Modularity in Argyres-Douglas theories with a = c

Abstract We consider a family of Argyres-Douglas theories, which are 4D N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 strongly coupled superconformal field theories (SCFTs) but share many features with 4D N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 4 super-Yang-Mills theories. In particular, the two central charges of these theories are the same, namely a = c. We derive a simple and illuminating formula for the Schur index of these theories, which factorizes into the product of a Casimir term and a term referred to as the Schur partition function. While the former is controlled by the anomaly, the latter is identified with the vacuum character of the corresponding chiral algebra and is expected to satisfy the modular linear differential equation. Our simple expression for the Schur partition function, which can be regarded as the generalization of MacMahon’s generalized sum-of-divisor function, allows one to numerically compute the series expansions efficiently, and furthermore find the corresponding modular linear differential equation. In a special case where the chiral algebra is known, we are able to derive the corresponding modular linear differential equation using Zhu’s recursion relation. We further study the solutions to the modular linear differential equations and discuss their modular transformations. As an application, we study the high temperature limit or the Cardy-like limit of the Schur index using its simple expression and modular properties, thus shedding light on the 1/4-BPS microstates of genuine N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 SCFTs with a = c and their dual quantum gravity via the AdS/CFT correspondence.