both T*S^3 and the resolved conifold. For torus knots, this simplifies dramatically: the full partition function localizes to contributions from only two or three holomorphic annuli, which in turn leads to a generalized quiver description. We also show how this construction is tied to the augmentation curve through a quantized augmentation polynomial that annihilates the gl_1-skein partition function. This provides a new geometric coordinate chart on the corresponding D-module.
9. Muldrow Etheredge: Taxonomy of branes in infinite distance limits
I consider flat slices of moduli space where (−∇logT)-vectors of particle-towers and branes are constant, and I show that the Emergent String Conjecture constrains these vectors to reside on lattices. I further identify conditions that determine whether a given lattice site must be populated, and I show that only a finite set of configurations satisfies these conditions. I classify all such configurations for 0d, 1d, and 2d moduli spaces in theories with 3 to 11 spacetime dimensions, and I argue that 11d is the maximal spacetime dimension compatible with my assumptions. Remarkably, this classification reproduces the detailed particle and brane content of various string theory examples with 32, 16, and 8 supercharges. It might also be able to predict new branes. For instance, if heterotic string theory is described by this classification, then it must possess non-BPS branes with D-brane-like tensions. Similarly, if this classification applies to the Dark Dimension Scenario with an extra modulus, then it requires strings with a mass scale at or below the twelfth root of the cosmological constant in 4d Planck units. Based on 2505.10615.
10. Cesar Fierro Cota: Supergravity anomaly equations from modularity of Calabi–Yau threefolds
F-theory compactifications on elliptically fibered Calabi–Yau threefolds give rise to six-dimensional N=(1,0) supergravity theories. Consistency of these theories requires the cancellation of gravitational, gauge, and mixed anomalies, leading to nontrivial algebraic relations between classical intersection data and enumerative invariants associated with curve classes in the fiber. The Gromov–Witten theory of fiber curve classes is naturally encoded by quasi-Jacobi forms, whose modular transformation properties determine the Green–Schwarz anomaly cancellation conditions of the associated F-theory models. Within this class of string compactifications, these anomaly cancellation conditions follow automatically from the holomorphic anomaly equations of topological string theory.
11. Alessandra Grieco: Evidence for string universality in 4D N=1 moduli spaces
In this work, we show how the UV consistency of 4D N=1 SUGRAs asymptotically in moduli space selects only a subset of allowed Kähler potentials. In particular, we argue that not all choices for the Kähler potential are compatible with refinements of the Swampland Distance Conjecture (SDC) and the Emergent String Conjecture (ESC) . This argument is carried out with the aid of the Convex Hull formulation of the SDC and its lattice structure, observed between the masses of the UV towers of states and the tension of BPS EFT strings. Interestingly, we find that the only possible configurations of light towers in each of these growth sectors are completely realised in string and M-theory compactifications. This complete overlap between the bottom-up consistency and the top-down realization is a strong hint towards string universality.
12. Arda Hasar: Toward charting the Swampland in 2d using flux compactifications
We study flux compactifications of type II string theory from ten to two dimensions on Ricci-flat spaces, focusing on the role of fluxes and negative-tension objects in the search for supersymmetric vacua. We derive universal constraints on such compactifications and then analyze an explicit type IIA Spin(7) toroidal orbifold example with bulk fluxes and $OF1$-planes. In this setup, all shape moduli and one universal combination of the breathing mode and dilaton are stabilized in a classical 2-dimensional Minkowski vacuum, while one flat direction remains.
13. Saghar Hosseini: Anomaly cancellation in string theory
14. Lukas Kaufmann: Quantum obstructions in Type IIB orientifolds
We study quantum corrections to classical infinite distance limits in the complex structure sector of Type IIB orientifolds with minimal supersymmetry. Depending on the interplay of the underlying Calabi-Yau degeneration and the orientifold projection, an uplift to F-theory reveals that in large classes of these classical limits non-perturbative corrections in the string coupling become unsuppressed.
