May 26, 2025

3d N=4 Coulomb Branches and the Decay and Fission of Quivers

Date: May 26, 2025 | 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Speaker: Marcus Sperling, University of Vienna
Location: Central Bldg / O1 / Mondi 2a (I01.O1.008)
Language: English

In three-dimensional N=4 supersymmetric gauge theories defined by quivers, one can associate two hyper-Khler moduli spaces: the Higgs and Coulomb branches. While the Higgs branch has been well-understood for decades, both mathematically via the hyper-Khler quotient and physically through classical field theory, the Coulomb branch presents deeper challenges. Quantum effects obscure the classical picture, and a mathematically rigorous definition has only emerged in the past decade. In this talk, I focus on the Coulomb branches of quiver gauge theories and introduce a physics-inspired strategy based on "decay and fission" of quivers.