We consider the addition of a large number of massive dynamical flavors to the Klebanov-Witten theory, the quiver gauge theory describing the low energy dynamics of Nc D3-branes at the conifold singularity. Massive flavors are introduced by means of Nf D7-branes which are holomorphically embedded and smeared along the transverse directions. After some general comments on the validity of the smearing procedure, we find the full backreacted supergravity solution corresponding to a particular class of massive embeddings. The solution depends on a running effective number of flavors, whose functional form follows from the smeared embedding. The running reflects the integrating in/out of massive degrees of freedom in the dual field theory as the energy scale is changed. We study how the dynamics of the theory depends on the flavor parameters, mainly focusing on the static quark-antiquark potential. As expected, we find that the dynamical flavors tend to screen the static color charges.
We calculate an unrefined limit of the superconformal index (the Schur-like index) of the Klebanov-Witten theory from the dual AdS side by using the recently developed giant graviton expansion method. Our formula includes multiple sums of the contribution of the D3-branes wrapped on three-cycles in the internal space. We numerically confirm the validity of our formula by comparing indices obtained by the formula with the gauge theory results.
In this paper we consider both Abelian as well as non-Abelian T-duals of the Klebanov-Witten background and inspect their various Penrose limits. We show that these backgrounds admit pp-wave solutions in the neighbourhood of appropriate null geodesics. We study the quantization of closed string propagating on some of the resulting pp-wave backgrounds and comment on the probable field theory duals.
We probe flavour branes in the Klebanov-Witten background in global coordinates. We show that supersymmetric probes correspond to massless flavours and analyse their spectrum of fluctuations. Our studies suggest that the mesons are dissociated by the Casimir energy. The spectrum is equidistant, with a ground state given by the conformal dimension of the operator dual to the fluctuations. We show that the equidistant structure of the spectrum arises from the addition of the angular momenta of the fundamental fields composing the meson operators.
We investigate 1/2 BPS conformal surface operators in the Klebanov-Witten theory. These surface operators preserve certain parts of the conformal symmetry and R-symmetry as well as half of the supersymmetry. We propose the gravity dual of the surface operator as a configuration of a D3-brane in AdS_5 x T^{1,1}. This D3-brane preserves the same amount of the supersymmetry as the surface operator. We also compute the correlation function of the surface operator and a chiral primary operator.
We study renormalization group flows among three dimensional superconformal gauge theories which closely resemble the renowned Klebanov-Witten flow in four dimensions. In the large N limit, each theory appearing in the flow is holographically dual to M-theory on AdS4 times a toric Sasaki-Einstein seven-manifold. The theories are obtained through the so-called flavoring method, which adds some fundamental matter fields to the dimensionally reduced Klebanov-Witten theories. We reconfirm the matching between the gauge theories and the dual geometries by comparing the chiral ring structure. As a m…
Using AdS/CFT, we study the addition of an arbitrary number of backreacting flavors to the Klebanov-Witten theory, making many checks of consistency between our new Type IIB plus branes solution and expectations from field theory. We study generalizations of our method for adding flavors to all N=1 SCFTs that can be realized on D3-branes at the tip of a Calabi-Yau cone. Also, general guidelines suitable for the addition of massive flavor branes are developed.
We study oscillating string solutions in the Klebanov-Witten and its non-Abelian T-dual background dualised along an SU(2) isometry. We find the string energy as the function of oscillation number and angular momentum. We show that for a particular set of T-dual co-ordinates both the background have equal string states. We also study the string states where the strings are expanding and contracting in the T-dual co-ordinate direction. We expect the presence of the superconformal field theory dual operators whose anomalous dimensions depend on T-dual co-ordinate.
