Localisation without supersymmetry: towards exact results from Dirac structures in 3D $N = 0$ gauge theory

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that certain 3D non-supersymmetric gauge theories can be localized using a novel Dirac structure approach, enabling exact or near-exact path integral computations including for Yang-Mills theory.

Contribution

It introduces a Manin gauge theory formulation with Dirac structures to perform localization in non-supersymmetric 3D gauge theories, including the Third Way deformation.

Findings

Localization applies to a broad class of 3D gauge theories.

The Third Way deformation yields an almost 1-loop exact path integral.

The approach unifies computations for Yang-Mills and related theories.

Abstract

We show, by introducing purely auxiliary gluinos and scalars, that the quantum path integral for a class of 3D interacting non-supersymmetric gauge theories localises. The theories in this class all admit a `Manin gauge theory' formulation, that we introduce; it is obtained by enhancing the gauge algebra of the theory to a Dirac structure inside a Manin pair. This machinery allows us to do localisation computations for every theory in this class at once, including for 3D Yang-Mills theory, and for its Third Way deformation; the latter calculation casts the Third Way path integral into an almost 1-loop exact form.