Sequential deconfinement in 3d N = 2 gauge theories

A bstract We consider 3 d N N = 2 gauge theories with fundamental matter plus a single field in a rank-2 representation. Using iteratively a process of “deconfinement” of the rank-2 field, we produce a sequence of Seiberg-dual quiver theories. We detail this process in two examples with zero superpotential: Usp(2 N ) gauge theory with an antisymmetric field and U( N ) gauge theory with an adjoint field. The fully deconfined dual quiver has N nodes, and can be interpreted as an Aharony dual of theories with rank-2 matter. All chiral ring generators of the original theory are mapped into gauge singlet fields of the fully deconfined quiver dual.