Calculating the prepotential by localization on the moduli space of instantons

Jan, 2002
24 pages
Published in:
  • JHEP 03 (2002) 038
e-Print:
Report number:
  • SWAT-328

Citations per year

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Abstract:
We describe a new technique for calculating instanton effects in supersymmetric gauge theories applicable on the Higgs or Coulomb branches. In these situations the instantons are constrained and a potential is generated on the instanton moduli space. Due to existence of a nilpotent fermionic symmetry the resulting integral over the instanton moduli space localizes on the critical points of the potential. Using this technology we calculate the one- and two-instanton contributions to the prepotential of SU(N) gauge theory with N=2 supersymmetry and show how the localization approach yields the prediction extracted from the Seiberg-Witten curve. The technique appears to extend to arbitrary instanton number in a tractable way.
  • instanton: moduli space
  • prepotential
  • gauge field theory: SU(N)
  • supersymmetry
  • partition function