In this paper we study the quantum sheaf cohomology of Grassmannians with deformations of the tangent bundle. Quantum sheaf cohomology is a (0,2) deformation of the ordinary quantum cohomology ring, realized as the OPE ring in A/2-twisted theories. Quantum sheaf cohomology has previously been computed for abelian gauged linear sigma models (GLSMs); here, we study (0,2) deformations of nonabelian GLSMs, for which previous methods have been intractable. Combined with the classical result, the quantum ring structure is derived from the one-loop effective potential. We also utilize recent advances in supersymmetric localization to compute A/2 correlation functions and check the general result in examples. In this paper we focus on physics derivations and examples; in a companion paper, we will provide a mathematically rigorous derivation of the classical sheaf cohomology ring.

We analyze orbifolds with discrete torsion of the ABJM theory by a finite subgroup Γ of SU(2)×SU(2) . Discrete torsion is implemented by twisting the crossed product algebra resulting after orbifolding. It is shown that, in general, the order m of the cocycle we chose to twist the algebra by enters in a non trivial way in the moduli space. To be precise, the M-theory fiber is multiplied by a factor of m in addition to the other effects that were found before in the literature. Therefore we got a Zk|Γ|m action on the fiber. We present a general analysis on how this quotient arises along with a detailed analysis of the cases where Γ is abelian.

This dissertation splits into two distinct halves. The first half is devoted to the study of the holography of higher spin gauge theory in AdS_3. We present a conjecture that the holographic dual of W_N minimal model in a 't Hooft-like large N limit is an unusual ``semi-local" higher spin gauge theory on AdS_3×S^1. At each point on the S^1 lives a copy of three-dimensional Vasiliev theory, that contains an infinite tower of higher spin gauge fields coupled to a single massive complex scalar propagating in AdS_3. The Vasiliev theories at different points on the S^1 are correlated only through the AdS_3 boundary conditions on the massive scalars. All but one single tower of higher spin symmetries are broken by the boundary conditions. This conjecture is checked by comparing tree-level two- and three-point functions, and also one-loop partition functions on both side of the duality. The second half focuses on the holography of higher spin gauge theory in AdS_4. We demonstrate that a supersymmetric and parity violating version of Vasiliev's higher spin gauge theory in AdS_4 admits boundary conditions that preserve N=0,1,2,3,4 or 6 supersymmetries. In particular, we argue that the Vasiliev theory with U(M) Chan-Paton and N=6 boundary condition is holographically dual to the 2+1 dimensional U(N)_k×U(M)_{−k} ABJ theory in the limit of large N,k and finite M. In this system all bulk higher spin fields transform in the adjoint of the U(M) gauge group, whose bulk t'Hooft coupling is M/N. Our picture suggests that the supersymmetric Vasiliev theory can be obtained as a limit of type IIA string theory in AdS_4×CP^3, and that the non-Abelian Vasiliev theory at strong bulk 't Hooft coupling smoothly turn into a string field theory. The fundamental string is a singlet bound state of Vasiliev's higher spin particles held together by U(M) gauge interactions.

The construction and classification of symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases in interacting bosonic and fermionic systems have been intensively studied in the past few years. Very recently, a complete classification and construction of space group SPT phases were also proposed for interacting bosonic systems. In this paper, we attempt to generalize this classification and construction scheme systematically into interacting fermion systems. In particular, we construct and classify point group SPT phases for 2D interacting fermion systems via lower-dimensional block-state decorations. We discover several intriguing fermionic SPT states that can only be realized in interacting fermion systems (i.e., not in free-fermion or bosonic SPT systems). Moreover, we also verify the recently conjectured crystalline equivalence principle for 2D interacting fermion systems. Finally, the potential experimental realization of these new classes of point group SPT phases in 2D correlated superconductors is addressed.

We study hybrid models arising as homological projective duals (HPD) of certain projective embeddings f:X→P(V) of Fano manifolds X. More precisely, the category of B-branes of such hybrid models corresponds to the HPD category of the embedding f. B-branes on these hybrid models can be seen as global matrix factorizations over some compact space B or, equivalently, as the derived category of the sheaf of A-modules on B, where A is an A_∞ algebra. This latter interpretation corresponds to a noncommutative resolution of B. We compute explicitly the algebra A by several methods, for some specific class of hybrid models, and find that in general it takes the form of a smash product of an A_∞ algebra with a cyclic group. Then we apply our results to the HPD of f corresponding to a Veronese embedding of projective space and the projective embedding of Fano complete intersections in P^n.