MS Seminar (Mathematics - String Theory)

Speaker: Takuya Okuda (U. Tokyo)
Title: Exact results for 't Hooft loops in supersymmetric gauge theories
Date (JST): Tue, Mar 08, 2011, 13:15 - 14:45
Place: Seminar Room A
Abstract: A 't Hooft loop operator -- the world-line of an infinitely heavy magnetic monopole -- is an order parameter for gauge symmetry breaking, just like a Wilson loop is an order parameter for quark confinement. In supersymmetric gauge theories, we perform an exact calculation of the 't Hooft loop expectation value based on the path-integral approach. The calculation makes full use of supersymmetry, and the path-integral reduces to a geometric analysis of the moduli space of solitons, namely instantons and monopoles. The exact results we obtain for 't Hooft loops confirm the predictions given by two-dimensional conformal field theories, through a recently discovered relation between four- and two-dimensional field theories.