Generalized matrix models and AGT correspondence at all genera

We compute the exact path integral of $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric gauge theories with general gauge group on $\mathbb{RP}^4$ and a $\mathbb{Z}_2$-quotient of the hemi-$S^4$. By specializing to $SU(2)$ superconformal quivers, we show that these, together with hemi-$S^4$ partition functions, compute Liouville correlators on unoriented/open Riemann surfaces. We perform explicit checks for Riemann surfaces obtained as $\mathbb{Z}_2$ quotients of the sphere and the torus. We al...

We study the phases and geometry of the N=1 A_2 quiver gauge theory using matrix models and a generalized Konishi anomaly. We consider the theory both in the Coulomb and Higgs phases. Solving the anomaly equations, we find that a meromorphic one-form sigma(z)dz is naturally defined on the curve Sigma associated to the theory. Using the Dijkgraaf-Vafa conjecture, we evaluate the effective low-energy superpotential and demonstrate that its equations of motion can be translated ...

In this paper the free gauge field theories on a Riemann surface of any genus are quantized in the covariant gauge. The propagators of the gauge fields are explicitly derived and their properties are analysed in details. As an application, the correlation functions of a Yang-Mills field theory with gauge group $SU(N)$ are computed at the lowest order.

Using matrix-model methods we study three different N=2 models: U(N) x U(N) with matter in the bifundamental representation, U(N) with matter in the symmetric representation, and U(N) with matter in the antisymmetric representation. We find that the (singular) cubic Seiberg-Witten curves (and associated Seiberg-Witten differentials) implied by the matrix models, although of a different form from the ones previously proposed using M-theory, can be transformed into the latter a...

Starting with a gentle approach to the AGT correspondence from its 6d origin, these notes provide a wide (albeit shallow) survey of the literature on numerous extensions of the correspondence up to early 2020. This is an extended writeup of the lectures given at the Winter School YRISW 2020, to appear in a special issue of JPhysA. Class S is a wide class of 4d $N=2$ supersymmetric gauge theories (ranging from super-QCD to non-Lagrangian theories) obtained by twisted compact...

The relation between the Seiberg-Witten prepotentials, Nekrasov functions and matrix models is discussed. We derive quasiclassically the matrix models of Eguchi-Yang type, describing the instantonic contribution to the deformed partition functions of supersymmetric gauge theories. The exact quasiclassical solution for the case of conformal four-dimensional theory is studied in detail, and some aspects of its relation with the recently proposed logarithmic beta-ensembles are c...

Operator product expansion (OPE) of two operators in two-dimensional conformal field theory includes a sum over Virasoro descendants of other operator with universal coefficients, dictated exclusively by properties of the Virasoro algebra and independent of choice of the particular conformal model. In the free field model, these coefficients arise only with a special "conservation" relation imposed on the three dimensions of the operators involved in OPE. We demonstrate that ...

We use the holomorphic anomaly equation to solve the gravitational corrections to Seiberg-Witten theory and a two-cut matrix model, which is related by the Dijkgraaf-Vafa conjecture to the topological B-model on a local Calabi-Yau manifold. In both cases we construct propagators that give a recursive solution in the genus modulo a holomorphic ambiguity. In the case of Seiberg-Witten theory the gravitational corrections can be expressed in closed form as quasimodular functions...

We discuss the Penner type matrix model recently proposed by Dijkgraaf and Vafa for a possible explanation of the relation between four-dimensional gauge theory and Liouville theory by making use of the connection of the matrix model to two-dimensional CFT. We first consider the relation of gauge couplings defined in UV and IR regimes of N_f = 4, N = 2 supersymmetric gauge theory being related as $q_{{\rm UV}}={\vartheta_2(q_{{\rm IR}})^4/\vartheta_3(q_{{\rm IR}})^4}$. We the...

We use the matrix model -- gauge theory correspondence of Dijkgraaf and Vafa in order to construct the geometry encoding the exact gaugino condensate superpotential for the N=1 U(N) gauge theory with adjoint and symmetric or anti-symmetric matter, broken by a tree level superpotential to a product subgroup involving U(N_i) and SO(N_i) or Sp(N_i/2) factors. The relevant geometry is encoded by a non-hyperelliptic Riemann surface, which we extract from the exact loop equations. ...