English

An Index Formula for Supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics

High Energy Physics - Theory 2015-07-07 v2 Representation Theory

Abstract

We derive a localization formula for the refined index of gauged quantum mechanics with four supercharges. Our answer takes the form of a residue integral on the complexified Cartan subalgebra of the gauge group. The formula captures the dependence of the index on Fayet-Iliopoulos parameters and the presence of a generic superpotential. The residue formula provides an efficient method for computing cohomology of quiver moduli spaces. Our result has broad applications to the counting of BPS states in four-dimensional N=2 systems. In that context, the wall-crossing phenomenon appears as discontinuities in the value of the residue integral as the integration contour is varied. We present several examples illustrating the various aspects of the index formula.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1406.7853,
  title  = {An Index Formula for Supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics},
  author = {Clay Cordova and Shu-Heng Shao},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1406.7853},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

30 pages, 12 figures, v2 references added, minor clarifications, and changes to sign conventions for FI parameters

R2 v1 2026-06-22T04:51:42.491Z