15. Sungjoon Kim: 3d TQFT and boundary VOA from 3-manifold
16. Vittorio Larotonda: Non-supersymmetric branes and discrete topological terms
I will discuss the presence of a discrete topological term in heterotic strings and its implications for the consistency of the worldvolume theory of the non-supersymmetric NS5-brane. In particular, I will present evidence for the existence of this term in the non-supersymmetric heterotic theory. Furthermore, I will delve into its relation with anomaly inflow cancellation on the worldvolume of the NS5-brane. These insights will allow us to assess the consistency of candidate spectra for the six-dimensional theory living on these defects.
17. Jieming Lin: Spin(n, n) x R Generalised Geometry and Consistent Truncations on Branes
We show that consistent truncations on half-supersymmetric branes fit naturally into the general exceptional generalised geometry framework. Each solution defines a torsion-free $Spin(n,n)\times \mathbb{R}^+$ structure, with $n$ the dimension transverse to the brane, and its embedding into the appropriate exceptional generalised geometry determines the truncation. It is one of the few known cases where the flux, or equivalently the exceptional generalised geometry, was essential to understanding the truncation.
18. Fabio Mantegazza: Multiplet Recombination and the CFT Distance Conjecture
Asymptotic regions in the moduli space provide a natural testing ground for understanding universal properties of quantum gravity. In flat space, these asymptotic regions are characterized by the Swampland Distance Conjecture and the Emergent String Conjecture. In Anti-de Sitter space, the story is qualitatively different, and one can take advantage of the AdS/CFT correspondence to map infinite-distance limits in the moduli space of the gravitational theory to infinite-distance limits on the conformal manifold of the dual CFT. This phenomenon is captured by the CFT Distance Conjecture. In this poster, we analyze infinite-distance limits in four-dimensional ${\cal N}=2$ SCFTs with higher-dimensional conformal manifolds and their AdS duals. We consider partial decoupling limits in which one gauge sector becomes free while an interacting sector remains. Two towers of states emerge: a massless higher-spin tower with polynomial degeneracy arising from the free sector, and an interacting BPS tower with exponential degeneracy, suggestive of an emergent string. This structure originates from multiplet recombination in the ${\cal N}=2$ algebra, as long multiplets reach the unitarity bound and split into protected multiplets.
19. Elisa Iris Marieni: 4d N=4 string islands from asymmetric orbifolds
String islands are isolated points in the space of string vacua that have no moduli except the dilaton, enjoy rank reduction and lead to consistent pure supergravity theories. Asymmetric orbifold constructions are powerful tools that enable us to access these points in the moduli space that are inaccessible to more standard string compactification techniques. In this talk, we classify all supersymmetry-breaking crystallographic SO(6) elements and use them to populate the landscape of type II vacua. We will also comment on the construction of heterotic vacua. In this landscape of 4d N=4 theories we identify many island candidates, explicitly construct some of them and show the appearance of archipelagos.
20. Jeroen Monnee: Quantum Kähler-obstructions to N=1 infinite-distance limits
We analyze quantum corrections in the complex structure moduli space of four-
dimensional Type IIB/F-theory compactifications with N=1 supersymmetry. We find
that complex structure limits generically induce a strong backreaction on other
sectors of the theory, reflecting the non-factorization of the field space at the
quantum level. Our focus is on quantum corrections to the Kähler moduli in F-
theory on Calabi–Yau fourfolds. Via two independent approaches — a worldsheet
analysis of candidate EFT strings and a study of complex structure dependent
quantum corrections to BPS instanton actions — we find that a co-scaling of the
Kähler moduli is required to maintain perturbative control at large complex
structure. The naive classical effective action therefore does not provide an
accurate description of pure large complex structure regimes.
21. Robert Moscrop: On the classification of isotrivial SCFTs
Since the seminal works of Seiberg and Witten, the study of the Coulomb branch of 4d N=2 SCFTs has proved fruitful in understanding such theories non-perturbatively. So much so that in recent years there has been an ongoing programme to classify such theories purely through their Coulomb branch geometries. While this has been very successful at low ranks, the classification becomes increasingly difficult at higher ranks. As an alternative to the rank-by-rank analysis, we initiate a study of isotrivial SCFTs, a class of theories that represent the lowest complexity class of Coulomb branch geometries at any given rank. We describe their salient features and, in particular, discuss how their classification largely reduces to an exercise in the invariant theory of finite complex reflection groups. We will illustrate these results with examples in rank 2. Based on previous and upcoming works with P. Argyres, S. Cecotti, M. Del Zotto, M. Martone, B. Smith, S. Thakur and M. Weaver.
