Mass deformations of brane brick models

bstract We investigate a class of mass deformations that connect pairs of 2 d (0 , 2) gauge theories associated to different toric Calabi-Yau 4-folds. These deformations are generalizations to 2 d of the well-known Klebanov-Witten deformation relating the 4 d gauge theories for the ℂ 2 / ℤ 2 × ℂ orbifold and the conifold. We investigate various aspects of these deformations, including their connection to brane brick models and the relation between the change in the geometry and the pattern of symmetry breaking triggered by the deformation. We also explore how the volume of the Sasaki-Einstein 7-manifold at the base of the Calabi-Yau 4-fold varies under deformation, which leads us to conjecture that it quantifies the number of degrees of freedom of the gauge theory and its dependence on the RG scale.