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The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the four major experiments set up along its 27 kilometers of circumference (ATLAS, CMS, ALICE and LHCb), have recently started to explore the high–energy frontier at √s = 8 TeV, and will move to even higher energy in just about 2 years. The aim of physics searches at LHC experiments was to complete the picture of the Standard Model (SM) of elementary particles with the discovery of the Higgs boson and to look for specific signatures of models extending the current understanding of particle interactions, at zero and non–zero temperature. In 2012, the official discovery of the Higgs boson, the only missing particle of the StandardModel, was announced by ATLAS and CMS. Other important results include the measurement of rare decay modes in heavy quarks systems, and indications of CP violation in charm decays by LHCb. Signatures of beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics are currently being looked for in the experimental data, and this often requires the knowledge of quantities that can be computed only with non–perturbative methods. This thesis focuses on some possible extensions of the SM and the analysis of interesting physical observables, like masses or decay rates, calculated using non– perturbative lattice methods. The approach followed for the main part of this work is to model BSM theories as effective field theories defined on a lattice. This lattice approach has a twofold advantage: it allows us to explore non– renormalizable gauge theories by imposing an explicit gauge–invariant cutoff and it allows us to go beyond perturbative results in the study of strongly interacting systems. Some of the issues of the SM that we will try to address include, for example, the hierarchy problem and the origin of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking (DEWSB). We investigate non–perturbatively the possibility that the lightness of the mass for an elementary scalar field in a four–dimensional quantum field theory might be due to a higher–dimensional gauge symmetry principle. This idea fits in the Gauge–Higgs unification approach to the hierarchy problem and the results we present extend what is known from perturbative expectations. Extra dimensional models are also often used to approach DEWSB. Another approach to DEWSB implies a new strongly interacting gauge sector that extends the SM at high energies and it is usually referred to as Technicolor. The phenomenological consequences of Technicolor can only be studied by non– perturbative methods at low energy since the theory is strongly coupled at large distances. We perform a comprehensive lattice study of fermionic and gluonic scalar bound states in one of the candidate theories for Technicolor BSM physics. We relate our findings to the nature of the newly discovered Higgs boson. New physics is also commonly believed to be hidden in the flavour sector of the SM. In this sector, lattice calculations of non–perturbative input parameters are needed in order to make precise predictions and extract signals of possible new physics. In particular, heavy quark physics on the lattice is still in development and it is important to understand the relevant discretisation errors. We describe a preliminary study of the mixing parameter of heavy–light mesons oscillations in a partially–quenched scenario, using staggered dynamical fermions and domain wall valence fermions.

A dissertation presented to The Faculty of Science University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg in ful lment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science June 2015 / At nite N, the number of restricted Schur polynomials is greater than, or equal to the number of generalized restricted Schur polynomials. In this dissertation we study this dis- crepancy and explain its origin. We conclude that, for quiver gauge theories, in general, the generalized restricted Shur polynomials correctly account for the complete set of nite N constraints and they provide a basis, while the restricted Schur polynomials only account for a subset of the nite N constraints and are thus overcomplete. We identify several situations in which the restricted Schur polynomials do in fact account for the complete set of nite N constraints. In these situations the restricted Schur polynomials and the gen- eralized restricted Schur polynomials both provide good bases for the quiver gauge theory. Further, we demonstrate situations in which the generalized restricted Schur polynomials reduce to the restricted Schur polynomials and use these results to study the anomalous dimensions for scalar operators in ABJM theory in the SU(2) sector. The operators we consider have a classical dimension that grows as N in the large N limit. Consequently, the large N limit is not captured by summing planar diagrams { non-planar contributions have to be included. We nd that the mixing matrix at two-loop order is diagonalized using a double coset ansatz, reducing it to the Hamiltonian of a set of decoupled oscilla- tors. The spectrum of anomalous dimensions, when interpreted in the dual gravity theory, shows that the energy of the uctuations of the corresponding giant graviton is dependent on the size of the giant. The rst subleading corrections to the large N limit are also considered. These subleading corrections to the dilatation operator do not commute with the leading terms, indicating that integrability probably does not survive beyond the large N limit.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy February 2017. / In this dissertation we exploit the Ads slash CFT correspondence to describe a system of strings suspended between giant gravitons. The strings can be in an excited state. The excitations of the strings can be given a particle-like description and are known as magnons. The proposed gauge invariant operators used to construct a complete description of this system belong to the su(2) sector of the N = 4 SYM. Using an open spin chain description of the suspended strings, the states of the system we consider enjoy an SU 2j2)2 symmetry. By making use of this symmetry, we compute the all loop anomalous dimensions of these operators. The spectrum of the dilatation operator in the su(2) sector of the theory is reproduced in the dual gravity description. In the dual theory, the energies of the magnons are computed using strings in a background LLM geometry and the results are in complete agreement with the anomalous dimensions of the operators we have considered. Using the symmetries enjoyed by our system we achieve a complete determination - up to an overall phase - of the reection/scattering matrix between a boundary magnon and a bulk magnon. Thus, although the open boundary conditions of the spin chain spoil integrability. The two-loop subleading correction to the dilatation operator is also explored. This subleading term corresponds to a correction of the magnon energies. The computation of this subleading term requires consideration of the giant's backreaction on their excitations. We nd that this backreaction implies a nontrivial mixing of the dual operators and this mixing is characterized completely. / MT2017

