We study the spectrum of scalar glueballs in SQCD-like theories whose gravity description is in terms of Nc D5 color branes wrapped on an S^2 inside a CY3-fold, and Nf backreacting D5 flavor branes wrapped on a non-compact two-cycle inside the same CY3-fold. We show that there exists a consistent truncation of the ten-dimensional Type IIB supergravity system to a five-dimensional non-linear sigma model consisting of four scalars coupled to gravity. Studying fluctuations of the scalars as well as the metric around particular backgrounds allows us to compute their spectra. A few different backgrounds share the same qualitative features, namely that the mass of the lightest scalar glueball increases as the number of flavors is increased, until one reaches the point Nf = 2 Nc after which the opposite behaviour is obtained. We show that the five-dimensional non-linear sigma model obeys Seiberg duality, and demonstrate this explicitly for the spectra of a class of backgrounds that are Seiberg dual to themselves.
Using a recently proposed duality for $U(N)$ supersymmetric QCD (SQCD) in three dimensions with monopole superpotential, in this paper we derive the mirror dual description of $\mathcal{N}=2$ SQCD with unitary gauge group, generalizing the known mirror dual description of abelian gauge theories. We match the chiral ring of the dual theories and their partition functions on the squashed sphere. We also conjecture a generalization for SQCD with orthogonal and symplectic gauge groups.
We show that the anomalous dimension $γ_G$ of the scalar glueball operator contains information on the mechanism that leads to the onset of conformality at the lower edge of the conformal window in a non-Abelian gauge theory. In particular, it distinguishes whether the merging of an UV and an IR fixed point -- the simplest mechanism associated to a conformal phase transition and preconformal scaling -- does or does not occur. At the same time, we shed light on new analogies between QCD and its supersymmetric version. In SQCD, we derive an exact relation between $γ_G$ and the mass anomalous dim…
A new solution in the string background dual to N=1 SQCD-like theories is presented. The gauge coupling in this solution has walking property. The Wilson loop calculations show that quark anti-quark potential makes phase transitions. Additionally the effect of flavours on other solutions in this background is investigated by considering some unflavoured solutions and perturbing them with small parameter $x=\frac{N_{f}}{N_{c}}$.
We study dynamical supersymmetry breaking in vector-like superconformal N=1 gauge theories. We find appropriate deformations of the superpotential to overcome the problem of the instability of the non supersymmetric vacuum. The request for long lifetime translates into constraints on the physical couplings which in this regime can be controlled through efficient RG analysis.
In arXiv:0811.1909 Spiridonov and Vartanov, using the superconformal index technique, found that 4-dimensional N=1 SQCD theory with SU(2) gauge group and four flavors has 72 dual representations. Recently in arXiv:1209.1404 the authors showed that these dual theories, when coupled to 5d hypermultiplets with specific boundary conditions have an extended E_7 global symmetry. In this work we find that for a reduced theory with 3 flavors the explicit SU(6) global symmetry is enhanced to an E_6 symmetry in the presence of 5d hypermultiplets. We also show connections between indices of different the…
We present new supergravity backgrounds generated by N_c D5-branes, wrapping the S^2 of the resolved conifold, in the presence of N_f = 2 N_c smeared flavor D5-branes. The smearing allows us to take their backreaction on the geometry into account. We discuss the consistency, stability, and supersymmetry of these types of setups. We find near horizon geometries that we expect to be supergravity duals of SQCD-like theories with N_f= 2N_c. From these backgrounds we numerically extract rectangular Wilson loops and beta functions of the dual field theory for the regime where our approximations are …
In this note we describe how N=1 SQCD-like theories with a large number of flavors can be given a dual description in terms of a string background containing a large number of additional D5-branes. The dual geometries account for the backreaction of the additional branes: they depend on the ratio between the number of flavors and colors of the gauge theory. This note is based on hep-th/0602027. We present here also a new set of solutions, which are not included in the original paper.
