Related papers: Singular SQCD Vacua and Confinement

We consider O'Raifeartaigh-like models with explicit R-symmetry breaking and analyze the vacuum landscape. Taking such models as candidates for the hidden sector, we analyze the gauge mediation of the supersymmetry breaking, focusing on the…

We revisit the singular IIB supergravity solution describing M fractional 3-branes on the conifold [hep-th/0002159]. Its 5-form flux decreases, which we explain by showing that the relevant \NN=1 SUSY SU(N+M)xSU(N) gauge theory undergoes…

Deep insights into the possible infrared dynamics of strongly-coupled nonAbelian gauge theories such as QCD come from the analyses of ${\cal N}=1$ or ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric gauge theories. Central in the whole discussion will be the…

We use dielectric branes to find non singular string theory duals of a perturbed 2+1 dimensional gauge theory living on D2 branes. By adding fermion masses we obtain theories with reduced supersymmetry. The Higgs vacua of the perturbed…

We outline the steps in a derivation of the statement that the SU(2) gauge theory is in a confining phase for all values of the coupling, $0 < \beta <\infty$, defined at lattice spacing a. The approach employed is to obtain both upper and…

We give necessary criteria for N=1 supersymmetric theories to be in a smoothly confining phase without chiral symmetry breaking and with a dynamically generated superpotential. Using our general arguments we find all such confining SU and…

We study QCD-like four dimensional theories in the theoretically controlled framework of deformation theory and/or twisted partition function on S*1 x R*3. By using duality, we show that a class of one-flavor theories exhibit new physical…

SU(2) gauge theory with competing interactions is shown to possess a rich phase structure with anti-ferromagnetic vacua. It is argued that the phase boundaries persist in the weak coupling limit suggesting the existence of different…

We study the different quantum phases that occur in massive ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric QCD with gauge groups $SU(2)$ and $SU(3)$ as the coupling $\Lambda/M$ is gradually increased from 0 to infinity. The phases can be identified by…

Many N=1 heterotic string compactifications exhibit physically mysterious singularities at codimension one in the moduli space of vacua. At these singularities, Yukawa couplings of charged fields develop poles as a function of the moduli.…

Three closely related issues will be discussed. Magnetic quarks having non-Abelian charges have been found recently to appear as the dominant infrared degrees of freedom in some vacua of softly broken N=2 supersymmetric QCD with SU(n_c)…

We extend Seiberg's qualitative picture of the behavior of supersymmetric QCD to nonsupersymmetric models by adding soft supersymmetry breaking terms. In this way, we recover the standard vacuum of QCD with $N_f$ flavors and $N_c$ colors…

We propose an electric-magnetic duality and conjecture an exact conformal window for a class of non-supersymmetric U(N_c) gauge theories with fermions in the (anti)symmetric representation of the gauge group and N_f additional scalar and…

In a recent paper [1] we showed that N=1 supersymmetric QCD in the presence of certain superpotential deformations has a rich landscape of supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric vacua. In this paper we embed this theory in string theory as a…

The moduli space of vacua for the confining phase of N=1 $SO(N_c)$ supersymmetric gauge theories in four dimensions is analyzed by studying the M theory fivebrane. The type IIA brane configuration consists of a single NS5 brane, multiple…

We study a SU(2) gauge theory with a classical complex modulus. Introducing a chemical potential for a conserved modulus hypercharge causes it to become unstable and start condensing. We show that the modulus condensation in turn generates…

A notable class of superconformal theories (SCFTs) in six dimensions is parameterized by an integer $N$, an ADE group $G$, and two nilpotent elements $\mu_\mathrm{L,R}$ in $G$. Nilpotent elements have a natural partial ordering, which has…

Some exact solutions to the hypermultiplet low-energy effective action in N=2 supersymmetric four-dimensional gauge field theories with massive `quark' hypermultiplets are discussed. The need for a spontaneous N=2 supersymmetry breaking is…

We consider the Seiberg-Witten Toda chains arising in the context of exact solutions to N=2 SUSY Yang-Mills and their relation to the properties of N=1 SUSY gauge theories. In particular, we discuss their "perturbative" and "solitonic"…

In this work we compare different descriptions of the space of vacua of certain three dimensional N=4 superconformal field theories, compactified on a circle and mass-deformed to N=2 in a canonical way. The original N=4 theories are known…