Mathai-Quillen formulation of twisted N = 4 supersymmetric gauge theories in four dimensions Original Research Article

We present a detailed description of the three inequivalent twists of N = 4 supersymmetric gauge theories in four dimensions. The resulting topological quantum field theories are reobtained in the framework of the Mathai-Quillen formalism and the corresponding moduli spaces are analyzed. We study their geometric features in each case. In one of the twists we make contact with the theory of non-abelian monopoles in the adjoint representation of the gauge group. In another twist we obtain a topological quantum field theory which is orientation reversal invariant. For this theory we show how the functional integral contributions to the vacuum expectation values leading to topological invariants notably simplify.