Superconformal duality-invariant models and $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 4 SYM effective action

Abstract

Abstract We present $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 superconformal U(1) duality-invariant models for an Abelian vector multiplet coupled to conformal supergravity. In a Minkowski background, such a nonlinear theory is expected to describe (the planar part of) the low-energy effective action for the $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 SU(N) super-Yang-Mills (SYM) theory on its Coulomb branch where (i) the gauge group SU(N) is spontaneously broken to SU(N − 1) × U(1); and (ii) the dynamics is captured by a single $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 vector multiplet associated with the U(1) factor of the unbroken group. Additionally, a local U(1) duality-invariant action generating the $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 super-Weyl anomaly is proposed. By providing a new derivation of the recently constructed U(1) duality-invariant $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 superconformal electrodynamics, we introduce its SL(2, ℝ) duality-invariant coupling to the dilaton-axion multiplet.