Wilson loops and free energies in $3d$ $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM: exact results, exponential asymptotics and duality

Abstract

We show that $U(N)$ $3d$ $\mathcal{N}=4$ supersymmetric gauge theories on $S^{3}$ with $N_{f}$ massive fundamental hypermultiplets and with a Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) term are solvable in terms of generalized Selberg integrals. Finite $N$ expressions for the partition function and Wilson loop in arbitrary representations are given. We obtain explicit analytical expressions for Wilson loops with symmetric, antisymmetric, rectangular and hook representations, in terms of Gamma functions of complex argument. The free energy for orthogonal and symplectic gauge group is also given. The asymptotic expansion of the free energy is also presented, including a discussion of the appearance of exponentially small contributions. Duality checks of the analytical expressions for the partition functions are also carried out explicitly.