We construct supergravity plus branes solutions, which we argue to be related to 4d N=1 SQCD with a quartic superpotential. The geometries depend on the ratio Nf/Nc which can be kept of order one, present a good singularity at the origin and are weakly curved elsewhere. We support our field theory interpretation by studying a variety of features like R-symmetry breaking, instantons, Seiberg duality, Wilson loops and pair creation, running of couplings and domain walls. In a second part of this paper, we address a different problem: the analysis of the interesting physics of different members o…
We study gauge theories with N=1 supersymmetry in 2+1 dimensions. We start by calculating the 1-loop effective superpotential for matter in an arbitrary representation. We then restrict ourselves to gauge theories with fundamental matter. Using the 1-loop superpotential, we find a universal form for the phase diagrams of many such gauge theories, which is proven to persist to all orders in perturbation theory using a symmetry argument. This allows us to conjecture new dualities for N=1 gauge theories with fundamental matter. We also show that these dualities are related to results in N=2 super…
We revisit the study of singular points in the Coulomb branch of $\mathcal{N}=2$ SQCD in four dimensions with gauge group $SU(N)$ and odd number of flavors. For certain choices of the mass parameters these vacua are not lifted by a mass term for the chiral multiplet in the adjoint representation. By using recent results about the M5 brane description of $\mathcal{N}=1$ theories we study the resulting vacua and argue that the low-energy effective theory has a simple Lagrangian description involving a free chiral multiplet in the adjoint representation of the flavor symmetry group, a system some…
In this paper we study dualities for $\mathcal{N}=2$ gauge theories in three dimensions with matter in the fundamental and adjoint representation. The duality we propose, analogous to mirror symmetry, is obtained starting from $\mathcal{N}=4$ mirror theories and turning on a certain superpotential deformation involving monopole operators. We study the role of emergent symmetries in the dual theory, focusing on the case of models with gauge symmetry $U(2)$ or $SU(2)$. We find that $SU(2)$ adjoint SQCD with one flavor and zero superpotential is dual to SQED with two flavors and three singlets. A…
This paper continues our studies in arXiV:1608.06452 [hep-th] of ${\cal N}=1$ gauge theories in the strongly coupled regimes. We also consider here the ${\cal N}=1$ SQCD-like theories with $SU(N_c)$ colors (and their Seiberg's dual), with $N_F$ flavors of light quarks and $N_F^2$ additional colorless flavored scalars $Φ^j_i$, but now with $N_F$ in the range $N_F>3N_c$. The mass spectra of these direct and dual theories in various vacua are calculated within the dynamical scenario introduced by the author in [8]. It assumes that quarks in such ${\cal N}=1$ SQCD-like theories without elementary …
Chiral rings of two-dimensional (2,2) theories coupled to 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ theories with matter hypermultiplets are studied. Specifically, the vacua of the twisted superpotential of the 2d theories with vanishing sum of matter charges are computed by considering the resolvent of the bulk theory. The solutions to the chiral ring equations are also obtained from the instanton partition function via Higgsing for simple surface operators and via the orbifold description for full surface operators. These 2d/4d coupled theories are lifted to 3d/5d theories and vacua are found similarly in two diff…
We derive the glueball masses in noncommutative super Yang--Mills theories in four dimensions via the dual supergravity description. The spectrum of glueball masses is discrete due to the noncommutativity and the glueball masses are proportional to the noncommutativity parameter with dimension of length. The mass spectrum in the WKB approximation closely agrees with the mass spectrum in finite temperature Yang--Mills theory.
