A quasi-Hopf structure in marginally deformed N=4 Super Yang-Mills Theory

The N= 4 Super Yang-Mills theory in four dimensions admits deformations and the exactly marginal deformations of its SU(3) R-symmetry sub-sector are known as Leigh-Strassler. Leigh-Strassler deformations break the N= 4 supersymmetry down to N= 1 while preserving conformal symmetry. With exactly marginal deformations only the F-terms are deformed thus Leigh-Strassler deformations only affect the superpotential in the Lagrangian. In this thesis we study the symmetry of the marginally deformed N= 4 SYM and demonstrate that its algebraic structure can be understood in terms of quasi-Hopf algebras. Quasi-Hopf algebras have a notion of twisting due to Drinfeld which makes them a natural mathematical language with which to treat deformations. Furthermore the deformation of the N= 4 SYM superpotential is automated by the definition of a suitable star product.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2020.NiThePPhysicsPhDUnrestricte