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We review recent developments in our understanding of the dynamics of strongly-coupled chiral $SU(N)$ gauge theories in four dimensions, problems which are potentially important in our quest to go beyond the standard $SU(3)_{QCD} \times…
We show that the gamma_i-deformation, which was proposed as candidate gauge theory for a non-supersymmetric three-parameter deformation of the AdS/CFT correspondence, is not conformally invariant due to a running double-trace coupling - not…
For a classical superconformal gauge theory in a conformal supergravity background, its chiral R-symmetry anomaly, Weyl anomaly and super-Weyl anomaly constitute a supermultiplet. We review how these anomalies arise from the…
The prediction of the strong coupling constant in grand unified theories is reviewed, first in the standard model, then in the supersymmetric version. Various corrections are considered. The predictions in both supergravity-induced and…
We find large N gauge theories containing a large number of operators within a band of low conformal dimensions. One of such examples is the four-dimensional N=1 supersymmetric SU(N) gauge theory with one adjoint and a pair of…
We discuss several implications of R^4 couplings in M theory when compactified on Calabi-Yau (CY) manifolds. In particular, these couplings can be predicted by supersymmetry from the mixed gauge-gravitational Chern-Simons couplings in five…
We develop the idea of an effective conformal theory describing the low-lying spectrum of the dilatation operator in a CFT. Such an effective theory is useful when the spectrum contains a hierarchy in the dimension of operators, and a small…
The holomorphic prepotential of ultraviolet finite N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories is obtained by a partial twisting of N=1 gauge theory in six dimensions, compactified on $\IR^4\timesT^2$. We show that Ward identities for the conserved…
Integrability occupies an increasingly important role in direct tests of the AdS/CFT correspondence. Integrable structures have appeared in both planar N=4 super Yang-Mills theory and type IIB superstring theory on AdS_5 x S^5. A…
I clarify some recent confusion regarding the holographic description of finite-density systems in two dimensions. Notably, the chiral anomaly for symmetry currents in 2d conformal field theories (CFT) completely determines their…
We consider conformal field theories with slightly broken higher spin symmetry in arbitrary spacetime dimensions. We analyze the crossing equation in the double light-cone limit and solve for the anomalous dimensions of higher spin currents…
We review the role of integrability in the planar spectral problem of four-dimensional superconformal gauge theories besides N=4 SYM. The cases considered include the Leigh-Strassler marginal deformations of N=4 SYM, quiver theories which…
We present the full transseries of the strong-coupling expansion of the cusp anomalous dimension in ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang--Mills theory. This quantity admits an exact representation as a ratio of two determinants with particularly simple…
Renormalization group evolution of QCD composite light-cone operators, built from two and more quark and gluon fields, is responsible for the logarithmic scaling violations in diverse physical observables. We analyze spectra of anomalous…
Using conformal field theory (CFT) arguments we derive an infinite number of constraints on the large spin expansion of the anomalous dimensions and structure constants of higher spin operators. These arguments rely only on analiticity,…
For a generic conformal field theory (CFT) in four dimensions, the scale anomaly dictates that the universal part of entanglement entropy across a sphere ($\mathcal{C}_{\text{univ}}(S^{2})$) is positive. Based on this fact, we explore the…
We report on some recent results within the string/gauge theory correspondence, both in the conformal and in the non conformal cases, for a recently found class of N=1 dual pairs. These results provide the first cross check of AdS/CFT and…
Some model-independent properties of the effective string of gauge field systems in the confining phase , for very large quark separations, are described in terms of two-dimensional conformal field theories. The constraints induced by the…
We study several cases of IR enhancements of global symmetry in four dimensions. In particular, we consider a sequence of $Spin(n+4)$ supersymmetric gauge theories ($8\geq n\geq 1$) with $n$ vectors and spinor matter with $32$ components.…
We study conical defect geometries in the SL(N) Chern-Simons formulation of higher spin gauge theories in AdS_3. We argue that (for N\geq 4) there are special values of the deficit angle for which these geometries are actually smooth…