UC San Diego

In this dissertation we discuss some conjectured dualities in supersymmetric field theories and provide non-trivial checks for these conjectures. A quick review of supersymmetry and related topics is provided in chapter 1. In chapter 2, we develop a method to identify the so called BPS states in the Hilbert space of a supersymmetric field theory (that preserves at least two real supercharges) on a generic curved space. As an application we obtain the superconformal index (SCI) of 4d theories. The large N SCI of quiver gauge theories has been previously noticed to factorize over the set of extremal BPS mesonic operators. In chapter 3, we reformulate this factorization in terms of the zigzag paths in the dimer model associated to the quiver and extend the factorization theorem of the index to include theories obtained from D-branes probing orbifold singularities. In chapter 4, we consider the dualities in two classes of 3 dimensional theories. The first class consist of dualities of certain necklace type Chern-Simons (CS) quiver gauge theories. A non trivial check of these dualities is provided by matching their squashed sphere partition functions. The second class consists of theories whose duals are described by a collection of free fields. In such cases, due to mixing between the superconformal R- symmetry and accidental symmetries, the matching of electric and magnetic partition functions is not straightforward. We provide a prescription to rectify this mismatch. In chapter 5, we consider some the N = 1 4d theories with orthogonal and symplectic gauge groups, arising from N = 1 preserving reduction of 6d theories on a Riemann surface. This construction allows us to dual descriptions of 4d theories. Some of the dual frames have no known Lagrangian description. We check the dualities by computing the anomaly coefficients and the superconformal indices. We also give a prescription to write the index of the theory obtained by reduction of 6d theories on a three punctured sphere with Z₂ and Z₃ twist lines and verify that it exhibits the conjectured symmetry enhancement from G₂ USp(6) to E7. In chapter 6, we continue our study of 4d theories obtained from reduction of 6d theories. We introduce a new type of object that we call the 'Fan' and show how to construct new N = 1 superconformal theories using the Fan. In chapter 7, we demonstrate the existence of an infinite number of theories that are either dual to or exhibit a cascade of Rug flows down to the Sou(N) Sq cd with four flavors and a quartic superpotential