This monograph gives a detailed and pedagogical account of the geometry of rigid superspace and supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories. While the core of the text is concerned with the classical theory, the quantization and anomaly problem are briefly discussed following a comprehensive introduction to BRS differential algebras and their field theoretical applications. Among the treated topics are invariant forms and vector fields on superspace, the matrix-representation of the super-Poincaré group, invariant connections on reductive homogeneous spaces and the supermetric approach. Various aspects of the subject are discussed for the first time in textbook and are consistently presented in a unified geometric formalism. Requiring essentially no background on supersymmetry and only a basic knowledge of differential geometry, this text will serve as a mathematically lucid introduction to supersymmetric gauge theories.

This monograph gives a detailed and pedagogical account of the geometry of rigid superspace and supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories. While the core of the text is concerned with the classical theory, the quantization and anomaly problem are briefly discussed following a comprehensive introduction to BRS differential algebras and their field theoretical applications. Among the treated topics are invariant forms and vector fields on superspace, the matrix-representation of the super-Poincaré group, invariant connections on reductive homogeneous spaces and the supermetric approach. Various aspects of the subject are discussed for the first time in textbook and are consistently presented in a unified geometric formalism. Requiring essentially no background on supersymmetry and only a basic knowledge of differential geometry, this text will serve as a mathematically lucid introduction to supersymmetric gauge theories.

This book reviews a number of spectacular advances that have been made in the study of supersymmetric quantum field theories in the last few years. Highlights include exact calculations of Wilson loop expectation values, and highly nontrivial quantitative checks of the long-standing electric-magnetic duality conjectures The book starts with an introductory article presenting a survey of recent advances, aimed at a wide audience with a background and interest in theoretical physics. The following articles are written for advanced students and researchers in quantum field theory, string theory and mathematical physics, our goal being to familiarize these readers with the forefront of current research. The topics covered include recent advances in the classification and vacuum structure of large families of N=2 supersymmetric field theories, followed by an extensive discussion of the localisation method, one of the most powerful tools for exact studies of supersymmetric field theories. The quantities that have been studied in this way are partition functions, expectation values of line operators, and supersymmetric indices. The book also reviews recently discovered connections between SUSY field theories in four dimensions and two-dimensional conformal field theory. These connections have a counterpart in relations between three-dimensional gauge theories and Chern-Simons theory; the book’s closing chapters explore connections with string theory.

This thesis explores aspects of gravity and quantum field theory (QFT). The first part is devoted to the interplay between manifest T-duality symmetry and higher-derivative corrections to the low-energy effective action of string theory. The second part focuses on exact results in supersymmetric gauge theories. We first discuss T-duality symmetry of string theory from various perspectives. We next review the manifest-duality-symmetric formulation of low-energy effective actions: double field theory (DFT) and its higher-derivative generalization, HSZ (Hohm-Siegel-Zwiebach) theory. We then compute on-shell three-point amplitudes in the HSZ theory. We show that these amplitudes factorize, as in bosonic and heterotic string theories, but they differ from both. Further, we analyze degrees of freedom in the HSZ theory. The spectrum of the theory contains massive spin-2 ghosts and massive scalars, in addition to massless fields. The massive modes can be integrated out exactly at the quadratic level, leading to an infinite series of higher-derivative corrections. Finally, we give a ghost-free massive extension of linearized DFT, which employs novel mass terms for the dilaton and the graviton. In the second part, we start by reviewing the exact results for partition functions of supersymmetric gauge theories on spheres. Exact results, however, are not available for minimally supersymmetric theories on S4 and S6. Minahan conjectured the form of perturbative partition functions for theories on Sd with eight and sixteen supersymmetries. We show that this form gives the correct one-loop divergences of the flat-space super Yang-Mills (SYM) upon taking the radius of the sphere to infinity. We also prove the conjecture explicitly for theories with eight supersymmetries. Further, we extend our results to theories with four supersymmetries for d

Understanding the dynamics of gauge theories is crucial, given the fact that all known interactions are based on the principle of local gauge symmetry. Beyond the perturbative regime, however, this is a notoriously difficult problem. Requiring invariance under supersymmetry turns out to be a suitable tool for analyzing supersymmetric gauge theories over a larger region of the space of parameters. Supersymmetric quantum field theories in four dimensions with extended N=2 supersymmetry are further constrained and have therefore been a fertile field of research in theoretical physics for quite some time. Moreover, there are far-reaching mathematical ramifications that have led to a successful dialogue with differential and algebraic geometry. These lecture notes aim to introduce students of modern theoretical physics to the fascinating developments in the understanding of N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories in a coherent fashion. Starting with a gentle introduction to electric-magnetic duality, the author guides readers through the key milestones in the field, which include the work of Seiberg and Witten, Nekrasov, Gaiotto and many others. As an advanced graduate level text, it assumes that readers have a working knowledge of supersymmetry including the formalism of superfields, as well as of quantum field theory techniques such as regularization, renormalization and anomalies. After his graduation from the University of Tokyo, Yuji Tachikawa worked at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton and the Kavli Institute for Physics and Mathematics of the Universe. Presently at the Department of Physics, University of Tokyo, Tachikawa is the author of several important papers in supersymmetric quantum field theories and string theory.

From the reviews: "... focused mainly on complex differential geometry and holomorphic bundle theory. This is a powerful book, written by a very distinguished contributor to the field" (Contemporary Physics )"the book provides a large amount of background for current research across a spectrum of field. ... requires effort to read but it is worthwhile and rewarding" (New Zealand Math. Soc. Newsletter) " The contents are highly technical and the pace of the exposition is quite fast. Manin is an outstanding mathematician, and writer as well, perfectly at ease in the most abstract and complex situation. With such a guide the reader will be generously rewarded!" (Physicalia) This new edition includes an Appendix on developments of the last 10 years, by S. Merkulov.