In this paper we find various new backgrounds in Type IIB, IIA and M-theory with an $AdS_3$-factor. The solutions are smooth and preserve small amounts of SUSY. These new backgrounds are found by application of non-Abelian T-duality (sometimes combined with T-duality) on the supergravity solution dual to the Klebanov-Witten CFT compactified to two dimensions. The field theory aspects encoded by these backgrounds are studied. We give a detailed account of conserved charges, central charges, entanglement entropy and Wilson loops. Further, we present a possible field theory interpretation for our…
In this paper we study an $AdS_5$ solution constructed using non-Abelian T-duality, acting on the Klebanov-Witten background. We show that this is dual to a linear quiver with two tails of gauge groups of increasing rank. The field theory dynamics arises from a D4-NS5-NS5' brane set-up, generalizing the constructions discussed by Bah and Bobev. These realize $\mathcal{N}=1$ quiver gauge theories built out of $\mathcal{N}=1$ and $\mathcal{N}=2$ vector multiplets flowing to interacting fixed points in the infrared. We compute the central charge using $a$-maximization, and show its precise agreem…
We study D-instanton solutions in type IIB supergravity on $AdS_5\times T^{1,1}$, which has a dual ${\cal N}=1$ $SU(N)\times SU(N)$ super Yang-Mills theory. Apart from ordinary D(-1)-brane instantons, we discuss wrapped D1-branes over minimal 2-cycles and derive explicit solutions preserving half the supersymmetries. These solutions are identified with Yang-Mills instantons which are (anti)self-dual in both gauge group factors with instanton charge $(k,k')$. By examining the boundary behaviour of the solutions we discuss the coupling to the corresponding dual boundary operators, and identify t…
In this paper we present new analytic solutions of pure Type IIB supergravity plus D7-branes describing the addition of an arbitrary number of flavors to the Klebanov-Tseytlin and Klebanov-Strassler backgrounds. We provide a precise field theory dual and a detailed analysis of the duality cascade which describes its RG flow. Matchings of beta functions and anomalies between the field theory and the string setup are presented. We give an understanding of Seiberg duality as a large gauge transformation on the RR and NSNS potentials. We also analyze the UV behavior of the field theory, that as su…
We present a detailed study of the Entanglement Entropy for the confining Klebanov-Strassler background coupled to a large number of dynamical flavors in the Veneziano limit. As we vary the number of the massless flavors the behavior of the entropy strongly depends on the way we fix the integration constant of the warp factor, that is related to the glueball scale. In the case of massive flavors, the mass of the flavor branes introduces another scale in the background and the entropy undergoes two first order phase transitions. The competition between the glueball and the quark scales will lea…
We present an analytic solution of type IIB supergravity plus D7-branes, describing the addition of any number of flavors to the Klebanov-Strassler background. The dual field theory and its self-similar RG flow, described by a cascade of Seiberg dualities also in the presence of flavors, are discussed. The solution indicates that the dual gauge theory enjoys a duality wall in the UV. We stress the correspondence between Seiberg duality on the field theory side, and large gauge transformations on the RR and NSNS potentials on the gravity side. This contribution is mostly based on arxiv:0706.123…
In this sequel to [L-Y1], [L-L-S-Y], and [L-Y2] (respectively arXiv:0709.1515 [math.AG], arXiv:0809.2121 [math.AG], and arXiv:0901.0342 [math.AG]), we study a D-brane probe on a conifold from the viewpoint of the Azumaya structure on D-branes and toric geometry. The details of how deformations and resolutions of the standard toric conifold $Y$ can be obtained via morphisms from Azumaya points are given. This should be compared with the quantum-field-theoretic/D-brany picture of deformations and resolutions of a conifold via a D-brane probe sitting at the conifold singularity in the work of Kle…
We present a fully backreacted D3-D7 supergravity solution dual to the Klebanov-Strassler cascading gauge theory coupled to a large number of massive dynamical flavors in the Veneziano limit. The mass of the flavors can be larger or smaller than the dynamically generated scale. The solution is always regular at the origin of the radial coordinate and as such it can be suitably employed to explore the rich IR physics of the dual gauge theory. In this paper we focus on the static quark-antiquark potential, the screening of chromoelectric charges induced by the dynamical flavors, the flux tube br…
We consider three-parameter Yang-Baxter deformations of the $AdS_5\times T^{1,1}$ superstring for abelian $r$-matrices which are solutions of the classical Yang-Baxter equation. We find two new backgrounds which are dual to the dipole deformed Klebanov-Witten gauge theory and to the nonrelativistic Klebanov-Witten gauge theory with Schrödinger symmetry
Recently, Dymarsky, Kuperstein and Sonnenschein constructed an embedding of flavor D7- and anti-D7-branes in the Klebanov-Strassler geometry that breaks the supersymmetry of the background, yet is stable. In this article, we study in detail the spectrum of vector mesons in this new model of flavor chiral symmetry breaking and commence an analytical analysis of the scalar mesons in this setup.
