Brane box realization of chiral gauge theories in two dimensions Original Research Article

We study type IIA configurations of D4-branes and three kinds of NS5-branes. The D4-brane world-volume has finite extent in three directions, giving rise to a two-dimensional low-energy field theory. The models have generically (0, 2) supersymmetry. We determine the rules to read off the spectrum and interactions of the field theory from the brane box configuration data. We discuss the construction of theories with enhanced (0, 4), (0, 6) and (0, 8) supersymmetry. Using T-duality along the directions in which the D4-branes are finite, the configuration can be mapped to D1-branes at C4/Γ singularities, with Γ an abelian subgroup of SU(4). This provides a rederivation of the rules in the brane box model. The enhancement of supersymmetry has a nice geometrical interpretation in the singularity picture in terms of the holonomy group of the four-fold singularity.