No Arabic abstract
We study dualities in off-shell 4D N = 2 supersymmetric sigma-models, using the projective superspace approach. These include (i) duality between the real O(2n) and polar multiplets; and (ii) polar-polar duality. We demonstrate that the dual of any superconformal sigma-model is superconformal. Since N = 2 superconformal sigma-models (for which target spaces are hyperkahler cones) formulated in terms of polar multiplets are naturally associated with Kahler cones (which are target spaces for N = 1 superconformal sigma-models), polar-polar duality generates a transformation between different Kahler cones. In the non-superconformal case, we study implications of polar-polar duality for the sigma-model formulation in terms of N = 1 chiral superfields. In particular, we find the relation between the original hyperkahler potential and its dual. As an application of polar-polar duality, we study self-dual models.
This is a review of how sigma models formulated in Superspace have become important tools for understanding geometry. Topics included are: The (hyper)kahler reduction; projective superspace; the generalized Legendre construction; generalized Kahler geometry and constructions of hyperkahler metrics on Hermitean symmetric spaces.
The $O(d,d)$ invariant worldsheet theory for bosonic string theory with $d$ abelian isometries is employed to compute the beta functions and Weyl anomaly at one-loop. We show that vanishing of the Weyl anomaly coefficients implies the equations of motion of the Maharana-Schwarz action. We give a self-contained introduction into the required techniques, including beta functions, the Weyl anomaly for two-dimensional sigma models and the background field method. This sets the stage for a sequel to this paper on generalizations to higher loops and $alpha$ corrections.
Supersymmetric non-linear sigma-models are described by a field dependent Kaehler metric determining the kinetic terms. In general it is not guaranteed that this metric is always invertible. Our aim is to investigate the symmetry structure of supersymmetric models in four dimensional space-time in which metric singularities occur. For this purpose we study a simple anomaly-free extension of the supersymmetric CP^1 model from a classical point of view. We show that the metric singularities can be regularized by the addition of a soft supersymmetry-breaking mass parameter.
We introduce and study conformal field theories specified by $W-$algebras commuting with certain set of screening charges. These CFTs possess perturbations which define integrable QFTs. We establish that these QFTs have local and non-local Integrals of Motion and admit the perturbation theory in the weak coupling region. We construct factorized scattering theory which is consistent with non-local Integrals of Motion and perturbation theory. In the strong coupling limit the $S-$matrix of this QFT tends to the scattering matrix of the $O(N)$ sigma model. The perturbation theory, Bethe anzatz technique, renormalization group approach and methods of conformal field theory are applied to show, that the constructed QFTs are dual to integrable deformation of $O(N)$ sigma-models.
We present evidence for renormalization group fixed points with dual magnetic descriptions in fourteen new classes of four-dimensional $N=1$ supersymmetric models. Nine of these classes are chiral and many involve two or three gauge groups. These theories are generalizations of models presented earlier by Seiberg, by Kutasov and Schwimmer, and by the present authors. The different classes are interrelated; one can flow from one class to another using confinement or symmetry breaking.