McGill.CA / Science / Department of Physics

Theory HEP Seminar

Monopole Operators on the Coulomb branch

Amihay Hanany

Imperial College

The moduli space of k G instantons on C2, where G is a classical gauge group, has a well known HyperKahler quotient formulation known as the ADHM construction. The extension to exceptional groups is an open problem. In string theory this is realized using a system of branes, and the moduli space of instantons is identified with the Higgs branch of a particular supersymmetric gauge theory with 8 supercharges. A less known, and less studied aspect of moduli spaces of instantons is that they can be realized as the Coulomb branch of a supersymmetric gauge theory in 2+1 dimensions. Recent developments on the understanding of the Coulomb branch gives us a nice solution to the problem where G is an exceptional group, thus allowing a systematic study of these moduli spaces. I will discuss these developments, and present the corresponding quivers, and the Coulomb branch Hilbert Series - the main tool which lead to the recent progress.

Wednesday, October 29th 2014, 12:00
Ernest Rutherford Physics Building, room 326