I want to draw curves with manipulation. When I use the following code, I receive nothing.
a = Table[
E^(-(\[Pi]^2/
2) (delta^2 Q^4 + 2 q0^2 (Q^3 - defocus Q)^2)), {defocus, 1, 4,
1}];
Manipulate[
Plot[Evaluate[a], {Q, 0, 3}], {{q0, .05}, {.05, .1}}, {{delta,
0.1}, {0.1, 0.2}}]
But if I write explicitly the variable "a", I do receive what I need.
I've check the attributes of Manipulate, which has HoldAll. I don't know if it's related to this.
Could you please explain to me why it's like this ? Thanks a lot in advance.

aexplicitly in order to be able to change them; move the definition of a inside theManipulate:Manipulate[a=(*your code*); Plot[(*your code*)],...]. – MarcoB Feb 15 '16 at 17:54