Renormalization of N = 1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories: (I). The classical theory

We investigate the classical N = 1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories and pay special attention to the search for the most general action fulfilling the Slavnov identity used to define the theory. It turns out that the well-known action of Ferrara, Zumino and Salam, Strathdee represents a special case, our general solution being equivalent to it through a redefinition of the gauge-fixing condition.     

Renormalization of N = 1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories: (II). The radiative corrections

We give a general proof of ultraviolet renormalizability relying on the methods of BRS and find that no anomaly can occur if the gauge group is assumed to be semisimple. We derive the Callan-Symanzik equation.     

Monopole and dyon bound states in N = 2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories

We study the existence of monopole bound states saturating the BPS bound in N = 2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories. We describe how the existence of such bound states relates to the topology of index bundles over the moduli space of BPS solutions. Using an L² index theorem, we prove the existence of certain BPS states predicted by Seiberg and Witten based on their study of the vacuum structure of N = 2 Yang-Mills theories.     

N = 2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory and its supercurrent

Using the off-shell two-component formulation of N = 2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory and the gauge covariantized supersymmetry transformations for the fields, the non-abelian supercurrent and anomaly multiplets are developed and the transformation rules for their components are obtained. The superfields in N = 2 superspace whose components are the non-abelian supercurrent and anomaly multiplets are written down.     

The anomaly in the Slavnov identity for N = 1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories

We solve the consistency conditions of the BRS symmetry in a general N = 1 sypersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with semi-simple gauge group. As a result we find uniquely the supersymmetric extension of the chiral anomaly. Its coefficient is calculated in one loop and does not, in general, vanish. This corrects our earlier statement on the absence of this anomaly.     

Reflection matrices for integrable N = 1 supersymmetric theories

We study two-dimensional integrable N = 1 supersymmetric theories (without topological charges) in the presence of a boundary. We find a universal ratio between the reflection amplitudes for particles that are related by supersymmetry and we propose exact reflection matrices for the supersymmetric extensions of the multi-component Yang-Lee models and for the breather multiplets of the supersymmetric sine-Gordon theory. We point out the connection between our reflection matrices and the classical boundary actions for the supersymmetric sine-Gordon theory as constructed by Inami, Odake and Zhang [Phys. Lett. B 359 (1995) 118].     

Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz for N = 1 supersymmetric theories

We study a series of N = 1 supersymmetric integrable particle theories in d = 1 + 1 dimensions. These theories are represented as integrable perturbations of specific N = 1 superconformal field theories. Starting from the conjectured S-matrices for these theories, we develop the Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz (TBA), where we use that the 2-particle S-matrices satisfy a free fermion condition. Our analysis proves a conjecture by E. Melzer, who proposed that these N = 1 supersymmetric. TBA systems are “folded” versions of N = 2 supersymmetric TBA systems that were first studied by P. Fendley and K. Intriligator.     

On quasi-self-dual fields in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory

A general representation for a quasi-self-dual gauge field which is a generalization of the 't Hooft ansatz is obtained in the Euclidean conformally invariant Yang-Mills theory with a sextuplet of real scalar fields-the boson sector of N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. The existence of an O(4)-symmetric quasi-self-dual solution in the region g ²>0 is proved. An explicit example of the quasi-self-dual instanton in the region g ²<0 is constructed.     

Vanishing three-loop beta function in N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory

We have calculated the beta function of the N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory through three-loop order and find that it is zero. The calculation was performed using superspace techniques that also allowed the calculation of the complete three-loop chiral-multiplet propagator, which turned out to be quite simple. These results strongly support the speculations that the theory is finite order-by-order in perturbation theory.     

Effective Lagrangians in classical Yang-Mills theories

The formalism of nonlinear electrodynamics is adapted to the Yang-Mills field theory and it is shown that vacuum polarization effects can be described classically through an effective Lagrangian. As an example, an ad hoc Lagrangian is proposed which leads to a simple solution corresponding to a linear plus Coulomb type potential.     

Lagrangian of the N = 1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in the formalism of unified field

A method is proposed to use matrix nonlinear equations in order to construct the Lagrangian of the N = 1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory and the algebra of generators of transformations, closed off-shell in the 1.5-order formalism. Contrary to the superfield approach, there is no need to impose a Wess—Zumino type gauge fixing.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 9, pp. 16–21, September 1989.     

Shear viscosity of strongly coupled N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills plasma

Using the anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory correspondence, we relate the shear viscosity eta of the finite-temperature N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in the large N, strong-coupling regime with the absorption cross section of low-energy gravitons by a near-extremal black three-brane. We show that in the limit of zero frequency this cross section coincides with the area of the horizon. From this result we find eta = pi / 8N(2)T3. We conjecture that for finite 't Hooft coupling g(2)(YM)N the shear viscosity is eta = f(g(2)(YM)N)N2T3, where f(x) is a monotonic function that decreases from O(x(-2)ln(-1)(1/x)) at small x to pi/8 when x-->infinity.