SUPERPOTENTIALS OF N = 1 SUPERSYMMETRIC GAUGE-THEORIES FROM M-THEORY

We consider brane configurations in M-theory describing N=1 supersymme tric gauge theories and using the parametric representation of the bra ne configurations, we calculate the superpotentials for various cases including multiple gauge groups or fermions. For SU(n) N=1 SQCD with N -f fermion case (N-f < N-c), we find that the superpotential from M-th eory and the gauge theory agree precisely. This gives a direct evidenc e of the validity of Witten's M-theory method for calculating the supe rpotential. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.