Little strings and T-duality

Abstract

Abstract: We study the 2d (Formula presented.) gauge theory descriptions of little strings on type II NS5-branes. The IIB strings on N NS5-branes are described by the (Formula presented.) gauge theories, whose Higgs branch CFTs on U(N) instanton moduli spaces are relevant. The IIA strings are described by (Formula presented.) ÂN–1 quiver theories, whose Coulomb branch CFTs are relevant. We study new (Formula presented.) quiver gauge theories for the IIA strings, which make it easier to study some infrared observables. In particular, we show that the supersymmetric partition functions of the IIA/IIB strings on Omega-deformed ℝ4 × T2 precisely map to each other by T-duality.