The Moduli Space of N=2 SUSY QCD and Duality in N=1 SUSY QCD

TL;DR

This paper explores the structure of the moduli space in N=2 supersymmetric QCD, demonstrating how duality in N=1 SUSY QCD emerges from semiclassical analysis and non-renormalization theorems.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the moduli space of N=2 SUSY QCD and derives N=1 duality using semiclassical methods without relying on strong coupling assumptions.

Findings

Identification of magnetic degrees of freedom in N=1 SUSY QCD

Connection between vacua of N=2 and N=1 theories

Derivation of duality from semiclassical physics

Abstract

We analyze in detail the moduli space of vacua of N=2 SUSY QCD with n_c colors and n_f flavors. The Coulomb branch has submanifolds with non-Abelian gauge symmetry. The massless quarks and gluons at these vacua are smoothly connected to the underlying elementary quarks and gluons. Upon breaking N=2 by an N=1 preserving mass term for the adjoint field the theory flows to N=1 SUSY QCD. Some of the massless quarks and gluons on the moduli space of the N=2 theory become the magnetic quarks and gluons of the N=1 theory. In this way we derive the duality in N=1 SUSY QCD by identifying its crucial building blocks---the magnetic degrees of freedom---using only semiclassical physics and the non-renormalization theorem.