We study semiclassical strings in the Klebanov-Witten and in the Non-abelian T-dual Klebanov-Witten backgrounds. We show that both backgrounds share a subsector of equivalent states up to conditions on the T-dual coordinates which also impose a breaking of the R-symmetry by a discrete group. We also analyze string configurations where the strings are stretched along the T-dual coordinates. This semiclassical analysis predicts the existence of chiral primary operators for the dual (strongly coupled) superconformal field theory whose anomalous dimension depends on the T-dual coordinates. We brie…
The Klebanov-Strassler background is invariant under the Z_2 symmetry I, which acts by exchanging the bi-fundamental fields A and B, accompanied by the charge conjugation. We study the background perturbations in the I-odd sector and find an exhaustive list of bosonic states invariant under the global SU(2)*SU(2) symmetry. In addition to the scalars identified in an earlier publication arXiv:0712.4404 we find 7 families of massive states of spin 1. Together with the spin 0 states they form 3 families of massive vector multiplets and 2 families of massive gravitino multiplets, containing a vect…
We examine the extension of the Klebanov-Witten gauge/gravity correspondence away from the low-energy conformal limit, to a duality involving the full, asymptotically Ricci-flat background describing three-branes on the conifold. After a discussion of the nature of this duality at the string theory level (prior to taking any limits), we concentrate on the intermediate-energy regime where excited string modes are negligible but the branes are still coupled to the bulk. Building upon previous work, we are able to characterize the effective D3-brane worldvolume action in this regime as an IR defo…
We expand on Klebanov and Witten's recent proposal for formulating the AdS/CFT correspondence using irregular boundary conditions. The proposal is shown to be correct to any order in perturbation theory.
We consider the behavior of D7 probes of supersymmetric warped geometries that are perturbed by the presence of anti-D3-branes. Such constructions are the gravitational duals of non-supersymmetric states in supersymmetric flavored gauge theories. Although the D7s that we consider do not feel a force from either D3s or anti-D3s alone, when both types of 3-branes are present the D7s deform and fall a small distance toward the 3-branes. We perform our analysis in AdS^5 x S^5 and the Klebanov-Witten solution and find qualitatively similar behavior in each case. We then extend our consideration to …
We show that the entanglement of purification and the critical distance between the two mixed systems is a powerful measure in probing the phase structures of QCD and confining backgrounds, as it can distinguish the scale of chiral symmetry breaking versus the scale of confinement/deconfinement phase transitions. For two symmetric strips with equal and finite width and infinite length, and in the background of several confining geometries, we numerically calculate the critical distance between them where the mutual information vanishes and show that this quantity can probe the very rich phase …
In this paper we review some results on the generalization of the gauge/gravity duality to include fundamental matter by means of probe branes. We compute the meson spectrum of maximally supersymmetric gauge theories in several dimensions, both in the Coulomb and Higgs branch. We also study the addition of flavor and compute the meson spectrum for non-commutative theories. Additionally, we present a thorough search of supersymmetric embeddings of probe branes in the Klebanov-Witten model.
We incorporate massive flavored fundamental quarks in the supergravity dual of N=1 SYM by introducing D7 brane probes to the Klebanov Strassler background. We find probe configurations that solve the D7 equations of motion. We compute the quadratic fluctuations of the D7 brane and extract the spectrum of vector and pseudo scalar flavored mesons. The spectra found are discrete and exhibit a mass gap of the order of the glueball mass.
We explore the addition of fundamental matter to the Klebanov-Witten field theory. We add probe D7-branes to the ${\cal N}=1$ theory obtained from placing D3-branes at the tip of the conifold and compute the meson spectrum for the scalar mesons. In the UV limit of massless quarks we find the exact dimensions of the associated operators, which exhibit a simple scaling in the large-charge limit. For the case of massive quarks we compute the spectrum of scalar mesons numerically.
We consider backreacted $AdS_5 \times S^5$ coupled with $N_f$ massive flavors introduced by D7-branes. The backreacted geometry is in the Veneziano limit with fixed $N_f/N_c$. By dividing one of the directions into a line segment with length $l$, we get two subspaces. Then we calculate the entanglement entropy between them. With the method provided by Klebanov, Kutasov and Murugan, we are able to find the cut-off independent part of the entanglement entropy and finally find that this geometry shows no phase transition as the case in pure $AdS_5 \times S^5$.
We present a new class of string theory solutions which are conjectured to be dual to the N=1 conifold theory by Klebanov and Witten coupled to non chiral massive dynamical flavors. These are introduced, in the Veneziano limit, by means of suitably embedded and smeared D7-branes whose full backreaction on the background is taken into account. The string solutions are used to study chromoelectric charge screening effects due to the dynamical flavors in the non perturbative regime of the dual gauge theories.
