# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Several past years brought us new understanding of non-perturbative phenomena in supersymmetric (SUSY) quantum gauge theories. In particular it has become possible to take into account all instanton effects and write down the exact low-energy effective actions in $`𝒩=2`$ SUSY Yang-Mills theories . The proposed non-perturbative formulas imply an existence of underlying hidden geometric structures and, in a most elegant way, can be formulated in terms of integrable systems . This question has already a long story, but the origin of this relation still remains to be an open problem. The aim of these notes is, in particular, to discuss and partially fill this gap. We shall see, for example, that some aspects of this relation can be more clearly understood if one takes, first, SUSY gauge theory in the space-time with compactified dimensions .

The reason is that the compactified gauge theory has larger moduli space than its fully non-compact relative , and this moduli space can be thought of as a phase space of certain classical integrable system. We shall consider the compactified theory with broken SUSY by the Scherk-Schwarz mechanism (down to $`𝒩=1`$ in 4D sense), i.e. when the breaking mass parameter is given by $`\frac{ϵ}{R}`$, where $`R`$ is the radius of compact dimension and $`ϵ`$ – phase parameter of boundary conditions. In the decompactification limit $`R\mathrm{}`$ supersymmetry is restored but the extra, compact, degrees of freedom become ”heavy” and the integration over them leads to the ”averaging” of an integrable system in the Bogolyubov-Whitham sense – thus becoming an origin of the relation between Seiberg-Witten theories and Whitham integrable systems .

## 2 Integrable systems in Seiberg-Witten theory

We start with the formulation of the exact effective actions for the 4D SUSY gauge theories a la Seiberg and Witten (SW)  which is very simple: the (Coulomb branch) low-energy effective action for the $`𝒩=2`$ SUSY Yang-Mills vector multiplets (supersymmetry requires the metric on moduli space of massless complex scalars from $`𝒩=2`$ vector supermultiplets to be of a ”special Kähler form” – or the Kähler potential $`K(𝐚,\overline{𝐚})=\mathrm{Im}_i\overline{a}_i\frac{}{a_i}`$ should be expressed through a holomorphic function $`=(𝐚)`$ – a prepotential) can be described in terms of auxiliary Riemann surface (complex curve) $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, endowed with a meromorphic 1-differential $`dS`$, which possess peculiar properties:

* The number of ”live” moduli (of complex structure) of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is strongly restricted (roughly ”3 times” less than for generic Riemann surface). The genus of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ – for the $`SU(N)`$ gauge theories – is exactly equal to the rank of gauge group – i.e. to the number of independent moduli.
* The variation of generating 1-form $`dS`$ over these moduli gives holomorphic differentials

$$\begin{array}{c}\delta _{\mathrm{moduli}}dS=\mathrm{holomorphic}\end{array}$$
(1)
* The (canonical) $`𝐀`$\- and $`𝐁`$-periods of generating 1-form

$$\begin{array}{c}𝐚=_𝐀𝑑S𝐚_D=_𝐁𝑑S\end{array}$$
(2)   
give the set of ”dual” BPS masses – the W-bosons and the monopoles while the period matrix $`T_{ij}(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ – the set of couplings in the low-energy effective theory. From (1) and (2) one gets the relation between the BPS masses and couplings

$$\begin{array}{c}\frac{a_D^i}{a_j}=_{B_i}𝑑\omega _j=T_{ij}(\mathrm{\Sigma })\end{array}$$
(3)
* All above requirements can be summarized saying that the SW data are equivalent to defining an integrable system  in the sense of . The periods (2) are the action variables and the (holomorphic) variation of the generating 1-form (1) gives rise to the dual (angle) variables. The corresponding class of integrable models include well-known integrable systems of particles (the periodic Toda chains, Calogero-Moser models and their relativistic Ruijsenaars generalizations) and classical spin chains (see  and references therein for details).
* The prepotential is function of half of the variables (2), say $`=(𝐚)`$, then

$$\begin{array}{c}a_D^i=\frac{}{a_i}\\ T_{ij}=\frac{a_D^i}{a_j}=\frac{^2}{a_ia_j}\end{array}$$
(4)   
The prepotential $``$ itself has no natural definition in the language of classical finite-gap integrable systems  – in order to describe it one has to consider deformations of the finite-gap models. It is possible to show, for example, that it satisfies the following system of differential equations 

$$\begin{array}{c}_i_k^1_j=_j_k^1_ii,j,k=1,\mathrm{},N1.\end{array}$$
(5)   
where $`_i`$ denotes the matrix of the third derivatives

$$\begin{array}{c}(_i)_{mn}=\frac{^3}{a_ia_ma_n}=\frac{T_{mn}}{a_i}\end{array}$$
(6)   
or

$$\begin{array}{c}_iG^1_j=_jG^1_ii,j,k=1,\mathrm{},N1.\end{array}$$
(7)   
where $`G=_kg_k_k`$ for any $`g_k`$. The system of equations (5) holds non-perturbatively for most of SW prepotentials (an important exception is the case of broken $`𝒩=4`$ theory – the elliptic Calogero-Moser model ). The proof of the Eqs. (5), (7) is based on the existence of closed algebra of multiplication of holomorphic differentials on certain Riemann surfaces , which is a sort of generalization of polynomial rings.
* The SW prepotential $``$ can be also considered as a particular case of the tau-function of the Whitham hierarchy  – a function of infinitely many extra parameters $`T_n`$ so that in the ”SW point”

$$\begin{array}{c}_{SW}(𝐚,\mathrm{\Lambda })(𝐚,𝐓)|_{T_n=\mathrm{\Lambda }\delta _{n,1}}\end{array}$$
(8)   
It implies, in particular, that the generalized prepotential satisfies 

