Wilson loops as defects in N=2 conformal field theories

Abstract: In this thesis we consider four dimensional N=2 superconformal field theories, in presence of line defects such as Wilson loops. In this set up, using supersymmetric localization, we compute many observables, such as the vacuum expectation value of the Wilson loop, correlation functions with chiral operators and the emitted radiation of the charged particle moving along the Wilson loop trajectory. These results are achieved by exploiting the localized matrix model on a four sphere, and checked against a perturbative computation on the flat space in N=1 superspace formalism, up to four loops in perturbation theory.