Nesta dissertação estudamos as teorias de gauge acoplada com campos de matéria em variedades bidimensionais. Para isso, descrevemos primeiro um formalismo em duas e três dimensões o qual é baseado na ideia de Kuperberg de definir um invariante topológico em três dimensões usando álgebras de Hopf e diagramas de Heegaard. O uso do formalismo é útil para este trabalho pois é fácil a identificação de limites topológicos sem resolver o modelo. Também escrevemos o modelo de gauge com campos de matéria usando uma fixação de gauge chamada de gauge unitário. Trabalhamos com o grupo abeliano $\\mathbb_$ e explicamos com detalhe o caso $\\mathbb_$. Calculamos as funções de partição e loops de Wilson para este grupo nos diferentes limites topológicos. Mostramos que existem casos nos quais os resultados dependem da triangulação mas de maneira trivial, estes casos foram chamados de quase-topológicos. / In this thesis we study gauge theories coupled with matter fields in two-dimensional manifolds. In order to proceed we first describe a formalism in two and three dimensions which is based on the idea of Kuperberg of defining a topological invariant in three dimensions using Hopf algebras and Heegaard diagrams. The use of this formalism is useful here because it is easy to identify topological limits without solving the model. Furthermore, we write the gauge model with matter fields choosing the unitary gauge. We work with abelians groups Z(n) and explain the Z(2) case in detail. We calculate partition functions and Wilson loops for this group in the different topological limits. We show that, there were cases in which the results depended on the triangulation but in a trivial way, these cases are called quasi-topological.

Nesta dissertação estudamos as teorias de gauge acoplada com campos de matéria em variedades bidimensionais. Para isso, descrevemos primeiro um formalismo em duas e três dimensões o qual é baseado na ideia de Kuperberg de definir um invariante topológico em três dimensões usando álgebras de Hopf e diagramas de Heegaard. O uso do formalismo é útil para este trabalho pois é fácil a identificação de limites topológicos sem resolver o modelo. Também escrevemos o modelo de gauge com campos de matéria usando uma fixação de gauge chamada de gauge unitário. Trabalhamos com o grupo abeliano $\\mathbb_$ e explicamos com detalhe o caso $\\mathbb_$. Calculamos as funções de partição e loops de Wilson para este grupo nos diferentes limites topológicos. Mostramos que existem casos nos quais os resultados dependem da triangulação mas de maneira trivial, estes casos foram chamados de quase-topológicos. / In this thesis we study gauge theories coupled with matter fields in two-dimensional manifolds. In order to proceed we first describe a formalism in two and three dimensions which is based on the idea of Kuperberg of defining a topological invariant in three dimensions using Hopf algebras and Heegaard diagrams. The use of this formalism is useful here because it is easy to identify topological limits without solving the model. Furthermore, we write the gauge model with matter fields choosing the unitary gauge. We work with abelians groups Z(n) and explain the Z(2) case in detail. We calculate partition functions and Wilson loops for this group in the different topological limits. We show that, there were cases in which the results depended on the triangulation but in a trivial way, these cases are called quasi-topological.