$$\begin{array}{c}\frac{}{T_n}=\frac{N}{2\pi in}_mmT_m𝒜_{mn}=\frac{N}{2\pi in}T_1_{n+1}+O(T_2,T_3,\mathrm{})\\ \frac{^2}{a_iT_n}=\frac{N}{2\pi in}\frac{_{n+1}}{a_i}\\ \frac{^2}{T_mT_n}=\frac{N}{2\pi i}\left(𝒜_{mn}+\frac{N}{mn}\frac{_{m+1}}{a_i}\frac{_{n+1}}{a_j}_{ij}^2\mathrm{log}\theta _E(0|T)\right)\end{array}$$
(9)   
where

$$\begin{array}{c}𝒜_{mn}=\frac{N}{mn}\mathrm{res}_{\mathrm{}}\left(P^{n/N}(\lambda )dP_+^{m/N}(\lambda )\right)=𝒜_{nm}\end{array}$$
(10)   
and

$$\begin{array}{c}_{n+1}𝒜_{n1}=\frac{N}{n}\mathrm{res}_{\mathrm{}}P^{n/N}(\lambda )d\lambda =h_{n+1}+O(h^2)\end{array}$$
(11)   
The most illustrative form is

$$\begin{array}{c}\frac{^2}{T_mT_n}\left((a,T)\frac{N}{4\pi i}^{GKM}(a,T)\right)=\\ =\frac{N^2}{2\pi imn}\frac{_{m+1}}{a_i}\frac{_{n+1}}{a_j}_{ij}^2\mathrm{log}\theta _E(0|T)\end{array}$$
(12)   
where

$$\begin{array}{c}^{GKM}(a|T)\frac{1}{2}_{m,n}T_mT_n𝒜_{mn}\end{array}$$
(13)   
is the prepotential of Generalized Kontsevich Model  – a 2D topological string theory or the ”local” part which is not related to the structure of nontrivial SW spectral curve, while the r.h.s. of (12) is expressed through the derivatives of $`\theta `$-constant, corresponding to a particular SW curve (and certain choice of characteristic on this particular curve).
* Eqs. (5), (7), (9) and (12) are classical differential equations one can write for the quantum effective actions which, in particular, depend on the Planck constant $`\mathrm{}`$ or the string scale $`\sqrt{\alpha ^{}}`$. The same phenomenon was studied earlier in the case of 2D topological string models (see, for example  and references therein).

These properties of the low-energy effective SUSY gauge theories follow from the Seiberg-Witten hypothesis and were derived using calculus on Riemann surfases. However they do not tell us anything about the origin of this non-perturbative structure. In particular the physical sense of arising integrable system remains to be unclear. One of the ways to try to understand it is to consider the compactified version of the SW theory.

There were two, at first glance different, consequences of adding a compact dimension in the context of Seiberg and Witten. A straightforward one is to add 5-th compact dimension to 4D SUSY gauge theory and to take into account the contribution of the soft Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes  which leads to the ”relativization” of an integrable system. A different effect of enlarging moduli space arises when one considers (preserving SUSY!) compactification down to 3+1 (compact) dimension . Both ways are particular cases of generic compactified theory with Wilson lines, or new moduli – the monodromies of gauge fields and, in general, such compactification breaks supersymmetry (at least partially), giving rise, in particular, to new effective theories of SW type .

In order to discuss compactified theory, we shall consider, first, general properties of moduli spaces (vacua) of SUSY Yang-Mills, or, if speaking about bosonic sector, the so called Yang-Mills-Higgs theories. On these moduli spaces one can introduce holomorphic symplectic 2-forms which allow to construct an integrable system in the sense of  or . The integrating change of variables can be considered as relation between bare or classical and quantum variables in the context of corresponding gauge theory. Partially this relation is known as a relation between ”bare” moduli $`u_k=\frac{1}{k}\mathrm{Tr}\mathrm{\Phi }^k`$ and the ”exact” quantum moduli – the periods of Seiberg-Witten differential or action variables in corresponding integrable system. The rest part of this relation – exactly the integrating change of variables in finite-gap integrable system has also the meaning of relation between the ”bare” Wilson loops (or dual moduli) and their exact quantum counterparts. We shall also discuss the symmetry between Wilson loops and scalar moduli under T-duality transformation and show that it is related with the duality between the co-ordinates and action variables in integrable systems .

As a particular example of compactified theory we shall consider 3+1 dimensional vector supermultiplet with Wilson line softly breaking SUSY from $`𝒩=2`$ in 4D sense down to $`𝒩=2`$ in 3 dimensions (from two complex Weyl spinor supercharges to one complex or two real Weyl supercharges). This, macroscopically 3-dimensional theory is known to generate Toda chain superpotential  and we shall demonstrate that this superpotential is directly related to the Toda chain dynamics arising in the context of SW theory.

## 3 Perturbative gauge theories and ”degenerate” integrable systems

The relation between SW theories and integrable systems can be already discussed at the perturbative level , where $`𝒩=2`$ SUSY effective actions are completely defined by the 1-loop contributions (see  and references therein). The scalar field $`𝚽=\mathrm{\Phi }_{ij}`$ of $`𝒩=2`$ vector supermultiplet acquires nonzero VEV $`𝚽=\mathrm{diag}(\varphi _1,\mathrm{},\varphi _N)`$ and the masses of “particles” – $`W`$-bosons and their superpartners are proportional to $`\varphi _{ij}=\varphi _i\varphi _j`$ due to the Higgs term $`[A_\mu ,𝚽]_{ij}=A_\mu ^{ij}(\varphi _i\varphi _j)`$ in the SUSY Yang-Mills action. These masses can be written altogether in terms of the generating polynomial

$$\begin{array}{c}w=P_N(\lambda )=det(\lambda 𝚽)=(\lambda \varphi _i)\end{array}$$
(14)   
where $`𝚽`$ is the adjoint complex scalar ($`\mathrm{Tr}𝚽=_i\varphi _i=0`$), via residue formula

