Monopoles; Moduli space approximation; Nahm data

The first-order formalism for the 3D Yang-Mills theory is considered and two different formulations are introduced, in which the gauge theory appears to be a deformation of the topological BF theory. We perform the quantization and the algebraic analysis of the renormalization of both the models, which are found to be anomaly free. We discuss also their stability against radiative corrections, giving the full structure of possible counterterms, requiring an involved matricial renormalization of fields and sources. Both models are then proved to be equivalent to the Yang-Mills theory at the renormalized level.