TY - JOUR T1 - Hitchin systems, N=2 gauge theories and W-gravity JF - Phys. Lett. B 691 (2010) 111-115 Y1 - 2010 A1 - Giulio Bonelli A1 - Alessandro Tanzini AB - We propose some arguments supporting an M-theory derivation of the duality recently discovered by Alday, Gaiotto and Tachikawa between two-dimensional conformal field theories and N=2 superconformal gauge theories in four dimensions. We find that A_{N-1} Toda field theory is the simplest two-dimensional conformal field theory quantizing the moduli of N M5-branes wrapped on a Riemann surface. This leads us to identify chiral operators of the N=2 gauge theories with W-algebra currents. As a check of this correspondence we study some relevant OPE\\\'s obtaining that Nekrasov\\\'s partition function satisfies W-geometry constraints. UR - http://hdl.handle.net/1963/3831 U1 - 496 U2 - Physics U3 - Elementary Particle Theory ER -