We map out and explore the zoo of possible 4d N=1 superconformal theories which are obtained as RG fixed points of N=1 SQCD with N_f fundamental and N_a adjoint matter representations. Using "a-maximization," we obtain exact operator dimensions at all RG fixed points and classify all relevant, Landau-Ginzburg type, adjoint superpotential deformations. Such deformations can be used to RG flow to new SCFTs, which are then similarly analyzed. Remarkably, the resulting 4d SCFT classification coincides with Arnold's ADE singularity classification. The exact superconformal R-charge and the central c…
We derive the algebraic description of the Coulomb branch of 3d $\mathcal{N}=4$ $USp(2N)$ SQCD theories with $N_f$ fundamental hypermultiplets and determine their low energy physics in any vacuum from the local geometry of the moduli space, identifying the interacting SCFTs which arise at singularities and possible extra free sectors. The SCFT with the largest moduli space arises at the most singular locus on the Coulomb branch. For $N_f>2N$ (good theories) it sits at the origin of the conical variety as expected. For $N_f =2N$ we find two separate most singular points, from which the two isom…
We give a topological classification of stable and unconfined massive particles and strings (and some instantons) in worldvolume theories of M5-branes and their dimensional reductions, generalizing Witten's classification of strings in SYM. In particular 4d N=2 SQCD softly broken to N=1 contains torsion (Douglas-Shenker) Z_N-strings and nontorsion (Hanany-Tong) Z-strings. Some of the former are stable when the flavor symmetry is gauged, while those that are not stable confine quarks and in some vacua even dyons into baryons. The nontorsion strings are stable if and only if all colors are locke…
We discuss the degeneration limits of d=4 superconformal indices that relate Seiberg duality for the d=4 N=1 SQCD theory to Aharony and Giveon-Kutasov dualities for d=3 N=2 SQCD theories. On a mathematical level we argue that this 3d/4d connection entails a new set of non-standard degeneration identities between hyperbolic hypergeometric integrals. On a physical level we propose that such degeneration formulae provide a new route to the still illusive Seiberg dualities for d=3 N=2 SQCD theories with SU(N) gauge group.
Mass Spectra in ${\cal N}=1$ SQCD, in ${\cal N}=1$ SQCD-type theory and in softly broken ${\cal N}=2\rightarrow {\cal N}=1$ SQCD. And problems with the ${\cal N}=1$ Seiberg duality
We study supersymmetric domain walls of four dimensional $SU(N)$ SQCD with $N$ and $N+1$ flavors. In $4d$ we analyze the BPS differential equations numerically. In $3d$ we propose the $\mathcal{N}=1$ Chern-Simons-Matter gauge theories living on the walls. Compared with the previously studied regime of $F<N$ flavors, we encounter a couple of novelties: with $N$ flavors, there are solutions/vacua breaking the $U(1)$ baryonic symmetry; with $N+1$ flavors, our $3d$ proposal includes a linear monopole operator in the superpotential.
We consider supersymmetric domain walls of four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}\!=\!1$ $Sp(N)$ SQCD with $F\!=\!N+1$ and $F\!=\!N+2$ flavors. First, we study numerically the differential equations defining the walls, classifying the solutions. When $F\!=\!N+2$, in the special case of the parity-invariant walls, the naive analysis does not provide all the expected solutions. We show that an infinitesimal deformation of the differential equations sheds some light on this issue. Second, we discuss the $3d$ $\mathcal{N}\!=\!1$ Chern-Simons-matter theories that should describe the effective dynamics on th…
We review progress in studying the solutions of SQCD in the presence of explicit, soft SUSY breaking terms. Massive N=1 SQCD in the presence of a small gaugino mass leads to a controlled solution which has interesting phase structure with changing theta angle reminiscent of the QCD chiral Lagrangian. Current attempts to test the solutions of pure glue SQCD on the lattice require a theoretical understanding of the theory with small gaugino mass in order to understand the approach to the SUSY point. We provide such a description making predictions for the gaugino condensate and lightest bound st…
In this note we elaborate on the reduction of four dimensional Seiberg duality with adjoint matter to three dimensions. We use the exact formulation of the superconformal index and of the partition function as instruments to test this reduction. We translate the identity between indices of the dual 4d theories to 3d. This produces various new identities between partition functions of 3d dual phases.