We discuss the Penner-type matrix model which has been proposed to explain the AGT relation between the 2-dimensional Liouville theory and 4-dimensional N=2 superconformal gauge theories. In our previous communication we have obtained the spectral curve of the matrix model and showed that it agrees with that derived from M-theory. We have also discussed the decoupling limit of massive flavors and proposed new matrix models which describe Seiberg-Witten theory with flavors N_f=2,3. In this article we explicitly evaluate the free energy of these matrix models and show that they in fact reproduce…
The three-flavor Skyrme-'t Hooft-Witten model is interpreted in terms of a quark-like substructure, leading to a new model of explicitly confined color-free ``quarks'' reminiscent of Gell-Mann's original pre-color quarks, but with unexpected and significant differences.
We search for models of dynamical SUSY breaking in meta-stable vacua which might have dual string descriptions with a few brane probes. Two models with quartic superpotential are proposed: One of them might be closely related to the dual gauge theory to the flavored Maldacena-Nunez geometry by Casero, Nunez, and Paredes with a few additional brane probes corresponding to massive flavors. The other model might be dual to the Klebanov-Strassler geometry with one fractional D3-brane and a few D7-branes as probes.
We study D7 brane probes holomorphically embedded in the Klebanov-Strassler model. Analyzing the $κ$-symmetry condition for D7 branes wrapping a 4-cycle of a deformed conifold we find configurations that do not break N=1 supersymmetry of the background. We compute the fluctuations of the probe around one of these configurations and obtain the spectrum of vector and scalar flavored mesons in the dual gauge theory. The spectrum is discrete and exhibits a mass gap.
We study the temperature of rotating probe D7-branes, dual to the temperature of flavored quarks, in the Kuperstein--Sonnenschein holographic model including the effects of spontaneous breakdown of the conformal and chiral flavor symmetry. The model embeds probe D7-branes into the Klebanov-Witten gravity dual of conformal gauge theory, with the embedding parameter, given by the minimal radial extension of the probe, setting the IR scale of conformal and chiral flavor symmetry breakdown. We show that when the minimal extension is positive definite and additional spin is turned on, the induced w…
Low--energy limits of N=2 supersymmetric field theories in the Higgs branch are described in terms of a non--linear 4--dimensional sigma--model on a \hk target space, classically obtained as a \hk quotient of the original flat hypermultiplet space by the gauge group. We review in a pedagogical way this construction, and illustrate it in various examples, with special attention given to the singularities emerging in the low--energy theory. In particular, we thoroughly study the Higgs branch singularity of Seiberg--Witten $SU(2)$ theory with $N_f$ flavors, interpreted by Witten as a small instan…
With the construction of the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model in the D0-D4 background, we systematically investigate the holographic baryon spectrum in the case of three flavors. The background geometry in this model is holographically dual to $U\left(N_{c}\right)$ Yang-Mills theory in large $N_{c}$ limit involving an excited state with a nonzero $θ$ angle or glue condensate $\left\langle \mathrm{Tr}\mathcal{F}\wedge\mathcal{F}\right\rangle =8π^{2}N_{c}\tildeκ$, which is proportional to the charge density of the smeared D0-branes through a parameter $b$ or $\tildeκ$. The classical solution of baryo…
We apply the exact WKB analysis to the quantum Seiberg-Witten curve for 4-dimensional $\mathcal{N} = 2\ SU(2)\ N_f=2$ SQCD with the flavor symmetry. The discontinuity and the asymptotic behavior of the quantum periods define a Riemann-Hilbert problem. We derive the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz (TBA) equations as a solution to this problem. We also compute the effective central charge of the underlying CFT, which is shown to be proportional to the one-loop beta function of the SQCD.