$$\begin{array}{c}m_{ij}_{C_{ij}}\lambda d\mathrm{log}w=_{C_{ij}}\lambda d\mathrm{log}P_N(\lambda )\end{array}$$
(15)   
which for a particular ”$`\mathrm{}`$-like” contour $`C_{ij}`$ around the roots $`\lambda =\varphi _i`$ and $`\lambda =\varphi _j`$ gives rise exactly to the Higgs masses. The contour integral (15) is defined on a complex $`\lambda `$-plane with $`N`$ removed points: the roots of the polynomial (14) – a degenerate Riemann surface. The masses of monopoles are naively infinite in this limit, since the corresponding contours (dual to $`C_{ij}`$) start and end in the points where $`dS`$ obeys pole singularities. It means that the monopole masses, proportional to the squared inverse coupling, are renormalized in perturbation theory and defined naively up to the masses of particle states times some divergent constants.

The effective action (the prepotential) $``$, or the set of effective charges $`T_{ij}`$ (4), are defined in $`𝒩=2`$ perturbation theory completely by 1-loop diagram giving rise to the logarithmic corrections

$$\begin{array}{c}\left(\delta ^2\right)_{ij}=T_{ij}_{\mathrm{masses}}\mathrm{log}\frac{(\mathrm{mass})^2}{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}=\mathrm{log}\frac{(\varphi _i\varphi _j)^2}{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}\end{array}$$
(16)   
where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Lambda }_{QCD}`$ and last equality is true only for pure gauge theories – since the only masses we have there are given by (15). That is all one has in the perturbative weak-coupling limit of the SW construction, when the instanton contributions to the prepotential (being proportional to the degrees of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{2N}`$ (or $`q^{2N}e^{2\pi i\tau N}`$ – in the UV-finite theories with bare coupling $`\tau `$) are (exponentially) suppressed so that one keeps only the terms proportional to $`\tau `$ or $`\mathrm{log}\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. These degenerated rational spectral curves can be already related to the family of trigonometric Ruijsenaars-Schneider and Calogero-Moser-Sutherland systems and the open Toda chain or Toda molecule.

For example, in the case of $`SU(2)`$ pure gauge theory Eq. (14) turns into

$$\begin{array}{c}w=\lambda ^2u\end{array}$$
(17)   
with $`u=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{Tr}𝚽^2`$. In the parameterization of  $`X=w=e^z=\lambda ^2u`$, $`Y=w\lambda `$ the same equation can be written as

$$\begin{array}{c}Y^2=X^2(X+u)\end{array}$$
(18)   
and the masses (15) are now defined by the contour integrals of

$$\begin{array}{c}dS=\lambda d\mathrm{log}w=2\frac{\lambda ^2d\lambda }{\lambda ^2u}=\frac{\lambda d\lambda }{\lambda \sqrt{u}}+\frac{\lambda d\lambda }{\lambda +\sqrt{u}}=\sqrt{X+u}\frac{dX}{X}\end{array}$$
(19)   
One can easily notice that Eqs. (17), (18) and (19) can be interpreted as integration of the open $`SL(2)`$ (the Liouville) Toda chain with the co-ordinate $`X=w=e^q`$, momentum $`p=\lambda `$ and Hamiltonian (energy) $`u`$. The integration of generating differential $`dS=pdq`$ over the trajectories of the particles gives rise, in fact, to the monopole masses in the SW theory.

This is actually a general rule – the perturbative $`𝒩=2`$ theories of the ”SW family” give rise to the ”open” or trigonometric family of integrable systems – the open Toda chain, the trigonometric Calogero-Moser or Ruijsenaars-Schneider systems. This can be easily established at the level of spectrum (15) and the effective couplings (16) – the corresponding (rational) curves are (14) in the $`N`$-particle Toda chain case

$$\begin{array}{c}w=\frac{P_N^{(CM)}(\lambda )}{P_N^{(CM)}(\lambda +m)}dS=\lambda \frac{dw}{w}\end{array}$$
(20)   
for the trigonometric Calogero-Moser-Sutherland model and

$$\begin{array}{c}w=\frac{P_N^{(RS)}(\lambda )}{P_N^{(RS)}(\lambda e^{2iϵ})}dS=\mathrm{log}\lambda \frac{dw}{w}\end{array}$$
(21)   
for the trigonometric Ruijsenaars-Schneider system. It is easy to see that (perturbative) spectra are given by general formula 

$$\begin{array}{c}M=\varphi _{ij}\frac{\pi n}{R}\frac{ϵ+\pi n}{R}\\ N𝐙.\end{array}$$
(22)   
and contain in addition to the Higgs part $`\varphi _{ij}`$ the KK modes $`\frac{\pi n}{R}`$ and the KK modes for the fields with ”shifted” by $`ϵ`$ boundary conditions. The $`ϵ`$ parameter can be treated as a Wilson loop of gauge field along the compact dimension and in a subclass of models  $`\frac{ϵ}{R}`$ plays the role of the mass of the adjoint matter multiplet.

