Semichiral Fields on S^2 and Generalized Kähler Geometry

Abstract

We study a class of two-dimensional N=(2,2) supersymmetric gauge theories, given by semichiral multiplets coupled to the standard vector multiplet. In the UV, these theories are traditional gauge theories deformed by a gauged Wess-Zumino term. In the IR, they give rise to nonlinear sigma models on noncompact generalized Kähler manifolds, which contain a three-form flux H and whose metric is not Kähler. We place these theories on S^2 and compute their partition function exactly with localization techniques. We find that the contribution of instantons to the partition function that we define is insensitive to the deformation, and discuss our results from the point of view of the generalized Kähler target space.

2+24+17 pages; References updated and minor modifications in v2 (published version)