High Energy Theory Seminar

The superconformal R-charges of 4d supersymmetric gauge theories can be exactly determined by maximizing a cubic function, constructed from 't Hooft anomalies. This ties in with Cardy's conjectured 4d analog of the c-theorem. It also implies that the R-charges, dimensions of chiral primary operators, and conformal anomalies are always algebraic numbers. This will be discussed in connection with AdS/CFT, and Sasaki- Einstein geometry. Another method to determine the superconformal R-charges, based on current 2-point functions, will also be discussed, and connected with AdS/CFT and the results of Martelli, Sparks, and Yau on Sasaki-Einstein geometry.