Thus we see that the relation between effective actions of SUSY gauge theories and classical integrable systems is really established on perturbative level. Moreover, the perturbative limit can be considered as a self-consistent approximation since all ingredients of the relation between the SW theories and integrable systems we mentioned above can be consistently (and even explicitly), in particular:

* The associativity equations (5) possess an obvious class of perturbative solutions, for example (cf. with (16))

$$\begin{array}{c}_{\mathrm{pert}}=\frac{1}{2}_{\stackrel{i<j}{i,j=1}}^{N1}(a_ia_j)^2\mathrm{log}(a_ia_j)+\frac{1}{2}_{i=1}^{N1}a_i^2\mathrm{log}a_i\end{array}$$
(23)   
(see a proof by straightforward calculation in ), which is a direct weak-coupling limit of the full SW prepotential when the non-perturbative terms (powers of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$) are suppressed. A generic approach to the computation of perturbative prepotentials (including the theories with the KK excitations) based on SW theory can be found in .
* Whitham hierarchy has a particular class of solutions corresponding to degenerate Riemann surfaces $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ where handles turn into (pairs of) points and holomorphic differentials into the differentials with first-order poles at these points. The generating differential in this case has general structure

$$\begin{array}{c}dS=T_n\lambda ^{n1}d\lambda +a_i\frac{d\lambda }{\lambda \lambda _i}\end{array}$$
(24)   
This formula provides a straightforward way of computation of the ”perturbative” Whitham tau-function with non-zero times $`T_n`$ <sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>1However, it would be nice to have an explicit expression..

Despite one can really check in the perturbative limit all the statements of sect. 2 by standard field theory computation, the nature of this relation at such level remains unclear.

## 4 String theory and Yang-Mills-Higgs system

In general, moduli spaces of SUSY gauge theories are described in terms of the (eigenvalues of the) scalar fields from SUSY multiplets and – in general situation when space-time has compact dimensions – one should also add the Wilson loops of gauge fields themselves. The scalar Higgs fields in string picture are associated with the positions of branes (the hypersurfaces) in some transverse directions and the effective world-volume gauge theories are coming from open strings ending on D-branes. The quantum moduli spaces of branes are formulated in terms of full matrices (rather than their eigenvalues)  with the potential <sup>2</sup><sup>2</sup>2Moduli space can be also described in terms of holomorphic superpotential, for example, for 6 real fields    
$$\begin{array}{c}W(\mathrm{\Phi })=\mathrm{Tr}ϵ_{ijk}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Phi }}_i[\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Phi }}_j,\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Phi }}_k]\end{array}$$
(25) where $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Phi }}_i=\mathrm{\Phi }_{i_1}+i\mathrm{\Phi }_{i_2}`$ are already complex scalars.

$$\begin{array}{c}V(\mathrm{\Phi })=\mathrm{Tr}_{i<j}[\mathrm{\Phi }_i,\mathrm{\Phi }_j]^2\end{array}$$
(26)   
which arises in the action under the compactification of 10D $`𝒩=1`$ SUSY Yang-Mills theory

$$\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{Tr}_{d^{10}x}𝐅_{MN}^2+\mathrm{fermions}\end{array}$$
(27)   
down to 4D ($`𝒩=4`$ SUSY) theory

$$\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{Tr}_{d^4x}𝐅_{\mu \nu }^2+(D_\mu \mathrm{\Phi }_i)^2+_{i<j}[\mathrm{\Phi }_i,\mathrm{\Phi }_j]^2+\mathrm{fermions}\end{array}$$
(28)   
so that $`M=(\mu ,i)`$, i.e. $`A_\mu =A_M`$ for $`M=0,\mathrm{},3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }_i=A_M`$ for $`M=4,\mathrm{},9`$. In the vacuum sector one can neglect the fermionic terms in (28) and, thus, speak about the Yang-Mills-Higgs system. Minima of the potential (26) correspond to $`[\mathrm{\Phi }_i,\mathrm{\Phi }_j]=0`$, or to the simultaneously diagonal matrices

$$\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Phi }_i=\mathrm{diag}(\varphi _1^{(i)},\mathrm{},\varphi _N^{(i)})\end{array}$$
(29)   
Distinct eigenvalues correspond to $`U(1)^{N1}`$ gauge theory, when the eigenvalues of $`\mathrm{\Phi }_i`$ coincide the gauge symmetry is restored up to $`SU(N)`$. In terms of modern string theory, the action (28) literally corresponds to a system of $`N`$ parallel D3-branes or to (bosonic sector of) $`𝒩=4`$ SUSY Yang-Mills theory. Six scalars $`\mathrm{\Phi }_i`$ can all obey non-zero VEV’s so that the dimension of moduli space is $`6(N1)`$. D3 branes can be thought of as D5 branes $`X_0,\mathrm{},X_5`$ compactified on two-torus, if, say, the dimensions $`X_4`$ and $`X_5`$ are compact.

In theories with $`𝒩=4`$ SUSY in four dimensions effective couplings and BPS masses are not renormalized – the theory has lots of symmetries including conformal group and there are no dimensionful (mass) parameters. It means, in particular that the eigenvalues of the scalar fields $`\{\varphi _i\}`$ are not renormalized, as well as $`\{q_i\}`$ – the eigenvalues of the Wilson loops $`A_\mu 𝑑x^\mu `$ – if we consider a theory with compact dimensions. The correspondence between SW theories and integrable systems implies that theory with $`𝒩=4`$ SUSY corresponds to a system of free particles – with the Hamiltonians $`u_k=\frac{1}{k}\mathrm{Tr}\mathrm{\Phi }^k=\frac{1}{k}_i\varphi _i^k`$, where $`\{\varphi _i\}`$ play the role of momenta. If one adds compact dimensions, the extra moduli $`\{q_i\}`$ can play the role of dual co-ordinates – at least in the sense that the volume of moduli space is (non-renormalized, dimensionless) constant and the volume form can be presented as a degree of symplectic form

$$\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Omega }=\mathrm{Tr}\delta A\delta \mathrm{\Phi }=d\varphi _idq_i\end{array}$$
(30)   
Breaking supersymmetry down to $`𝒩=2`$ the potential acquires extra mass terms $`m_i^2\mathrm{Tr}\mathrm{\Phi }_i^2`$ for two of three scalar fields and the dimension of ”scalar” moduli space goes down to $`2(N1)`$ or to one complex ”diagonal matrix” field (29). Moreover, in contrast to $`𝒩=4`$ theory, in general case (of nontrivial boundary conditions) matrices of scalar fields and monodromies become dependent of each other, or satisfy nontrivial commutation relation like

$$\begin{array}{c}[A,\mathrm{\Phi }]mJ\end{array}$$
(31)   
linear in the parameter of ”massive deformation”  (for $`m0`$ one comes back to $`𝒩=4`$ theory) and $`J`$ is some matrix of ”gauge-covariant” form.

