Related papers: Multi-Instanton Calculus in N=2 Supersymmetric Gau…
We review recent work on the study of N=2 super Yang-Mills theory with gauge group SU(N) from the point of view of the Whitham hierarchy, mainly focusing on three main results: (i) We develop a new recursive method to compute the whole…
Using the ADHM instanton calculus, we evaluate the one-instanton contribution to the low-energy effective prepotential of N=2 supersymmetric SU(N) Yang-Mills theory with N_F flavors of hypermultiplets in the fundamental representation and a…
This paper contains the results of our investigations of BPS instantons and of our work on N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories. The BPS instantons we study appear in type II string theory compactifications on Calabi-Yau threefolds. In the…
In the context of softly-broken N=4 to N=2 supersymmetric SU(N) gauge theory, we calculate using semi-classical instanton methods, the lowest order non-trivial terms in the mass expansion of the prepotential for all instanton number. We…
We solve N=2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories for arbitrary classical gauge group, i.e. SU(N), SO(N), Sp(N). In particular, we derive the prepotential of the low-energy effective theory, and the corresponding Seiberg-Witten curves. We…
We use N=2 harmonic and projective superspaces to formulate the most general `Ansatz' for the SU(2)_R invariant hypermultiplet low-energy effective action (LEEA) in four dimensions, which describes the two-parametric family of the…
Following work on theories with SU(N) gauge groups, we perform a large-N saddle-point approximation of the measure for ADHM multi-instantons in N=4 supersymmetric gauge theories with symplectic or orthogonal gauge groups. For Sp(N) we find…
Low--energy limits of N=2 supersymmetric field theories in the Higgs branch are described in terms of a non--linear 4--dimensional sigma--model on a \hk target space, classically obtained as a \hk quotient of the original flat…
We construct the Picard-Fuchs equations of the $N=2$ supersymmetric $SU(2)$ gauge theories with $N_f=0,1,3$ matter multiplets. For the $N_f=0$ theory from the solutions of the Picard-Fuchs equation the monodromy matrices on the quantum…
We discuss the modular anomaly equation satisfied by the the prepotential of 4-dimensional N=2* theories and show that its validity is related to S-duality. The recursion relations that follow from the modular anomaly equation allow one to…
These are notes from introductory lectures given at the Ecole Normale in Paris and at the Strasbourg meeting dedicated to the memory of Claude Itzykson. I review in considerable detail and in a hopefully pedagogical way the work of Seiberg…
The ADHM constraints which implicitly specify instanton gauge field configurations are solved for the explicit general form of instantons with topological charge two and gauge group U(N).
We show that four-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric SU(n) gauge theory for n>2 necessarily contains vacua with mutually non-local massless dyons, using only analyticity of the effective action and the weak coupling limit of the moduli space of…
We study the super instanton solution in the gauge theory with U$(n_{+}| n_{-})$ gauge group. Based on the ADHM construction generalized to the supergroup theory, we derive the instanton partition function from the super instanton moduli…
Microscopic tests of the exact results are performed in N=2 SU(2) supersymmetric QCD. We construct the multi-instanton solution in N=2 supersymmetric QCD and calculate the two-instanton contribution ${\cal F}_2$ to the prepotential ${\cal…
By using the recursion relations found in the framework of N=2 Super Yang-Mills theory with gauge group SU(2), we reconstruct the structure of the instanton moduli space and its volume form for all winding numbers. The construction is…
We analize instanton generated superpotentials for three dimensional N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories obtained by compactifying on S^1 N=1 four dimensional theories. In the N_f=1 case, we find that the vacua in the decompactification limit…
We find semi-local fractional instantons of codimension four in Abelian and non-Abelian gauge theories coupled with scalar fields and the corresponding ${\mathbb C}P^{N-1}$ and Grassmann sigma models at strong gauge coupling. They are 1/4…
We construct 4D $\mathcal{N}=2$ theories on an infinite family of 4D toric manifolds with the topology of connected sums of $S^2 \times S^2$. These theories are constructed through the dimensional reduction along a non-trivial $U(1)$-fiber…
An elementary introduction into the Seiberg-Witten theory is given. Many efforts are made to get it as pedagogical as possible, within a reasonable size. The selection of the relevant material is heavily oriented towards graduate students.…