Twisted characters and holomorphic symmetries (Q2224494)

This article gives a rich treatment of the twists, in the sense originally described by \textit{E. Witten} [Commun. Math. Phys. 117, No. 3, 353--386 (1988; Zbl 0656.53078)], of 4-dimensional free quantum field theories with \(\mathcal N=1\) supersymmetry, with a particular emphasis on the example of the \(\mathcal N=1\) chiral multiplet. In the 4d \(\mathcal N=1\) supersymmetry algebra there are no topological supercharges, but there are ``holomorphic'' supercharges, whose associated twists define theories on \(\mathbb C^2\) depending only on the holomorphic structure. The authors identify the holomorphic twist of the chiral multiplet with a \(\beta \gamma\) system, and study this theory in detail using general results about holomorphic quantum field theory (see also [\textit{B. R. Williams}, Commun. Math. Phys. 374, No. 3, 1693--1742 (2020; Zbl 07187078)]). A major part of the article is concerned with the supersymmetric index of the chiral multiplet. They compute this index directly, and prove that it coincides with the partition function of the twisted theory on a family of Hopf surfaces (discrete quotients of \(\mathbb C^2 \backslash \{0\}\)) -- an example of a higher holomorphic state-operator correspondence. They prove this by direct computation, as well as giving an interpretation in the language of holomorphic field theories that suggests generalization to other supersymmetric field theories. They then generalize their computation to interacting theories obtained by turning on a superpotential term. The main method here is a free-to-interacting spectral sequence that relates the algebra of observables in the free \(\beta \gamma\) system to the observables in the theory incorporating the superpotential.