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The uses of Whitham hierarchies

Marcos Marino
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Abstract

We review some of the uses of Whitham hierarchies in the context of the theory of the prepotential in N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories. We focus on the structure of the contact terms in the twisted topological theory, and on the connection between Whitham hierarchies and the u-plane integrals for higher rank gauge groups, trying to put together the different approaches involved in this connection. We also review two other uses of the Whitham hierarchies: the interpretation of the slow times as supersymmetry breaking parameters, and the new techniques to extract instanton corrections using the RG equations written in terms of theta functions.

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Marcos Marino. 1999-05-07. The uses of Whitham hierarchies. https://doi.org/10.1143/ptps.135.29

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