2012/05/31 by Cyril Closset, Thomas T. Dumitrescu, Guido Festuccia +2 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/jhep10(2012)053
27 pages, 1 figure; references added, minor changes
arxiv created 2012/06/25 · arxiv updated 2015/06/05
We consider three-dimensional N=2 superconformal field theories on a three-sphere and analyze their free energy F as a function of background gauge and supergravity fields. A crucial role is played by certain local terms in these background fields, including several Chern-Simons terms. The presence of these terms clarifies a number of subtle properties of F. This understanding allows us to prove the F-maximization principle. It also explains why computing F via localization leads to a complex answer, even though we expect it to be real in unitary theories. We discuss several corollaries of our results and comment on the relation to the F-theorem.