Mirror symmetry in three-dimensional gauge theories, quivers and D-branes

We construct and analyze dual N = 4 supersymmetric gauge theories in three dimensions with unitary and symplectic gauge groups. The gauge groups and the field content of the theories are encoded in quiver diagrams. The duality exchanges the Coulomb and Higgs branches and the Fayet-Iliopoulos and mass parameters. We analyze the classical and the quantum moduli spaces of the theories and construct an explicit mirror map between the mass parameters and the Fayet-Iliopoulos parameters of the dual. The results generalize the relation between ALE spaces and moduli spaces of SU(n) and SO(2n) instantons. We interpret some of these results from the string theory viewpoint, for SU(n) by analyzing T-duality and extremal transitions in type II string compactifications, for SO(2n) by using D-branes as probes. Finally, we make a proposal for the moduli space of vacua of these theories in the absence of matter. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.