We study the world volume Hawking temperature of all type IIB rotating probe Dp-branes, dual to the temperature of different flavors at finite R-charge, in the Ben Ami-Kuperstein-Sonnenschein holographic models including the effects of spontaneous breakdown of the conformal and chiral flavor symmetry. The model embeds type IIB probe flavor Dp-branes into the Klebanov-Witten gravity dual of conformal gauge theory, with the embedding parameter, given by the minimal radial extension of the probes, setting the IR scale of conformal and chiral flavor symmetry breakdown. We show that when the minima…
Cachazo and Vafa studied $\mathcal{N}=1$ dynamics of U(N) gauge theory from a viewpoint of type IIB superstring compactified on a Calabi-Yau manifold with fluxes. They proved the equivalence between the dynamics and that of $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric U(N) gauge theory deformed by certain superpotential terms. We generalize their results to gauge theories with massive flavors in fundamental representation for classical gauge groups. When the additional tree level superpotential takes the form of the square of an adjoint chiral superfield we derive Affleck-Dine-Seiberg potentials. By turning…
We study a brane configuration of D4-branes and NS5-branes in weakly coupled type IIA string theory, which describes in a particular limit d=4 N=1 SU(N+p) supersymmetric QCD with 2N flavors and a quartic superpotential. We describe the geometric realization of the supersymmetric vacuum structure of this gauge theory. We focus on the confining vacua of the gauge theory, whose holographic description is given by the MQCD brane configuration in the near-horizon geometry of N D4-branes. This description, which gives an embedding of MQCD into a field theory decoupled from gravity, is valid for 1 <<…
We extend the holographic analysis of light-baryon spectrum in \cite{key-50} to the case involving the heavy flavors. With the construction of the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model in the D0-D4 background, we use the mechanism proposed in \cite{key-59,key-60,key-61} by including two light and one heavy flavor branes, to describe the heavy-light baryons as heavy mesons bound to a flavor instanton. The background geometry of this model corresponds to an excited state in the dual field theory with nonzero glue condensate $\left\langle \mathrm{Tr}\mathcal{F}\wedge\mathcal{F}\right\rangle =8π^{2}N_{c}\ti…
We propose a holographic model of baryon interactions based on non-supersymmetric D7-anti-D7 flavor branes embedded in the Klebanov-Strassler background. The baryons are D3-branes wrapping the 3-sphere of the conifold with M strings connecting the D3 and the flavor branes. Depending on the location of the latter there are two possibilities: the D3 either remains separate from the flavor branes or dissolves in them and becomes a flavor instanton. The leading order interaction between the baryons is a competition between the attraction and the repulsion due to the sigma and omega mesons. The lig…
Gravity solutions describing the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model of holographic QCD with dynamical flavors are presented. The field theory is studied in the Veneziano limit, at first order in the ratio of the number of flavors and colors. The gravity solutions are analytic and dual to the field theory either in the confined, low temperature phase or in the deconfined, high temperature phase with small baryonic charge density. The phase diagram and the flavor contributions to vacuum (e.g. string tension and hadron masses) and thermodynamical properties of the dual field theory are then deduced. The…
We consider the low energy limit of three dimensional Quantum Chromodynamics with an even number of flavors. We show that Parity is not spontaneously broken, but the global (flavor) symmetry is spontaneously broken. The low energy effective lagrangian is a nonlinear sigma model on the Grassmannian. Some Chern--Simons terms are necessary in the lagrangian to realize the discrete symmetries correctly. We consider also another parametrization of the low energy sector which leads to a three dimensional analogue of the Wess--Zumino--Witten--Novikov model. Since three dimensional QCD is believed to …
We construct the gravitational solution of the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model by introducing a magnetic field on the flavor brane. With taking into account their backreaction, we re-solve the type IIA supergravity in the presence of the magnetic field. Our calculation shows the gravitational solutions are magnetic-dependent and analytic both in the bubble (confined) and black brane (deconfined) case. We study the dual field theory at the leading order in the ratio of the number of flavors and colors, also in the Veneziano limit. Some physical properties related to the hadronic physics in an exter…
In this paper, we study 5d $\mathcal{N}=1$ $Sp(N)$ gauge theory with $N_f ( \leq 2N + 3 )$ flavors based on 5-brane web diagram with $O5$-plane. On the one hand, we discuss Seiberg-Witten curve based on the dual graph of the 5-brane web with $O5$-plane. On the other hand, we compute the Nekrasov partition function based on the topological vertex formalism with $O5$-plane. Rewriting it in terms of profile functions, we obtain the saddle point equation for the profile function after taking thermodynamic limit. By introducing the resolvent, we derive the Seiberg-Witten curve and its boundary cond…
We present a general analysis of all the possible soft breakings of N=2 supersymmetric QCD, preserving the analytic properties of the Seiberg-Witten solutions for the SU(2) group with Nf=1, 2, 3 hypermultiplets. We obtain all the couplings of the spurion fields in terms of properties of the Seiberg-Witten periods, which we express in terms of elementary elliptic functions by uniformizing the elliptic curves associated to each number of flavors. We analyze in detail the monodromy properties of the softly broken theory, and obtain them by a particular embedding into a pure gauge theory with high…
