Calculating the Superconformal Index and Seiberg Duality

We develop techniques to calculate an index for four dimensional superconformal field theories. This superconformal index is counting BPS operators which preserve only one supercharge. To calculate the superconformal index we quantize the field theory on S^3 X R and show that the twisted theory has an appropriate mass gap. This allows for the interactions to be switched off continuously without the superconformal index being changed. We test those techniques for theories which go through a non-trivial RG flow and for Seiberg dual theories. This leads to the conjecture of some group/number theoretical identities.Comment: 25 page

Counting BPS Operators in the Chiral Ring of N=2 Supersymmetric Gauge Theories or N=2 Braine Surgery

This note is presenting the generating functions which count the BPS operators in the chiral ring of a N=2 quiver gauge theory that lives on N D3 branes probing an ALE singularity. The difficulty in this computation arises from the fact that this quiver gauge theory has a moduli space of vacua that splits into many branches -- the Higgs, the Coulomb and mixed branches. As a result there can be operators which explore those different branches and the counting gets complicated by having to deal with such operators while avoiding over or under counting. The solution to this problem turns out to be very elegant and is presented in this note. Some surprises with "surgery" of generating functions arises.Comment: 24 pages LaTe

D-branes on T^4/Z_2 and T-Duality

In this note we discuss D-branes on T^4/Z_2 using the boundary states formalism. Explicit formulas for the untwisted boundary states inherited from the underlying T^4 and twisted states corresponding to branes wrapping collapsed 2-cycles at the orbifold singularities are given. The exact CFT description of the orbifold makes it possible to study how the boundary states transform under R_i -> 1/R_i transformation on all directions of the underlying T^4. We compare their transformation law with results obtained from world volume considerations.Comment: Harvmac, 16 pages, 1 Postscript figure, references added, minor change

D-branes on the Quintic

We study D-branes on the quintic CY by combining results from several directions: general results on holomorphic curves and vector bundles, stringy geometry and mirror symmetry, and the boundary states in Gepner models recently constructed by Recknagel and Schomerus, to begin sketching a picture of D-branes in the stringy regime. We also make first steps towards computing superpotentials on the D-brane world-volumes.Comment: harvmac, 78 pp (v3: notes added and improved discussion of an example

Chiral Rings, Superpotentials and the Vacuum Structure of N=1 Supersymmetric Gauge Theories

We use the Konishi anomaly equations to construct the exact effective superpotential of the glueball superfields in various N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories. We use the superpotentials to study in detail the structure of the spaces of vacua of these theories. We consider chiral and non-chiral SU(N) models, the exceptional gauge group G(2) and models that break supersymmetry dynamically.Comment: 40 pages, 4 figure