THE EFFECTIVE PREPOTENTIAL OF N=2 SUPERSYMMETRIC SO(N-C) AND SP(N-C) GAUGE-THEORIES

We calculate the effective prepotentials for N = 2 supersymmetric SO(N -c) and Sp(N-c) gauge theories, with an arbitrary number of hypermulti plets in the defining representation, from restrictions of the prepote ntials for suitable N = 2 supersymmetric gauge theories with unitary g auge groups. (This extends previous work in which the prepotential for N = 2 supersymmetric SU(N-c) gauge theories was evaluated from the ex act solution constructed out of spectral curves.) The prepotentials ha ve to all orders the logarithmic singularities of the one-loop perturb ative corrections, as expected from non-renormalization theorems, We e valuate explicitly the contributions of 1- and 2-instanton processes. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.