The conformal manifold of three dimensional N=4 supersymmetric star-shaped-quiver theories

In this thesis we calculate the dimension of the conformal manifold (DCM) for a class of 3d N=4 supersymmetric theories called the star-shaped-quiver (SSQ) theories. These theories are the mirror dual theories of class s theories, constructed as a compactification of the 4d class S theories on a circle. The 4d class S theories themselves are constructed as a compactification of the 6d N=(2,0) superconformal field theories on a Riemann surface (with genus g and s punctures). The IR fixed point of these theories can be strongly coupled, and an interesting probe of the fixed point is the conformal manifold, the space of all exactly marginal deformations. The supersymmetric index is a tool, developed in recent years, that allows to calculate the DCM for supersymmetric theories. The index encodes within it the exactly marginal operators, but to deduce the DCM involves a few more tools that transform the problem into a group-theoretic one. We employ these tools for the SSQ theories, first calculate the supersymmetric index and then calculate the DCM. Our results are that the DCM of the 3d SSQ (or class s) theories scales as ~g^4 and ~s^2, which is significanly larger that the DCM of the related 4d class S theories which scales linearly with g and s.