Quantum effects turn the bare symplectic form (30) into

$$\begin{array}{c}\delta q_i\delta p_i\delta \vartheta _k\delta a_k\end{array}$$
(32)   
where

$$\begin{array}{c}a_i=_{A_i}𝑑S\end{array}$$
(33)   
are correct quantum variables – the Seiberg-Witten integrals. One may consider $`a_i=a_i(\mathrm{\Phi },\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ as a transformation from bare quantities – the eigenvalues $`\{\varphi _i\}`$ to their exact quantum values in the effective theories $`\{a_i\}`$, playing the role of the exact quantum BPS masses. In the same way one should consider the transformation $`q_i\vartheta _i`$ as transformation from bare value of monodromy to its exact quantum value in the effective theory.

## 5 Compactification to 3+1 dimensions and SUSY breaking

SUSY breaking can be elegantly reached compactifying theories with nontrivial boundary conditions (the Scherk-Schwarz mechanism). In the framework of SW theory this leads to a possibility, for example, to formulate the whole family of the ”adjoint matter” SW theories as various limits of a unique integrable system – the elliptic Ruijsenaars-Schneider model .

Consider now the compactification of $`𝒩=2`$ SUSY Yang-Mills theory with the only vector supermultiplet to 3+1 (compact with radius $`R_3R`$) dimensions. If one takes all fields to have the periodic boundary conditions in compact direction this would be a $`𝒩=4`$ (in 3D sense) SUSY theory. If, however, one puts 

$$\begin{array}{c}\varphi (x+R)=e^{iϵ}\varphi (x)\end{array}$$
(34)   
on half of the fields, the resulting theory would have only $`𝒩=2`$ three-dimensional SUSY (i.e. $`𝒩=1`$ in 4D sense), i.e. the supersymmetry will be (partially) broken by non-periodic boundary conditions.

As an example, let us consider the case of $`𝒩=2`$ 4D vector supermultiplet in the adjoint representation, consisting of $`(A_\mu ,\psi )`$ – 4D $`𝒩=1`$ vector multiplet and $`(\varphi ,\chi )`$ – 4D $`𝒩=1`$ scalar multiplet, where $`\psi `$ and $`\chi `$ are two complex Weyl spinors. Let the latter one acquire a nontrivial phase (34) under shift along the loop in compact direction, then it becomes massive with mass $`\frac{ϵ}{R}`$. The 4D $`𝒩=1`$ vector multiplet remains to be massless, and can be represented as a 3D $`𝒩=2`$ supermultiplet $`(A_\alpha ,\psi ,\frac{q}{R})`$, where $`\alpha =0,1,2`$, $`q=RA_3`$ and $`\psi `$ is 3D complex spinor.

In contrast to $`𝒩=4`$ SUSY in 3D, $`𝒩=2`$ supersymmetric theory can generate a superpotential . Introducing complexified variables $`q_iq_j+i\gamma _i`$ where $`q_i`$ are the (properly normalized) eigenvalues of the matrix $`A_3`$ and $`\gamma _i`$ are 3D dual photons $`A_i=ϵ_{ijk}_j\gamma _k`$, the superpotential acquires the form 

$$\begin{array}{c}W\frac{1}{R}\left(ϵ\mathrm{Tr}\mathrm{\Phi }^2+\mathrm{\Lambda }^2\left(_{i=1}^{N1}e^{q_{i+1}q_i}+e^{q_1q_N}\right)\right)\end{array}$$
(35)   
where the first term is ”4D contribution” , the second term (first term in the brackets) has 3D origin and the last one is induced by 3+1D instanton contributions (see, for example, recent paper  and references therein for details). All simple roots (the first term) are usual 3D instantons (BPS ”monopoles”) giving the potential of the open Toda chain, while the last term (the negative root) appears only in 3+1 dimensions and can be treated as a 4D instanton (or caloron) contribution.

In the weak coupling limit this term vanishes, giving rise to the open Toda chain . This term also vanishes in literally 3D gauge theory (when the compact dimension shrinks to zero), it is not surprising since dimensional reduction implies that $`\frac{R}{g_4^2}=\frac{1}{g_3^2}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }e^{\frac{1}{g_4^2}}=e^{\frac{1}{Rg_3^2}}`$ so that the 3D limit $`R0`$ coincides (for fixed 3D coupling $`g_3`$) with the weak coupling limit in 4D gauge theory. In the weak-coupling limit (in the $`SL(2)`$ or ”Liouville” example) the superpotential is

$$\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Lambda }^2e^{2q}=up^2=u\left(\frac{dq}{dt}\right)^2\end{array}$$
(36)   
it follows, that

$$\begin{array}{c}dt=\frac{dq}{\sqrt{u\mathrm{\Lambda }^2e^{2q}}}\underset{X=\mathrm{\Lambda }^2e^{2q}}{=}\frac{dX}{2X\sqrt{uX}}\underset{(\text{36})}{=}\frac{dp}{p^2u}\end{array}$$
(37)   
and integration gives

$$\begin{array}{c}p=\sqrt{u}\frac{1+e^\vartheta }{1e^\vartheta }=\sqrt{u}\frac{1+e^{2\sqrt{u}t}}{1e^{2\sqrt{u}t}}=\sqrt{u}\mathrm{coth}\sqrt{u}t\end{array}$$
(38)   
so that

$$\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Lambda }^2e^{2q}=X=2u\frac{e^\vartheta }{1e^\vartheta }=2u_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}e^{n\vartheta }\end{array}$$
(39)   
For $`\vartheta 1`$, the whole ”instanton series” $`e^{2q}e^\vartheta `$ can be reduced to the classical or ”bare” result. We see, indeed, that quantization – at least in the sense of constructing the effective actions – has the form of canonical transformation of some integrable system <sup>3</sup><sup>3</sup>3In the case we literally discuss now – the Toda chain..

