The planar limit of $\mathcal{N}=2$ superconformal field theories

Abstract

We obtain the perturbative expansion of the free energy on $S^4$ for four dimensional Lagrangian ${\cal N}=2$ superconformal field theories, to all orders in the 't Hooft coupling, in the planar limit. We do so by using supersymmetric localization, after rewriting the 1-loop factor as an effective action involving an infinite number of single and double trace terms. The answer we obtain is purely combinatorial, and involves a sum over tree graphs. We also apply these methods to the perturbative expansion of the free energy at finite $N$, and to the computation of the vacuum expectation value of the 1/2 BPS circular Wilson loop, which in the planar limit involves a sum over rooted tree graphs.