W-algebras and surface operators in N=2 gauge theories
Abstract
A general class of W-algebras can be constructed from the affine sl(N) algebra by (quantum) Drinfeld-Sokolov reduction and are classified by partitions of N. Surface operators in an N=2 SU(N) 4d gauge theory are also classified by partitions of N. We argue that instanton partition functions of N=2 gauge theories in the presence of a surface operator can also be computed from the corresponding W-algebra. We test this proposal by analysing the Polyakov-Bershadsky W_3^(2) algebra obtaining results that are in agreement with the known partition functions for SU(3) gauge theories with a so called simple surface operator. As a byproduct, our proposal implies relations between the W_3^(2) and W_3 algebras.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1011.0289,
title = {W-algebras and surface operators in N=2 gauge theories},
author = {Niclas Wyllard},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1011.0289},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
16 pages. v2: minor changes. v3: added two references