Notes on the hemisphere (Q2212253)

I saw two approaches to start a present review of `Notes on the Hemisphere': either to classically start with the ancient Greeks with their fragmentation of matter into atoms, then to build some kind of time-centenary bridge that would connect the famous works of Albert Einstein on the theory of special relativity, Brownian motion, and the photoelectric effect, published in 1905, and to discuss their impact on theoretical physics of the 20--21 centuries that could not yet be foreseen, and to come to supersymmetric gauge theories, or, without any, historical and literary delights, to go, non-classically, straight to the latter. I've chosen the latter. These Notes is the introduction to the hemisphere partition function of \(2d (2,2)\) supersymmetric gauge theories. Supersymmetry has been the key in the interaction between mathematicians and physicists in quantum field theory for more than thirty years since the introduction of Witten index [\textit{E. Witten}, ``Constraints on supersymmetry breaking'', Nucl. Phys. B 202, No. 2, 253--316 (1982; \url{doi:10.1016/0550-3213(82)90071-2})]. With the supersymmetry, cancellation of infinities, inherent to quantum field theory, happens to a class of observables whose definition have generated new areas of mathematical research. Certain relations among these observables may have dramatic mathematical consequences: for example, as a consequence of mirror symmetry, the number of rational curves in a Calabi-Yau manifold was predicted that motivated to develop the theory of Gromov-Witten invariants. On the physics side, the class of computable observables has been recently enlarged by using superconformal transformations which become symmetries of the system in special spacetime background (even if the theory is not conformally invariant). Pestun's work [\textit{V. Pestun}, Commun. Math. Phys. 313, No. 1, 71--129 (2012; Zbl 1257.81056)] laid the start of computing the partition functions of various supersymmetric gauge theories on spheres of dimensions \(\leq 5\). In particular, the partition function of 2d (2,2) supersymmetric gauge theories on the two sphere was computed by \textit{F. Benini} and \textit{S. Cremonesi} [Commun. Math. Phys. 334, No. 3, 1483--1527 (2015; Zbl 1308.81131)] and \textit{N. Doroud} et al. [J. High Energy Phys. 2013, No. 5, Paper No. 093, 69 p. (2013; Zbl 1342.81573)]. If the so called ``Calabi-Yau condition'' is satisfied, it was observed and later explained that the partition function determines the Kähler potential of the space of superconformal fixed points of the theory. Altogether, these are the motivation of the authors of this paper under review to study the partition function of 2d (2,2) supersymmetric gauge theories on the hemisphere. This was done in their paper entitled ``Exact Results in Two-Dimensional (2,2) Supersymmetric Gauge Theories'' and published in arXiv:1308.2438[hep-th]. Under the Calabi-Yau condition, it was particularly observed that the hemisphere partition function computes the central charge of the D-brane that is placed at the boundary. The present 95-page notes reviews the aforementioned authors' work and some introductory materials, includes some new results on the partition function for a rotated supersymmetry and the differential equations, and elaborates on the relation to the central charge in the Calabi-Yau case, and discusses the non-Calabi-Yau one where the theory is related to non-linear sigma model with a Fano target space \(X\) and the hemisphere partition function computes the `central charge' in the Gromov-Witten theory of \(X\), and where exists a suggestive relation to `macroscopic loop' in the matrix model. It is organized in the following manner, including Appendices. Section 2 describe the basics of quantum field theories in two dimensions with (2,2) supersymmetry, with the emphasize on the mathematical aspects: the renormalization group flow, deformations, topological twists, mirror symmetry, and considering some examples: non-linear sigma and Landau-Ginzburg models. Section 3 provides an introduction to the class of 2d (2,2) supersymmetric gauge theories called gauged linear sigma models (GLSMs). In Section 4 which is entitled `The Hemisphere Partition Function' the authors present the partition function of GLSM on the hemisphere. The latter is a function of the radius \(r\) and the FI-theta parameters \(t\). Section 4 describes some of its properties: the behaviour at large values of the radius \(r\) of the hemisphere, expressions in the geometric and Landau-Ginzburg (LG) regimes, the differential equations w. r. t. to \(r\) that shows how the partition function \(Z\) changes as the distance scale is varied, and the Picard-Fuchs equations. Section 5 discusses what the hemisphere partition function is computing: it appears to be related to what is known as the central charge of the brane. Actually, the hemisphere partition function is invariant under continuous deformation of the brane. And thus, in this sense, it may be regarded as a ``topological invariant'' of the brane. Section 5 deals with the central charges in 4d \(N=2\) compactifications, in 2d (2,2) supersymmetric quantum field theories, and in topological string theory, examines the Frobenius manifold, Gromov-Witten theory, and macroscopic loop. In Appendix A, the authors describe the supersymmetric action on the Minkovski spacetime (A.1.), on the sphere and the hemisphere (A.4.) for GLSMs and LG models. Appendix B defines the boundary states. Appendix C adds, after the first version of the present note was submitted, a few relevant references supplied with some comments. It particularly includes: C.1. Hemisphere vs. central charge; C.2. Mathematical works related to the renormalization group flow; and C.3. Picard-Fuchs equations as deformed chiral ring relations. For the entire collection see [Zbl 1446.53004].