On Gauge Theories as Matrix Models

Abstract: The relation between the Seiberg-Witten prepotentials, Nekrasov functions and matrix models is discussed. We derive quasiclassically the matrix models of Eguchi-Yang type, describing the instantonic contribution to the deformed partition functions of supersymmetric gauge theories. The exact quasiclassical solution for the case of conformal four-dimensional theory is studied in detail, and some aspects of its relation with the recently proposed logarithmic beta-ensembles are considered. We discuss also the "quantization" of this picture in terms of two-dimensional conformal theory with extended symmetry, and stress its difference from common picture of perturbative expansion a la matrix models. Instead, the representation for Nekrasov functions in terms of conformal blocks or Whittaker vector suggests some nontrivial relation with Teichmueller spaces and quantum integrable systems.