Squashing and supersymmetry enhancement in three dimensions

Abstract

We consider mass-deformed theories with \mathcal{N}\geq2𝒩≥2 supersymmetry on round and squashed three-spheres. By embedding the supersymmetric backgrounds in extended supergravity we show that at special values of mass deformations the supersymmetry is enhanced on the squashed spheres. When the 3d partition function can be obtained by a limit of a 4d index we also show that for these special mass deformations only the states annihilated by extra supercharges contribute to the index. By using an equivalence between partition functions on squashed spheres and ellipsoids, we explain the recently observed squashing independence of the partition function of mass-deformed ABJ(M) theory on the ellipsoid. We provide further examples of such simplification for various 3d supersymmetric theories.