Low-Energy Effective Action in N=4 Super Yang-Mills Theory

TL;DR

This paper develops a method to compute the one-loop effective action in N=4 Super Yang-Mills theory using N=2 superfields and harmonic superspace, providing explicit results for the SU(2) gauge group.

Contribution

It introduces a gauge-invariant, N=2 supersymmetric effective action formulation and a general calculation procedure in harmonic superspace for N=4 SYM.

Findings

Explicit one-loop effective action for SU(2) gauge group

Method applicable to other gauge groups

Maintains gauge invariance and supersymmetry

Abstract

We consider N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory formulated in terms of N=2 superfields in harmonic superspace. Using the background field method we define manifestly gauge invariant and N=2 supersymmetric effective action depending on N=2 strength superfields and develop a general procedure for its calculation in one-loop approximation. Explicit form for this effective action is found for the case of SU(2) gauge group broken down to U(1).