Supersymmetric gauge theories, quantization of moduli spaces of flat connections, and conformal field theory

Abstract: We will propose a derivation of the correspondence between certain gauge theories with N=2 supersymmetry and conformal field theory discovered by Alday, Gaiotto and Tachikawa in the spirit of Seiberg-Witten theory. Based on certain results from the literature we argue that the quantum theory of the moduli spaces of flat SL(2,R)-connections represents a non-perturbative "skeleton" of the gauge theory, protected by supersymmetry. It follows that instanton partition functions can be characterized as solutions to a Riemann-Hilbert type problem. In order to solve it, we describe the quantization of the moduli spaces of flat connections explicitly in terms of two natural sets of Darboux coordinates. The kernel describing the relation between the two pictures represents the solution to the Riemann Hilbert problem, and is naturally identified with the Liouville conformal blocks.