22. Lorenzo Paoloni: Warped compactifications and their cosmological implications
23. Tommaso Pedroni: Blow-up equations & resummation of Nekrasov--Shatashvili functions
Nekrasov partition functions of 4d N=2 gauge theories can be regarded as a modern analogue of hypergeometric functions: they are tied to Fuchsian differential equations, encode accessory parameters and, via the AGT correspondence, are identified with conformal blocks. This makes the study of their analytic structure a natural and important problem. We focus on SU(2), N_f=4 Nekrasov partition functions, both in the bulk theory and in the presence of orbifold surface defects, in the Nekrasov--Shatashvili (NS) limit. We study their dependence on the Coulomb branch parameter "a", which in this setting is identified with the Floquet exponent of a Heun differential equation. At half-integer values of "a", corresponding to (anti-)periodic solutions, both the accessory parameter and the solutions develop infinite towers of poles of growing order. To analyze this structure, we use blow-up equations, obtained by placing the gauge theory on the blow-up of the plane, as a non-perturbative characterization of the NS functions. In the NS limit, they constrain both the accessory parameter and the ODE solutions. Using these equations, we show that the apparent poles are artifacts of expanding near a branch point, and we develop a resummation method that makes the true branch-cut structure manifest.
24. Thomas Raml: Optimal paths across potentials on scalar field space
Motivated by the Swampland Distance Conjecture, we study distances in field space using the framework of Optimal Transport. The associated optimisation problem naturally leads to a notion of distance in terms of a (generalised) Wasserstein distance between probability distributions over field space. In the absence of dynamical gravity, we relate the transport problem to Hamilton-Jacobi and continuity equations arising from a WKB expansion of a Schrödinger equation associated with the physical configuration. We then formulate an extension in the presence of dynamical gravity. Using the ADM formalism, we establish the corresponding transport problem through the Wheeler-DeWitt equation, giving rise to different possible choices of cost functions. The resulting notions of distances are naturally defined on the full configuration space, while an interpretation in terms of a genuine scalar field distance requires additional modifications. We further discuss several applications and examples, and indicate possible implications for different themes within the Swampland program.
25. Antonio Santaniello: Symmetry extensions by condensation defects
We study generalized symmetries of five-dimensional gauge theories, identifying a novel interplay between 't Hooft anomalies and condensation defects. We discuss implications on RG flows and the spectrum of (extended) operators. Based on [2509.16165] and work in progress.
26. Aurélie Strömholm Sangaré: Tree-Level String Amplitudes in AdS
Tree-level string scattering amplitudes in flat spacetime are computed as moduli-space integrals of punctured genus-zero Riemann surfaces. Their low-energy expansions consequently feature multiple zeta values (MZVs) - the periods of these moduli spaces - and their single-valued sub-class (svMZVs). We discuss how the assumption that this low-energy transcendental structure persists in AdS allows to establish an expression for the building blocks of four-point tree-level string amplitudes in AdS, which are simultaneously endowed with a beautiful mathematical structure that extends the corresponding flat-space structure. First, we briefly review the relevant mathematical framework in flat space, including: the definition of string scattering amplitudes as moduli-space integrals; the single-valued map; the Kawai-Lewellen-Tye (KLT) relations between open- and closed-string tree amplitudes; and the monodromy relations of colour-ordered open-string amplitudes. Then, we present the holographic description of tree-level string amplitudes in AdS and give the expression for the building blocks of four-point tree-level open- and closed-string amplitudes in this space. Finally, we show how to extend the flat-space KLT and monodromy relations at four points to AdS.
27. Eleonora Svanberg: Periods, Semiperiods and Counting Points of Calabi-Yau Threefolds
For families of Calabi–Yau threefolds, we conjecture an explicit formula for the point count over Fq as a p-adic series involving only the periods and the semiperiods of the holomorphic (3,0)-form. We observe the occurence of p-adic zeta values in conjunction with the Euler character and Yukawa coupling. This formula establishes an explicit link between arithmetic, geometry and physics, where applications includes modularity, attractor points and scattering amplitudes. The conjecture has been proved for the one-parameter mirror quintic and the five-parameter Hulek–Verrill manifold. For these cases, the conjecture has also been verified numerically to high primes, showing the formula acts as an efficient computational method for the local zeta function. This work is based on an upcoming paper with Philip Candelas and Xenia de la Ossa.
