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.

We study BPS states of 5d N=1 SU(2) Yang-Mills theory on S^1×R^4. Geometric engineering relates these to enumerative invariants for the local Hirzebruch surface F_0. We illustrate computations of Vafa-Witten invariants via exponential networks, verifying fiber-base symmetry of the spectrum at certain points in moduli space, and matching with mirror descriptions based on quivers and exceptional collections. Albeit infinite, parts of the spectrum organize in families described by simple algebraic equations. Varying the radius of the M-theory circle interpolates smoothly with the spectrum of 4d N=2 Seiberg-Witten theory, recovering spectral networks in the limit.

We propose a formula for the exact central charge of a B-type D-brane that is expected to hold in all regions of the Kähler moduli space of a Calabi–Yau. For Landau–Ginzburg orbifolds we propose explicit expressions for the mathematical objects that enter into the central charge formula. We show that our results are consistent with results in FJRW theory and the hemisphere partition function of the gauged linear sigma model.

In these notes, we provide an introduction to the hemisphere partition function of 2d (2, 2) supersymmetric gauge theories, and discuss its relation to the “D-brane central charge” which were studied in superstring theory, in 2d supersymmetric quantum field theory, and in topological string theory. We also discuss relation to “macroscopic loop” in matrix models. They are mostly reviews of the work by the authors, but contains some new results such as the partition function for a rotated supersymmetry as well as the differential equations.

We study BPS spectra of D-branes on local Calabi-Yau threefolds O(−p)⊕O(p−2)→P^1 with p=0,1, corresponding to C^3/Z_2 and the resolved conifold. Nonabelianization for exponential networks is applied to compute directly unframed BPS indices counting states with D2 and D0 brane charges. Known results on these BPS spectra are correctly reproduced by computing new types of BPS invariants of 3d-5d BPS states, encoded by nonabelianization, through their wall-crossing. We also develop the notion of exponential BPS graphs for the simplest toric examples, and show that they encode both the quiver and the potential associated to the Calabi-Yau via geometric engineering.