Spectral networks with spin (Q500039)

Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfeld (BPS) states form representations of a supersymmetry algebra. This paper studies the BPS spectrum of a certain class of field theories with \(d=4 \mathcal N=2\) Poincaré supersymmetry. There has been recent progress in formulating algorithms for determining the BPS spectrum of these theories. One particular algorithm is based on the Seiberg-Witten curve. The relations of BPS states to various mathematical areas have enhanced the interest of mathematical physicists in recent years and so some reviews have appeared. The investigation of the BPS spectrum has led to a number of connections the Hitchin systems, integrable field theories, cluster algebras, and cluster varieties. In this paper, it is argued that spectral networks actually contain much more information than known until now. Section 2 reviews the concept of framed BPS states. In Section 3, the construction of a formal parallel transport is described and a definition of soliton paths is given. Section 4 provides applications and examples. In Section 5, \(m\)-herds are constructed and the refined soliton content of herds is studied. The analysis applies to \(m\)-herds with arbitrary positive integer \(m\). Section 6 provides extra remarks concerning Kac's theorem and the Poincaré polynomial stabilization. Connections to quiver representation theory and Chern-Simons theory are also discussed.