We consider the geometrical engineering constructions for the N = 1 SQCD vacua recently proposed by Giveon and Kutasov. After one T-duality, the geometries with wrapped D5 branes become N = 1 brane configurations with NS branes and D4 branes. The field theories encoded by the geometries contain extra massive adjoint fields for the flavor group. After performing a flop, the geometries contain branes, antibranes and branes wrapped on non-holomorphic cycles. The various tachyon condensations between pairs of wrapped D5 branes and anti D5 branes together with deformations of the cycles give rise t…
We study the dynamics of 2+1 dimensional theories with ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetry. In these theories the supersymmetric ground states behave discontinuously at co-dimension one walls in the space of couplings, with new vacua coming in from infinity in field space. We show that the dynamics near these walls is calculable: the two-loop effective potential yields exact results about the ground states near the walls. Far away from the walls the ground states can be inferred by decoupling arguments. In this way, we are able to follow the ground states of ${\cal N}=1$ theories in 2+1 dimensions and …
We study half-BPS surface operators in N=2supersymmetric asymptotically conformal gauge theories in four dimensions with SU(N) gauge group and 2N fundamental flavours using localization methods and coupled 2d/4d quiver gauge theories. We show that contours specified by a particular Jeffrey-Kirwan residue prescription in the localization analysis map to particular realizations of the surface operator as flavour defects. Seiberg duality of the 2d/4d quivers is mapped to contour deformations of the localization integral which in this case involves a residue at infinity. This is reflected as a mod…
We obtain gravity duals to supersymmetric gauge theories in two and three spacetime dimensions with unquenched flavor. The supergravity solutions are generated by a set of color branes wrapping a compact cycle in a Calabi-Yau threefold, together with another set of flavor branes extended along the directions orthogonal to the cycle wrapped by the color branes. We construct supergravity backgrounds which include the backreaction induced by a smeared set of flavor branes, which act as delocalized dynamical sources of the different supergravity fields.
We propose an efficient way to obtain a correct Veneziano-Yankielowicz type integration constant of the effective glueball superpotential $W_{eff}(S,g,Λ)$, even for massless theories. Applying our method, we show some $\mathcal{N} = 1$ theories do not have such an effective glueball superpotential, even though they have isolated vacua. In these cases, $S = 0$ typically.
We study the Argyres-Douglas theories realized at the superconformal point in the Coulomb moduli space of $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric $SU(2)$ QCD with $N_f=1,2,3$ hypermultiplets in the Nekrasov-Shatashvili limit of the Omega-background. The Seiberg-Witten curve of the theory is quantized in this limit and the periods receive the quantum corrections. By applying the WKB method for the quantum Seiberg-Witten curve, we calculate the quantum corrections to the Seiberg-Witten periods around the superconformal point up to the fourth order in the parameter of the Omega background.
We explain how to generalize Nekrasov's microscopic approach to N=2 gauge theories to the N=1 case, focusing on the typical example of the U(N) theory with one adjoint chiral multiplet X and an arbitrary polynomial tree-level superpotential Tr W(X). We provide a detailed analysis of the generalized glueball operators and a non-perturbative discussion of the Dijkgraaf-Vafa matrix model and of the generalized Konishi anomaly equations. We compute in particular the non-trivial quantum corrections to the Virasoro operators and algebra that generate these equations. We have performed explicit calcu…
Effective superpotentials are considered which include glueball chiral superfields among their arguments in supersymmetric gauge theories. It is seen that the accommodation of glueball superfields is suitable for their complete determination.
