Dynamics of 3D SUSY Gauge Theories with Antisymmetric Matter

TL;DR

This paper explores the infrared dynamics of 3D N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories with antisymmetric matter, revealing new Coulomb branch directions and analyzing their implications through compactification and deformations.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the Coulomb branch structure in 3D SUSY gauge theories with antisymmetric matter, including the identification of multiple unlifted directions and consistency checks.

Findings

Multiple unlifted Coulomb branch directions identified.

In s-confining cases, a second unlifted Coulomb branch appears.

Results consistent with 4D theories via compactification.

Abstract

We investigate the IR dynamics of N=2 SUSY gauge theories in 3D with antisymmetric matter. The presence of the antisymmetric fields leads to further splitting of the Coulomb branch. Counting zero modes in the instanton background suggests that more than a single direction along the Coulomb branch may remain unlifted. We examine the case of SU(4) with one or two antisymmetric fields and various flavors in detail. Using the results for the corresponding 4D theories, we find the IR dynamics of the 3D cases via compactification and a real mass deformation. We find that for the s-confining case with two antisymmetric fields, a second unlifted Coulomb branch direction indeed appears in the low-energy dynamics. We present several non-trivial consistency checks to establish the validity of these results. We also comment on the expected structure of general s-confining theories in 3D, which might involve several unlifted Coulomb branch directions.