Phases of $N=1$ Supersymmetric Gauge Theories and Electric-Magnetic Triality

Abstract

We discuss the phases of four dimensional gauge theories and demonstrate them in solvable examples. Some of our simple examples exhibit confinement and oblique confinement. The theory has dual magnetic and dual dyonic descriptions in which these phenomena happen at weak coupling. Combined with the underlying electric theory, which gives a weak coupling description of the Higgs phase, we have electric-magnetic-dyonic triality. In an appendix we clarify some points regarding the use of 1PI superpotentials in these theories.

13 pages, uses harvmac, to appear in the Proc. of Strings 95