One-Instanton Tests of the Exact Results in N=2 Supersymmetric QCD

Abstract

We use the microscopic instanton calculus to determine the one-instanton contribution to the quantum modulus u_3=<Tr(ϕ^3)> in N=2 SU(N_c) supersymmetric QCD with N_f<2N_c fundamental flavors. This is compared with the corresponding prediction of the hyperelliptic curves which are expected to give exact solutions in this theory. The results agree up to certain regular terms which appear when N_f\geq 2N_c-3. The curve prediction for these terms depends upon the curve parameterization which is generically ambiguous when N_f\geq N_c. In SU(3) theory our instanton calculation of the regular terms is found to disagree with the predictions of all of the suggested curves. For this theory we employ our results as input to improve the curve parameterization for N_f=3,4,5.