Derives Airy representation for S^3 partition functions in M2-brane theories that exactly matches equivariant topological string predictions and proposes a new CY4 to C x CY3 correspondence via quantum curves.
Membrane instantons from a semiclassical TBA
2 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.
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abstract
The partition function on the three-sphere of ABJM theory contains non-perturbative corrections which correspond to membrane instantons in M-theory. These corrections can be studied in the Fermi gas approach to the partition function, and they are encoded in a system of integral equations of the TBA type. We study a semiclassical or WKB expansion of this TBA system in the ABJM coupling k, which corresponds to the strong coupling expansion of the type IIA string. This allows us to study membrane instanton corrections in M-theory at high order in the WKB expansion. Using these WKB results, we verify the conjectures for the form of the one-instanton correction at finite k proposed recently by Hatsuda, Moriyama and Okuyama (HMO), which are in turn based on a conjectural cancellation of divergences between worldsheet instantons and membrane instantons. The HMO cancellation mechanism is important since it shows in a precise, quantitative way, that the perturbative genus expansion is radically insufficient at strong coupling, and that non-perturbative membrane effects are essential to make sense of the theory. We propose analytic expressions in k for the full two-membrane instanton correction and for higher-order non-perturbative terms, which pass many consistency checks and provide further evidence for the HMO mechanism.
fields
hep-th 2years
2026 2representative citing papers
A bootstrap approach applied to ABJM theory yields analytic derivations of instanton corrections to the free energy and to 1/2 and 1/6 BPS Wilson loops, confirming relations previously known only conjecturally.
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$S^3$ partition functions and Equivariant CY$_4 $/CY$_3$ correspondence from Quantum curves
Derives Airy representation for S^3 partition functions in M2-brane theories that exactly matches equivariant topological string predictions and proposes a new CY4 to C x CY3 correspondence via quantum curves.
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Bootstrapping ABJM theory
A bootstrap approach applied to ABJM theory yields analytic derivations of instanton corrections to the free energy and to 1/2 and 1/6 BPS Wilson loops, confirming relations previously known only conjecturally.