Holographic dualities are now an established tool in the study of universal properties of strongly coupled field theories. Yet, theories without translational symmetry are still poorly understood in this context. In this dissertation, we investigate three new approaches to this challenging problem. The first part of the dissertation concerns a class of phenomenological holographic models in which momentum relaxation can be achieved without breaking translational symmetry in the dual geometry. In particular, we focus on an example in which the dual geometry is similar to anti-de Sitter (AdS) Brans-Dicke theory. We study the thermodynamic and transport properties of the model and show that for strong momentum relaxation and low temperatures the model has insulator-like behaviour. In the second part, we go beyond the effective description and consider holographic theories which explicitly break translational symmetry. From the perspective of gravity, these theories translate to geometries that vary explicitly in the boundary space-like coordinates. We refer to these geometries as 'inhomogeneous' and investigate two approaches to study them. The first is motivated by the question: "what happens to a homogeneous geometry when coupled with a field varying randomly in space?". Starting from an AdS geometry at zero or finite temperature, we show that a spatially varying random Maxwell potential drives the dual field theory to a non-trivial infra-red fixed point characterised by an emerging scale invariance. Thermodynamic and transport properties of this disordered ground state are also discussed. The second is motivated by the complementary question: "how does a random geometry affect a probe field?". In the weak disorder limit, we show that disorder induces an additional power-law decay in the dual correlation functions. For certain choices of geometry profile, this contribution becomes dominant in the infra-red, indicating the breaking of perturbation theory and the possible existence of a phase transition induced by disorder. The third and last part of this dissertation switches from the gravity to the field theoretical side of the duality. We discuss the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model, a disordered many-body model with distinctive black hole-like properties. We provide analytical and numerical evidence that these holographic properties are robust against a natural one-body deformation for a finite range of parameters. Outside this interval, this system undergoes a chaotic-integrable transition.

Quiver gauge theories are widely studied in the context of AdS/CFT, which establishes a correspondence between CFTs and string theories. CFTs in turn offer a map between quantum states and Gauge Invariant Operators (GIOs). This thesis presents results on the counting and correlators of holomorphic GIOs in quiver gauge theories with flavour symmetries, in the zero coupling limit. We first give a prescription to build a basis of holomorphic matrix invariants, labelled by representation theory data. A fi nite N counting function of these GIOs is then given in terms of Littlewood-Richardson coefficients. In the large N limit, the generating function simpli fies to an in finite product of determinants, which depend only on the weighted adjacency matrix associated with the quiver. The building block of this product has a counting interpretation by itself, expressed in terms of words formed by partially commuting letters associated with closed loops in the quiver. This is a new relation between counting problems in gauge theory and the Cartier-Foata monoid. We compute the free fi eld two and three point functions of the matrix invariants. These have a non-trivial dependence on the structure of the operators and on the ranks of the gauge and flavour symmetries: our results are exact in the ranks, and their expansions contain information beyond the planar limit. We introduce a class of permutation centraliser algebras, which give a precise characterisation of the minimal set of charges needed to distinguish arbitrary matrix invariants. For the two-matrix model, the relevant non-commutative algebra is parametrised by two integers. Its Wedderburn-Artin decomposition explains the counting of restricted Schur operators. The structure of the algebra, notably its dimension, its centre and its maximally commuting sub-algebra, is related to Littlewood-Richardson numbers for composing Young diagrams.

Orientador: José Geraldo Pereira / Mestre

Over the course of a college mathematics degree, students are inevitably exposed to elementary physics. The derivation of the equations of motion are the classic examples of applications of derivatives and integrals. These equations of motion are easy to understand, however they can be expressed in other ways that students aren't often exposed to. Using the Lagrangian and the Hamiltonian, we can capture the same governing dynamics of Newtonian mechanics with equations that emphasize physical quantities other than position, velocity, and acceleration like Newton's equations do. Building o of these alternate interpretations of mechanics and understanding gauge transformations, we begin to understand some of the mathematical physics relating to gauge theories. In general, gauge theories are eld theories that can have gauge transformations applied to them in such a way that the meaningful physical quantities remain invariant. This paper covers the buildup to gauge theories, some of their applications, and some computational approaches to understanding them.