Abstract
We study N = 2 super Yang-Mills theory with gauge group SU( N) from the point of view of the Whitham hierarchy. We develop a new recursive method to compute the whole instanton expansion of the prepotential using the theta function associated with the root lattice of the group. Explicit results for the one- and two-instanton corrections in SU( N) are presented. Interpreting the slow times of the hierarchy as additional couplings, we show how they can be promoted to spurion superfields that softly break N = 2 supersymmetry down to N = 0. This provides a family of non-supersymmetric deformations of the theory, associated with higher Casimir operators of the gauge group. The SU(3) theory is analyzed in some detail.
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