2013/09/20 by Giacomelli, Simone
#FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1309.5299
In this thesis we review the Seiberg-Witten solution of four dimensional N=2 gauge theories, the six-dimensional construction of these models recently proposed by Gaiotto and the BPS quiver technique for the determination of the BPS spectrum of N=2 theories. We then study how these recent developments allow to better understand nonperturbative aspects such as confinement and dynamical symmetry breaking in the N=1 theories obtained starting from N=2 SQCD and adding a mass term for the chiral multiplet in the adjoint of the gauge group. We find an unusual realization of the 't Hooft-Mandelstam mechanism, in which confinement and dynamical symmetry breaking are due to the condensation of different degrees of freedom.