Instanton operators and symmetry enhancement in 5d supersymmetric quiver gauge theories

Abstract: We consider general 5d SU(N) quiver gauge theories whose nodes form an ADE Dynkin diagram of type G. Each node has SU(N_i) gauge group of general rank, Chern-Simons level κ_i and additional w_i fundamentals. When the total flavor number at each node is less than or equal to 2N_i − 2|κ_i|, we give general rules under which the symmetries associated to instanton currents are enhanced to G × G or a subgroup of it in the UV 5d superconformal theory. When the total flavor number violates that condition at some of the nodes, further enhancement of flavor symmetries occurs. In particular we find a large class of gauge theories interpreted as S¹ compactification of 6d superconformal theories which are waiting for string/F-theory realization. We also consider hypermultiplets in (anti-)symmetric representation.