The opposite limit $`R\mathrm{}`$ corresponds to the uncompactified 4D gauge theory and in this limit the ”3D” variables $`\{q_i\}`$ or $`\{\vartheta _i\}`$ are massive, i.e. cannot play the role of moduli. Thus the dimension of moduli space becomes equal to the half of the dimension of the phase space of an integrable system and computation of the effective action requires also an integration over the ”3D” variables, or the Bogolyubov-Whitham averaging of an integrable system. This leads to arising of the Whitham integrable system, which can be formulated in pure geometric terms along the lines of .

Let us point out that the SUSY breaking we have considered above is different from a direct SUSY breaking to $`𝒩=1`$ 4D theory (without compactification)  which implies the massless monopole’s limit of the $`𝒩=2`$ spectral curve $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^N\mathrm{cosh}z=P_N(\lambda )`$ or, in particular, that the polynomial $`P_N(\lambda )`$ (14) turns into

$$\begin{array}{c}P_N(\lambda )=\mathrm{\Lambda }^N\mathrm{cosh}z\lambda =2\mathrm{cosh}\frac{z}{N}\xi +\xi ^1\end{array}$$
(40)   
This degeneration corresponds to the solitonic limit of corresponding finite-gap integrable system – for pure gauge theory of the periodic Toda chain. In particular the curve (40) is a ”solitonic” curve in Toda chain with the roots of polynomial $`Q(\lambda )`$ given by

$$\begin{array}{c}Q(\lambda )=_{j=1}^{N1}(\lambda 2\mathrm{cos}\frac{\pi j}{N})\end{array}$$
(41)   
The generic form of the Toda BA function is

$$\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Psi }_n^{(\pm )}(\xi ,t)=\xi ^ne^{_kt_k(\xi ^k\xi ^k)}\frac{R_n^{(\pm )}(\xi ,t)}{R(\xi )}\end{array}$$
(42)   
where

$$\begin{array}{c}R(\xi )=_{s=1}^{N1}(\xi \gamma _s)\\ R_n^{(\pm )}(\xi ,t)=\psi _n^{(\pm )}(t)_{s=1}^{N1}(\xi \mu _s(n,t))=_{k=0}^{N1}r_k(n,t)\xi ^k\end{array}$$
(43)   
and the Toda chain Lax equation

$$\begin{array}{c}\lambda \mathrm{\Psi }_n=C_{n+1}\mathrm{\Psi }_{n+1}+p_n\mathrm{\Psi }_n+C_n\mathrm{\Psi }_{n1}\\ C_ne^{\frac{1}{2}(q_nq_{n1})}\lambda =\xi +\frac{1}{\xi }\end{array}$$
(44)   
implies that

$$\begin{array}{c}r_0(n)C_nr_0(n1)=0\\ r_1(n)C_nr_1(n1)p_nr_0(n)=0\end{array}$$
(45)   
i.e.

$$\begin{array}{c}r_0(n)=C_nr_0(n1)=\mathrm{}=e^{\frac{1}{2}(q_nq_0)}r_0(0)e^{\frac{1}{2}q_n}\end{array}$$
(46)   
For the solitons coming from degeneration of $`N`$-periodic Toda chain one should impose the ”gluing conditions”

$$\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Psi }_n(\xi _j)=\mathrm{\Psi }_n(\frac{1}{\xi _j})j=1,\mathrm{},N1\end{array}$$
(47)   
which mean that the BA function remembers that it came originally from genus $`N1`$ Riemann surface and each pair of points $`\xi _j,\frac{1}{\xi _j}`$ corresponds to a degenerate handle. The condition (47) together with the explicit form (42) and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{n+N}=w\mathrm{\Psi }_n`$ gives

$$\begin{array}{c}w=\xi ^N\xi _j^{2N}=1\end{array}$$
(48)   
i.e.

$$\begin{array}{c}\xi _j=e^{\frac{i\pi j}{N}}\end{array}$$
(49)   
where the label $`j`$ can be restricted to $`j=1,\mathrm{},N1`$ since

$$\begin{array}{c}\varphi _j=\xi _j+\frac{1}{\xi _j}=2\mathrm{cos}\frac{\pi j}{N}=\varphi _{2Nj}\end{array}$$
(50)   
Eq. (47) explicitly reads

$$\begin{array}{c}\frac{R_n(\frac{1}{\xi _j})}{R_n(\xi _j)}=_{k=1}^{N1}\frac{\xi _j^1\mu _k(n,t)}{\xi _j\mu _k(n,t)}=e^{\frac{2\pi inj}{N}+4i_lt_l\mathrm{sin}\frac{\pi jl}{N}+Z_j(\gamma )}\\ Z_j(\gamma )_{s=1}^{N1}\mathrm{log}\frac{\xi _j\gamma _s}{1\xi _j\gamma _s}\\ j=1,\mathrm{},N1\end{array}$$
(51)   
This is a system of linear equations for the coefficients $`r_k(n,t)`$ of the polynomial $`R_n(\xi ,t)`$

$$\begin{array}{c}e^{\frac{i\mathrm{\Phi }_j(n,t)}{2}}_{k=1}^{N1}\mathrm{sin}\left(\frac{\pi jk}{N}+\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }_j(n,t)}{2}\right)r_k=0\\ \mathrm{\Phi }_j(n,t)\frac{2\pi nj}{N}+4_lt_l\mathrm{sin}\frac{\pi jl}{N}iZ_j(\gamma )\end{array}$$
(52)   
which can be easily solved. The conditions (50) can be interpreted as values of the scalar fields in the critical points of the superpotential while the soliton trajectories connect the critical points.

