No Arabic abstract
We consider conformal N=2 super Yang-Mills theories with gauge group SU(N) and Nf=2N fundamental hypermultiplets in presence of a circular 1/2-BPS Wilson loop. It is natural to conjecture that the matrix model which describes the expectation value of this system also encodes the one-point functions of chiral scalar operators in presence of the Wilson loop. We obtain evidence of this conjecture by successfully comparing, at finite N and at the two-loop order, the one-point functions computed in field theory with the vacuum expectation values of the corresponding normal-ordered operators in the matrix model. For the part of these expressions with transcendentality zeta(3), we also obtain results in the large-N limit that are exact in the t Hooft coupling lambda.
We study the two-point correlation functions of chiral/anti-chiral operators in $N=2$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories on $R^4$ with gauge group SU(N) and $N_f$ massless hypermultiplets in the fundamental representation. We compute them in perturbation theory, using dimensional regularization up to two loops, and show that field-theory observables built out of dimensionless ratios of two-point renormalized correlators on $R^4$ are in perfect agreement with the same quantities computed using localization on the four-sphere, even in the non-conformal case $N_f ot=2N$.
We study half-BPS surface operators in supersymmetric gauge theories in four and five dimensions following two different approaches. In the first approach we analyze the chiral ring equations for certain quiver theories in two and three dimensions, coupled respectively to four- and five-dimensional gauge theories. The chiral ring equations, which arise from extremizing a twisted chiral superpotential, are solved as power series in the infrared scales of the quiver theories. In the second approach we use equivariant localization and obtain the twisted chiral superpotential as a function of the Coulomb moduli of the four- and five-dimensional gauge theories, and find a perfect match with the results obtained from the chiral ring equations. In the five-dimensional case this match is achieved after solving a number of subtleties in the localization formulas which amounts to choosing a particular residue prescription in the integrals that yield the Nekrasov-like partition functions for ramified instantons. We also comment on the necessity of including Chern-Simons terms in order to match the superpotentials obtained from dual quiver descriptions of a given surface operator.
We complete the program of 2012.15792 about perturbative approaches for $mathcal{N}=2$ superconformal quiver theories in four dimensions. We consider several classes of observables in presence of Wilson loops, and we evaluate them with the help of supersymmetric localization. We compute Wilson loop vacuum expectation values, correlators of multiple coincident Wilson loops and one-point functions of chiral operators in presence of them acting as superconformal defects. We extend this analysis to the most general case considering chiral operators and multiple Wilson loops scattered in all the possible ways among the vector multiplets of the quiver. Finally, we identify twisted and untwisted observables which probe the orbifold of $AdS_5times S^5$ with the aim of testing possible holographic perspectives of quiver theories in $mathcal{N}=2$.
We consider two-point correlators in SU(N) gauge theories on R4 with N=2 supersymmetry and Nf massless hypermultiplets in the fundamental representation. Using localization on S4, we compute the leading perturbative corrections to the two-point functions of chiral/anti-chiral operators made of scalar fields. The results are compared at two and three loops against direct field theory computations for some special operators whose correlators remain finite in perturbation theory at the specific loop order. In the conformal case, the match is shown up to two loops for a generic choice of operators and for arbitrary N.
We consider the 1/2 BPS circular Wilson loop in a generic N=2 SU(N) SYM theory with conformal matter content. We study its vacuum expectation value, both at finite $N$ and in the large-N limit, using the interacting matrix model provided by localization results. We single out some families of theories for which the Wilson loop vacuum expectation values approaches the N=4 result in the large-N limit, in agreement with the fact that they possess a simple holographic dual. At finite N and in the generic case, we explicitly compare the matrix model result with the field-theory perturbative expansion up to order g^8 for the terms proportional to the Riemann value zeta(5), finding perfect agreement. Organizing the Feynman diagrams as suggested by the structure of the matrix model turns out to be very convenient for this computation.