Superfield theories on $S^3$ and their localization

Abstract

We consider the superfield formulation of supersymmetric gauge and matter field theories on a three-dimensional sphere with rigid ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetry, as well as with ${\cal N}> 2$. The construction is based on a supercoset $SU(2|1)/U(1)$ containing $S^3$ as the bosonic subspace. We derive an explicit form of $SU(2|1)/U(1)$ supervielbein and covariant derivatives, and use them to construct classical superfield actions for gauge and matter supermultiplets in this superbackground. We then apply superfield methods for computing one-loop partition functions of these theories and demonstrate how the localization technique works directly in the superspace.Comment: 1+64 pages; v2: Section 4.2 and a reference are adde