Another way to see that SUSY breaking down to $`𝒩=1`$ should correspond to the solitonic limit comes, possibly, from more detailed study of the Whitham hierarchy. Generating superpotential in the $`𝒩=1`$ theory can be thought of as switching on Whitham dynamics $`\delta t_k\mathrm{Tr}\mathrm{\Phi }^k`$ in the sense of . For small values of $`\delta t_k`$ this can be thought as perturbation of the smooth $`𝒩=2`$ solution, or to the computation of certain correlators in $`𝒩=2`$ SYM theory. $`𝒩=1`$ theory itself rather corresponds to finding the solutions to Whitham equations for large values of $`t_k`$. The large $`t_k`$ asymptotic of the Whitham solutions brings us to the boundaries of moduli space or, in other words, corresponds to the decoupling of the smooth finite-gap solutions into solitons.

## 6 T-duality and dualities in integrable systems

T-duality is one of the basic features of string theory in target-space with compact dimensions and an example of coordinate-momentum duality. It is well-known and, in fact, easy to see that the spectrum of string on a circle of radius $`R`$ is invariant under the transformation $`R\frac{\alpha ^{}}{R}`$ which interchanges the KK momenta, propagating along the compact direction, with the windings of strings along the circle. T-duality transformation also replaces the Wilson of gauge fields loops by positions of branes or VEV’s of scalars and vice versa (see, for example,  for details).

Two different ”pictures” of moduli space (of compactified theory) – in terms of Wilson lines and VEV’s of scalar fields are ”T-dual” to each other. This coordinate-momentum duality can be trivially seen in the theory with $`𝒩=4`$ SUSY when it literally corresponds to the exchange of independent parameters $`\{\varphi _i\}`$ and $`\{q_i\}`$ – the momenta (action variables) and co-ordinates (angles) of a trivial integrable system – free motion of particles on some torus. Breaking $`𝒩=4`$ SUSY leads to relating of corresponding gauge theory with already nontrivial integrable system, when the action variables are no longer identified with momenta. However, certain finite-dimensional integrable systems (of the Calogero-Moser-Ruijsenaars family) still possess nice duality properties , and it is not quite a coincidence that this duality can be easily constructed in the systems corresponding to the theories with KK excitations .

In other words T-duality can be considered as symmetry between the $`A`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ variables in the relation (31). In terms of integrable systems this leads to the symmetry between two different sets of commuting variables on the full phase space – the original co-ordinates and Hamiltonians (or action variables) of an integrable system .

As an example, consider, first, 2-particle trigonometric Ruijsenaars system with the Hamiltonian

$$\begin{array}{c}h=h(p,q)=\mathrm{cosh}p\sqrt{1\frac{m^2}{\mathrm{sinh}^2q}}\end{array}$$
(53)   
From the Hamiltonian equations

$$\begin{array}{c}\frac{dq}{dt}=\frac{h}{p}=\mathrm{sinh}p\sqrt{1\frac{m^2}{\mathrm{sinh}^2q}}\\ \frac{dp}{dt}=\frac{h}{q}=\frac{m^2\mathrm{cosh}p\mathrm{cosh}q}{\mathrm{sinh}^3q\sqrt{1\frac{m^2}{\mathrm{sinh}^2q}}}\end{array}$$
(54)   
it follows that <sup>4</sup><sup>4</sup>4In this form the equation of motion coincides exactly with the non-relativistic limit – the trigonometric Calogero model, the same effect as in relativistic and non-relativistic Toda chains (see, for example ).

$$\begin{array}{c}\frac{d^2q}{dt^2}=\frac{}{q}\left(\frac{m^2}{2\mathrm{sinh}^2q}\right)\end{array}$$
(55)   
or

$$\begin{array}{c}\left(\frac{dq}{dt}\right)^2\frac{m^2}{\mathrm{sinh}^2q}=E\end{array}$$
(56)   
with $`E=h^21`$. Solving (56) one gets

$$\begin{array}{c}\sqrt{E}t=\mathrm{log}\left(\mathrm{cosh}q+\sqrt{\frac{m^2}{E}+\mathrm{sinh}^2q}\right)\mathrm{log}\sqrt{1\frac{m^2}{E}}\end{array}$$
(57)   
(with a particular choice for the integration constant). It is easy to check that the symplectic form is

$$\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Omega }=dpdq=dhdt=dxd\pi \end{array}$$
(58)   
where $`h=\mathrm{cosh}x`$, $`\pi =t\sqrt{E}=t\sqrt{h^21}`$. Moreover it is easy to see that, introducing $`H=\mathrm{cosh}q`$, one gets from Eq. (57)

$$\begin{array}{c}H=\frac{1}{2}\sqrt{1\frac{m^2}{E}}\left(e^\pi +e^\pi \right)=\mathrm{cosh}\pi \sqrt{1\frac{m^2}{\mathrm{sinh}^2x}}\end{array}$$
(59)   
i.e. the Hamiltonian of the dual system which is again the trigonometric Ruijsennars model with the same coupling constant $`m^2`$.

