Wall crossing, string networks and quantum toroidal algebras

Abstract: We investigate BPS states in 4d N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory and the corresponding (p, q) string networks in Type IIB string theory. We propose a new interpretation of the algebra of line operators in this theory as a tensor product of vector representations of a quantum toroidal algebra, which determines protected spin characters of all framed BPS states. We identify the SL(2,Z)-noninvariant choice of the coproduct in the quantum toroidal algebra with the choice of supersymmetry subalgebra preserved by the BPS states and interpret wall crossing operators as Drinfeld twists of the coproduct. Kontsevich-Soibelman spectrum generator is then identified with Khoroshkin-Tolstoy universal R-matrix.