Superconformal indices for non-Lagrangian theories in five dimensions

Abstract

We propose two novel methods for computing the superconformal index of 5d superconformal field theories that cannot be described by conventional Lagrangian descriptions under mass deformations. The first approach involves the use of Higgs branch flows from UV Lagrangian theories, guided by transitions in 5-brane webs in Type IIB string theory. The second method employs the relationship between O\(7^+\)-plane and O\(7^-\)-plane with eight D7-branes, which applies to particular non-Lagrangian theories realized by brane configurations involving an O\(7^+\)-plane. As a concrete application of our method, we compute the superconformal indices for all known rank-1 non-Lagrangian theories, which we also use to identify flavor symmetries and their global forms at the conformal field theory (CFT) fixed points.