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We study the quantum dynamics of a system of n Abelian N = 1 vector multiplets coupled to 1 2 n n + 1 chiral multiplets which parametrise the Hermitian symmetric space Sp(2n, ℝ)/U(n). In the presence of supergravity, this model is super-Weyl invariant and possesses the maximal non-compact duality group Sp(2n, ℝ) at the classical level. These symmetries should be respected by the logarithmically divergent term (the "induced action") of the effective action obtained by integrating out the vector multiplets. In computing the effective action, one has to deal with non-minimal operators for which the known heat kernel techniques are not directly applicable, even in flat (super)space. In this paper we develop a method to compute the induced action in Minkowski superspace. The induced action is derived in closed form and has a simple structure. It is a higher-derivative superconformal sigma model on Sp(2n, ℝ)/U(n). The obtained N = 1 results are generalised to the case of N = 2 local supersymmetry: a system of n Abelian N = 2 vector multiplets coupled to N = 2 chiral multiplets XI parametrising Sp(2n, ℝ)/U(n). The induced action is shown to be proportional to ∫ d 4 x d 4 θ d 4 θ ¯ E K X X ¯ , where K X X ¯ is the Kähler potential for Sp(2n, ℝ)/U(n). We also apply our method to compute DeWitt's a2 coefficients in some non-supersymmetric theories with non-minimal operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study five-dimensional superconformal field theories and their holographic dual, matter-coupled Romans supergravity. On the one hand, some recently derived formulae allow us to extract the central charges from deformations of the supersymmetric five-sphere partition function, whose large N expansion can be computed using matrix model techniques. On the other hand, the conformal and flavor central charges can be extracted from the six-dimensional supergravity action, by carefully analyzing its embedding into type I’ string theory. The results match on the two sides of the holographic duality. Our results also provide analytic evidence for the symmetry enhancement in five-dimensional superconformal field theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]