This paper continues our previous study of similar theories in \cite{ch5}. We also consider here the ${\cal N}=1$ SQCD-like theories with $SU(N_c)$ colors (and their Seiberg's dual with $SU(N_F-N_c)$ dual colors) and $N_F$ flavors of light quarks, and with $N_F^2$ additional colorless flavored fields $Φ^j_i$, but now with $N_F$ in the range $2N_c<N_F<3N_c$. The multiplicities of various vacua and quark and gluino condensates in these vacua are found. The mass spectra of the direct and Seiberg's dual theories in various vacua are calculated within the dynamical scenario which assumes that quark…
In this note, we consider so-called "Higgs Branch Localization" for four dimensional N=2 field theories on 4d ellipsoid. We find a new set of saddle point equations arising from additional Higgs branch deformation term, whose solutions include both Higgs branch and BPS instanton-vortex mixed configurations. By evaluating the contour integral, we also demonstrate the ellipsoid partition almost factorizes into purely b and 1/b dependent parts, using SQCD as an explicit example. We identify various factorized parts with the ellipsoid partition function of two dimensional N=(2,2) SQCDA, which is p…
Supersymmetric orbifold projection of N=1 SQCD with relatively small number of flavors (not larger than the number of colors) is considered. The purpose is to check whether orbifolding commutes with the infrared limit. On the one hand, one considers the orbifold projection of SQCD and obtains the low-energy description of the resulting theory. On the other hand, one starts with the low-energy effective theory of the original SQCD, and only then perfoms orbifolding. It is shown that at finite N_c the two low-energy theories obtained in these ways are different. However, in the case of stabilize…
We briefly review our analysis of a model with non supersymmetric vacua in N=1 gauge theories with adjoint matter and no R-symmetry. We show here that this model without any modification fits into a direct gauge mediation scenario and leads to massive gauginos.
We study the complete moduli space of vacua of 3d $\mathcal{N}=4$ $U(N)$ SQCD theories with $N_f$ fundamentals, building on the algebraic description of the Coulomb branch, and deduce the low energy physics in any vacuum from the local geometry of the moduli space. We confirm previous claims for good and ugly SQCD theories, and show that bad theories flow to the same interacting fixed points as good theories with additional free twisted hypermultiplets. A Seiberg-like duality proposed for bad theories with $N \le N_f \le 2N-2$ is ruled out: the spaces of vacua of the putative dual theories are…
We propose a new method to compute glueball masses in finite temperature Lattice Gauge Theories which at low temperature is fully compatible with the known zero temperature results and as the temperature increases leads to a glueball spectrum which vanishes at the deconfinement transition. We show that this definition is consistent with the Isgur-Paton model and with the expected contribution of the glueball spectrum to various thermodynamic quantities at finite temperature. We test our proposal with a set of high precision numerical simulations in the 3d gauge Ising model and find a good agre…
Gauge theories with fermions in adjoint and fundamental representations are relevant for many different applications including composite Higgs models and general aspects of the confinement problem. We present first results from simulations of SU(2) gauge theory with two Dirac fermions in the fundamental representation and one adjoint flavor. In this context, we also discuss applications towards simulations of supersymmetric QCD.
Building on earlier results on holographic bulk dynamics in confining gauge theories, we compute the spin-0 and spin-2 spectra of gauge theories dual to the non-singular Maldacena-Nunez and Klebanov-Strassler supergravity backgrounds. We construct and apply a numerical recipe for computing mass spectra from certain determinants. In the Klebanov-Strassler case, states containing the glueball and gluinoball obey "quadratic confinement", i.e. their mass-squareds depend on consecutive number as m^2 ~ n^2 for large n, with a universal proportionality constant. The hardwall approximation appears to …
We improve upon recent calculations of the low-lying `glueball' spectra of SO(3) and SO(4) lattice gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions, and compare the resulting continuum extrapolations with SU(2). We find that these are reasonably consistent, as are the SU(2) and SO(4) string tensions when these are corrected for the differing representations of the flux. All this indicates that the different global properties of these groups do not play a significant role in the low-lying physics.
