Instanton effects in three-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories with matter

Using standard field theory techniques we compute perturbative and instanton contributions to the Coulomb branch of three-dimensional supersymmetric QCD with N = 2 and N = 4 supersymmetry and gauge group SU(2). For the N = 4 theory with one massless flavor, we confirm the proposal of Seiberg and Witten that the Coulomb branch is the double-cover of the centered moduli space of two BPS monopoles constructed by Atiyah and Hitchin. Introducing a hypermultiplet mass term, we show that the asymptotic metric on the Coulomb branch coincides with the metric on Dancer's deformation of the monopole moduli space. For the N = 2 theory with N_f flavors, we compute the one-loop corrections to the metric and complex structure on the Coulomb branch. We then determine the superpotential including one-loop effects around the instanton background. These calculations provide an explicit check of several results previously obtained by symmetry and holomorphy arguments.