The uses of Whitham hierarchies

Abstract

We review some of the uses of Whitham hierarchies in the context of the theory of the prepotential in N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories. We focus on the structure of the contact terms in the twisted topological theory, and on the connection between Whitham hierarchies and the u-plane integrals for higher rank gauge groups, trying to put together the different approaches involved in this connection. We also review two other uses of the Whitham hierarchies: the interpretation of the slow times as supersymmetry breaking parameters, and the new techniques to extract instanton corrections using the RG equations written in terms of theta functions.

24 pages, PTP TeX. Talk given at the workshop ``Gauge theory and integrable models" (YITP, Kyoto), January 26-29, 1999

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