This self-duality of trigonometric Ruijsenaars system turns into duality between the trigonometric Calogero-Moser model and rational relativistic Ruijsenaars model in almost obvious ”nonrelativistic” limit. The equation of motion (56) can be equally considered as an equation of motion for the non-relativistic Calogero-Moser model with the Hamiltonian

$$\begin{array}{c}h_{CM}=\frac{1}{2}p^2\frac{m^2}{\mathrm{sinh}^2q}\end{array}$$
(60)   
so that $`h_{CM}=E=\sqrt{h^21}`$. The result of integration of the equation of motion is again (57) but now one has to consider rather ”non-relativistic” limit of ”small” $`x`$ and ”p”, i.e. $`h_{CM}=E=x^2`$ but still $`\mathrm{cosh}q=H`$. It follows then, that the system (60) is dual to rational Ruijsenaars model with the Hamiltonian <sup>5</sup><sup>5</sup>5 Going further, it is easy to check that in the ”double” non-relativistic limit one comes to the (again self-dual) rational Calogero model with    
$$\begin{array}{c}h_C=p^2\frac{m^2}{q^2}=x^2\end{array}$$
(61) or    
$$\begin{array}{c}H_C=\pi ^2\frac{m^2}{x^2}=q^2\end{array}$$
(62) 

$$\begin{array}{c}H=\mathrm{cosh}\pi \sqrt{1\frac{m^2}{x^2}}\end{array}$$
(63)   
In general $`N`$-particle trigonometric Ruijsenaars-Schneider system it was shown in  that the duality transformation can be interpreted as modular transformation in the space of the $`SL(N)`$ valued flat connections on torus. These flat connections are described by two $`SL(N)`$ matrices in general position, say, $`(A,B)`$ modulo common conjugation: $`(A,B)(gAg^1,gBg^1)`$. According to , this space is endowed with the Poisson bracket

$$\begin{array}{c}\{A\underset{,}{}A\}=r_aAA+AAr_a+(1A)r_{21}(A1)(A1)r_{12}(1A)\\ \{A\underset{,}{}B\}=r_{12}AB+ABr_{12}+(1B)r_{21}(A1)(A1)r_{12}(1B)\\ \{B\underset{,}{}B\}=r_aBB+BBr_a+(1B)r_{21}(B1)(B1)r_{12}(1B)\end{array}$$
(64)   
with

$$\begin{array}{c}r_{12}=_{\alpha >0}E_\alpha E_\alpha +\frac{1}{2}_iH_iH_i\\ r_{21}=_{\alpha >0}E_\alpha E_\alpha +\frac{1}{2}_iH_iH_i\\ r^a=\frac{1}{2}\left(r_{12}r_{21}\right)\end{array}$$
(65)   
which is degenerate, but can be inverted, for example, on a symplectic leave, defined as

$$\begin{array}{c}ABA^1B^1=m^2\mathrm{𝟏}+R^{(1)}\end{array}$$
(66)   
where $`R^{(1)}𝝃𝜼`$ is a matrix of unit rank (or $`R_{ij}^{(1)}\xi _i\eta _j`$ with some, dependent on $`A`$ and $`B`$, vectors $`𝝃`$ and $`𝜼`$). Diagonalizing, for example, $`A=\mathrm{diag}(Q_1,\mathrm{},Q_N)`$ one can turn the relation (66) into

$$\begin{array}{c}\left(\frac{Q_i}{Q_j}m^2\right)B_{ij}=\stackrel{~}{R}_{ij}^{(1)}=\xi _i\stackrel{~}{\eta }_j\end{array}$$
(67)   
where $`\stackrel{~}{𝜼}=𝜼B`$. Now, using the freedome of conjugation by diagonal matrices (which leaves the diagonal form of $`A`$ untouched) one can put (in general position) all $`\xi _j=1`$, ending up with

$$\begin{array}{c}B_{ij}=\frac{\stackrel{~}{\eta }_iQ_i}{Q_im^2Q_j}\end{array}$$
(68)   
The traces of this matrix, as functions of $`\stackrel{~}{\eta }_i=e^{p_i}`$ and $`Q_i=e^{q_i}`$ give Hamiltonians of the trigonometric Ruijsenaars-Schneider system. In the nonrelativistic limit equation (66) turns into the commutator relation

$$\begin{array}{c}[A,B]=m^2\mathrm{𝟏}+R^{(1)}\end{array}$$
(69)   
with the solution

$$\begin{array}{c}B_{ij}=p_i\delta _{ij}+\frac{m^2}{Q_iQ_j}\end{array}$$
(70)   
As we discussed in sect. 3 the trigonometric Ruijsenaars-Schneider system literally corresponds to the perturbative limit of the SW theory with the adjoint mass and KK excitations (22), so this is the way how perturbative T-duality transformation is realized on the phase space of corresponding integrable system.

## 7 Conclusion

In these notes we have tried to review main ingredients of the approach based on relation of the Seiberg-Witten effective theories with integrable systems. Recent studies have shown that the existence of the exact non-perturbative integrable differential equations allows to compute explicitly some physical quantites in 4D SUSY gauge theories.

Moreover, it turns out that an integrable system in a most straightforward way is seen in the compactified SUSY gauge theory – in 3 plus 1 compact dimensions. In this case, one finds that the symplectic transformation is nothing but a change of variables from bare to exact quantum variables and the set of Hamiltonians (or the spectral curve equation) arises as superpotentials in the compactified theory with broken SUSY.

Note added. In a very recent paper  one can find very similiar conclusions concerning the relation between superpotentials and structures of the integrable system we have discussed above. Moreover, this paper contains the detailed analysis of breaking SUSY down to $`𝒩=1`$ in the theory with finite adjoint mass – the corresponding superpotential coincides, like it should follow from general reasoning and the results of , with that of elliptic Calogero-Moser model.

## Acknowledgements

I am indebted to H.Braden, E.Corrigan, V.Fock, A.Gerasimov, S.Kharchev, A.Losev, A.Mironov, A.Morozov, A.Rosly and B.Voronov for illuminating discussions and I am grateful to T.Inami, R.Sasaki, T.Uematsu, all other organizers of the conference in Kyoto and T.Takebe for warm hospitality in Japan. The work was also supported by the RFBR grant 98-01-00344 and the INTAS grant 99-0103.