String Theory Journal Club

I will discuss a class of novel 1/4-BPS Wilson loops with a cusp in 4d N=2 gauge theories. Specifically, inspired by perturbative computations and results from localization, we conjecture a matrix model description for their expectation value. Building on this proposal, we examine their behavior in the strongly coupled 't Hooft limit of superconformal QCD and find a new phase transition regulated by the opening angle of the Wilson loop. Along the way, I will also explore physical connections to quantities such as bremsstrahlung and the cusp anomalous dimension.