Deciphering IR Phases with quad-CFTs

In the study of N=1 SUSY chiral gauge theories, particularly those with matter in antisymmetric or symmetric representations of the SU(N) gauge group, the detailed understanding of infrared (IR) phase structures poses a significant challenge. Despite the insights gained through Seiberg duality and deconfinement, a complete characterization of IR phases has been elusive, due to the lack of a systematic duality framework and the inconsistent dual descriptions.

In this talk, I will discuss about understanding the IR phase structure of these N=1 SU(N) gauge theories through the lens of "quad-CFTs"—strongly coupled 4D Superconformal Field Theories derived from string theory's NS5-D5 brane systems. Through the application of complementary methods—partial flipping and gauging—a dual description can be constructed from quad-CFTs, which comprehensively describe the complete IR phase structure of SU(N) gauge theory with matter in antisymmetric or symmetric representations.