S-duality in N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories

TL;DR

This paper presents a solution to the infinite coupling problem in N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories, establishing their interpretation as interacting superconformal field theories with new exact calculations of flavor current algebra central charges.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to understanding infinite coupling limits in N=2 theories and computes new exact quantities like flavor current algebra central charges.

Findings

Infinite coupling solutions for N=2 theories are achieved.

Isolated rank 1 E6 and E7 SCFTs are derived from Lagrangian theories.

New exact calculations of flavor current algebra central charges are provided.

Abstract

A solution to the infinite coupling problem for N=2 conformal supersymmetric gauge theories in four dimensions is presented. The infinitely-coupled theories are argued to be interacting superconformal field theories (SCFTs) with weakly gauged flavor groups. Consistency checks of this proposal are found by examining some low-rank examples. As part of these checks, we show how to compute new exact quantities in these SCFTs: the central charges of their flavor current algebras. Also, the isolated rank 1 E_6 and E_7 SCFTs are found as limits of Lagrangian field theories.