English

Comments on twisted indices in 3d supersymmetric gauge theories

High Energy Physics - Theory 2016-09-21 v2

Abstract

We study three-dimensional N=2{\mathcal N}=2 supersymmetric gauge theories on Σg×S1{\Sigma_g \times S^1} with a topological twist along Σg\Sigma_g, a genus-gg Riemann surface. The twisted supersymmetric index at genus gg and the correlation functions of half-BPS loop operators on S1S^1 can be computed exactly by supersymmetric localization. For g=1g=1, this gives a simple UV computation of the 3d Witten index. Twisted indices provide us with a clean derivation of the quantum algebra of supersymmetric Wilson loops, for any Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons-matter theory, in terms of the associated Bethe equations for the theory on R2×S1{\mathbb R}^2 \times S^1. This also provides a powerful and simple tool to study 3d N=2{\mathcal N}=2 Seiberg dualities. Finally, we study A- and B-twisted indices for N=4{\mathcal N}=4 supersymmetric gauge theories, which turns out to be very useful for quantitative studies of three-dimensional mirror symmetry. We also briefly comment on a relation between the S2×S1S^2 \times S^1 twisted indices and the Hilbert series of N=4{\mathcal N}=4 moduli spaces.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1605.06531,
  title  = {Comments on twisted indices in 3d supersymmetric gauge theories},
  author = {Cyril Closset and Heeyeon Kim},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1605.06531},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

66 pages plus appendix; v2: corrected typos and added references