We calculate the spectrum of light glueballs and the string tension in a number of SO(N) lattice gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions, with N in the range from N=3 to N=16. After extrapolating to the continuum limit and then to N=oo we compare to the spectrum and string tension of the SU(N=oo) gauge theory and find that the most reliably and precisely calculated physical quantities are consistent in that limit. We also compare the glueball spectra of those pairs of SO(N) and SU(N') theories that possess the same Lie algebra, i.e. SO(3) and SU(2), SO(4) and SU(2)xSU(2), SO(6) and SU(4), and find th…
The dimension of the Hilbert space of QFT scales exponentially with the volume of the space in which the theory lives, yet in supersymmetric theories, one can define a graded dimension (such as the supersymmetric index) that counts just the number of bosonic minus fermionic ground states. Can we make this observation useful in non-supersymmetric QFTs in four dimensions? In this work, we construct symmetry graded state sums for a variety of non-supersymmetric theories. Among the theories we consider is one that is remarkably close to QCD: Yang--Mills theory with $N_f = N_c$ fundamental Dirac fe…
We compute glueball superpotentials for four-dimensional, N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories, with arbitrary gauge groups and massive matter representations. This is done by perturbatively integrating out massive, charged fields. The Feynman diagram computations simplify, and are related to the corresponding matrix model. This leads to a natural notion of ``projection to planar diagrams'' for arbitrary gauge groups and representations. We discuss a general ambiguity in the glueball superpotential W(S) for terms, S^n, whose order, n, is greater than the dual Coxeter number. This ambiguity can be…
Using techniques developed in a previous paper three-point functions in field theories described by holographic renormalization group flows are computed. We consider a system of one active scalar and one inert scalar coupled to gravity. For the GPPZ flow, their dual operators create states that are interpreted as glueballs of the N=1 SYM theory, which lies at the infrared end of the renormalization group flow. The scattering amplitudes for three-glueball processes are calculated providing precise predictions for glueball decays in N=1 SYM theory. Numerical results for low-lying glueballs are i…
It is widely considered that the classical Higgs branch of 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ SQCD is a well understood object. However there is no satisfactory understanding of its structure. There are two complications: (1) the Higgs branch chiral ring contains nilpotent elements, as can easily be checked in the case of $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ with 1 flavour. (2) the Higgs branch as a geometric space can in general be decomposed into two cones with nontrivial intersection, the baryonic and mesonic branches. To study the second point in detail we use the recently developed tool of magnetic quivers for five-brane we…
We consider the ${\cal N}=1$ $SU(N_c)$ SQCD-like (direct) theory (and its Seiberg's dual with $SU(N_F-N_c)$ dual colors), and with $N_F$ flavors of light quarks ${\overline Q}_j, Q^i$ with the mass term in the superpotential $m_Q{\rm Tr}({\overline Q} Q),\,\, m_Q\llΛ_Q$. Besides, there are $N_F^2$ additional colorless but flavored fields $Φ^j_i$ with the large mass parameter $μ_Φ\ggΛ_Q$. But now considered is the region $N_c+1<N_F<3N_c/2$ where the UV free direct $SU(N_c)$ theory is strongly coupled at scales $μ<Λ_Q$. The mass spectra of this direct theory in various vacua and at different val…
Lattice simulations currently present the only way to access nonperturbative data in strongly coupled theories from a first principle calculation. However, in supersymmetric theories this valuable tool is not available due to the technical sign problem. We are going to demonstrate that in the case of glueball spectra a good quantitative estimate for the lightest states of low spin can be obtained by means of the holographic approach. We will review the results of the calculation in the singlet glueball sector of the N=1 supersymmetric Klebanov-Strassler model. We come up with a prediction of t…