28. Michelangelo Tartaglia: Asymmetric orbifolds with vanishing one-loop cosmological constant
We systematically study non-supersymmetric type II toroidal asymmetric orbifolds with vanishing vacuum energy at one-loop in string perturbation theory. These are engineered through the conservation of a supercharge-like operator in each individual sector in the orbifold sum, despite the overall explicit breaking of spacetime SUSY. We provide a full classification of such orbifolds with abelian point group, and partial results towards a full classification of non-abelian point groups.
29. Elias Van den Driessche: Chiral ring along the RG flow in 5d N=1
The chiral ring of strongly coupled 5d N=1 gauge theories exhibits an integrable structure at the UV fixed point, with commuting Hamiltonians associated to massless instantons. The stratification of the Higgs branch is naturally encoded by orbits of instanton pairs transforming as pure spinors of the flavour symmetry, as indeed different symplectic leaves correspond to different weights of the spinor representation. Upon deformation by the instanton mass, the theory flows to the IR and the chiral ring is corrected by a nilpotent operator, the gaugino bilinear, which is the moment map of the U(1) topological symmetry.
30. Zihan Wang: Wilson loop in AdS3 × S3 × T 4 from quantum M2 brane
Type IIB string theory on AdS3 ×S3 ×T4 with RR flux as the near-horizon limit of the D1-D5 solution is related by T-duality to type IIA string theory in the near-horizon limit of the D2-D4 solution which admits an uplift to the M2-M5 solution, which has the near-horizon limit as 11d AdS3 × S3 × T5. Expanding the M2-brane theory around an AdS2 × S1 solution, we compute the one-loop partition function associated with an analog of a supersymmetric Wilson loop. Unlike in ABJM, the result is given by the leading string-theory contribution. We also comment on the extension to mixed-flux backgrounds.
31. Matteo Zatti: How to (Non-)Perturb a BPS Black Hole
We relate the structure of non-perturbative corrections to BPS black hole observables in flat-spacetime theories with certain properties of probe charged particles in the near-horizon geometry. Concretely, we consider 4d $\mathcal{N} = 2$ supergravity with an infinite tower of F-terms and probe branes in $\text{AdS}_2\times \mathbf{S}^2$ backgrounds threaded by constant electric-magnetic fields. The higher dimensional operators we pick are computed by Type II topological string theory, and we approximate them via the constant map contribution, which is valid at large volume and can be interpreted as arising from D0-branes integrated out in M-theory on a Calabi-Yau threefold times a circle. We analyze the resulting force conditions on massive particles carrying $(q_A, p^A)$ charges, their classical trajectories, and the 1-loop effective action they produce. A simple semiclassical analysis allows us to understand qualitatively the structure of the non-perturbative corrections. The exact path integral assessment then reproduces the Gopakumar--Vafa integral of the flat-spacetime theory, now evaluated in the black hole attractor geometry. Thus, we make explicit how the physics of the fully backreacted black hole solution is controlled by the behaviour of the light D-brane states which generate the relevant set of higher derivative corrections.
32. Massimo Zorzenon: From Fusion Rules to F-symbols: (enhanced) Tannaka Duality for Extraspecial Groups
Non-invertible symmetries have assumed a role of growing importance in many areas of theoretical physics, with applications ranging from conformal field theory to condensed matter physics. In this context, the determination of F-symbols from the fusion rule alone constitutes a challenge of primary relevance, as their classification remains, in general, an open problem. In this work, we develop an algorithm based on Tannaka duality which, for categories of representations of extraspecial groups, takes the fusion rule as its single input and simultaneously produces all fiber functors of the category together with the associated morphism matrices, from which the F-symbols are extracted in a systematic manner. Considering a Z_p grading of Z_p × Z_p, we propose an explicit formula for the number of fiber functors of extraspecial groups of this type. These results indicate that, for the class of categories under consideration, knowledge of the fusion rule alone is sufficient to completely determine the structure of the tensor category, providing a foundation for a systematic classification in analogous cases.
