MS Seminar (Mathematics - String Theory)

Speaker: Jaewon Song (UCSD)
Title: The ABCDEFG of Instantons
Date (JST): Tue, Dec 11, 2012, 13:15 - 14:45
Place: Seminar Room A
Abstract: Part 1 - I will talk about the role of instantons in N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories. I'll discuss the moduli space of instantons and their realizations in string theory.

Part 2 - I will talk about the methods of computing instanton partition functions for arbitrary gauge groups. Even though there is no explicit algebraic construction of instanton moduli space available for the exceptional groups, it is possible to evaluate the partition function using three different methods: 1) the blow-up recursion relations obtained by Nakajima and Yoshioka. 2) superconformal index of certain N=2 SCFTs with E6, E7, E8 global symmetry. 3) norm of certain coherent states of W-algebras. I will present the three different methods and show that they all agree for small number of instantons.