We study the action of S-duality on half-BPS Wilson loop operators in 5d $\mathcal{N}=1$ theories. The duality is the statement that different massive deformations of a single 5d SCFT are described by different gauge theories, or equivalently that the SCFT points in parameter space of two gauge theories coincide. The pairs of dual theories that we study are realized by brane webs in type IIB string theory that are S-dual to each other. We focus on $SU(2)$ SQCD theories with $N_f \le 4$ flavors, which are self-dual, and on $SU(3)$ SQCD theories, which are dual to $SU(2)^2$ quiver theories. From…
The Veneziano-Yankielowicz glueball superpotential for an arbitrary N=1 SUSY pure gauge theory with classical gauge group is derived using an approach following recent work of Dijkgraaf, Vafa and others. These non-perturbative terms, which had hitherto been included by hand in the above approach, are thus seen to arise naturally, and the approach is rendered self-contained. By minimising the glueball superpotential for theories with fundamental matter added, the expected vacuum structure with gaugino condensation and chiral symmetry breaking is obtained. Various possible extensions are also di…
Considered is the direct ${\cal N}=1$ SQCD-like $Φ$-theory with $SU(N_c)$ colors and $3N_c/2< N_F<2N_c$ flavors of light quarks ${\overline Q},\,Q$. Besides, it includes $N^2_F$ additional colorless but flavored fields $Φ_{i}^{j}$ with the large mass parameter $μ_Φ\ggΛ_Q$, interacting with quarks through the Yukawa coupling. In parallel, is considered its Seiberg's dual variant, i.e. the $dΦ$-theory with $(N_F-N_c)$ dual colors, $N_F$ flavors of dual quarks ${\overline q},\,{q}$ and $N_F^2$ elementary mion fields $M^i_j\rightarrow ({\overline Q}_j Q^i)$. In considered here vacua, the quarks of…
A general class of holographic theories with a nontrivial $θ$-angle are analyzed. The instanton density operator is dual to a bulk axion field. We calculate the ground-state solutions with nontrivial source, $a_{UV}$, for the axion, for both steep and soft dilaton potentials in the IR, and both in $d=3$ and $d=4$. We find all cases to be qualitatively similar. We also calculate the spin$=2,0$ glueball spectra and show that the glueball masses monotonically decrease as functions of $a_{UV}$ (or $θ$-angle). The slopes of glueball masses are different, generically, in different potentials. In the…
We summarise what lattice simulations have to say about the physical properties of continuum SU(N) gauge theories in 3+1 dimensions. The quantities covered are: the glueball mass spectrum, the confining string tension, the temperature at which the theory becomes deconfined, the topological susceptibility, the value of the scale Lambda{MS-bar} that governs the rate at which the coupling runs and the r0 parameter that characterises the static quark potential at intermediate distances.
Inspired in the AdS/CFT correspondence one can look for dualities between string theory and non conformal field theories. Exact dualities in the non conformal case are intricate but approximations can be helpful in extracting physical results. A phenomenological approach consists in introducing a scale corresponding to the maximum value of the axial AdS coordinate. Here we show that this approach can reproduce the scaling of high energy glueball scattering amplitudes and also an approximation for the scalar glueball mass ratios.
In many gauge theories at different values of parameters entering Lagrangian, the vacuum is dominated by coherent condensates of different mutually non-local fields (for instance, by condensates of electric or magnetic charges, or by various dyons). It is argued that the transition between these "dual to each other" phases proceeds through the intermediate "mixed phase", having qualitatively different features. The examples considered include: ordinary YM, N=1 SYM, N=1 SQCD, and broken N=2 SYM and SQCD.
We study new supergravity solutions related to large-$N_c$ ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetric gauge field theories with a large number $N_f$ of massive flavors. We use a recently proposed framework based on configurations with $N_c$ color D5 branes and a distribution of $N_f$ flavor D5 branes, governed by a function $N_f S(r)$. Although the system admits many solutions, under plausible physical assumptions the relevant solution is uniquely determined for each value of $x\equiv N_f/N_c$. In the IR region, the solution smoothly approaches the deformed Maldacena-Núñez solution. In the UV region it appro…
