Related papers: Renormalization in large-$N$ QCD is incompatible w…

The solution of the large-N 't Hooft limit of QCD is universally believed to be a String Theory of Closed Strings in the Glueball Sector and of Open Strings in the Meson Sector. Yet, we prove a no-go theorem, that the large-N limit of QCD…

We give a worldsheet proof of the equivalence between the U(N) Chern-Simons gauge theory on S^3 and the topological closed string theory on the resolved conifold geometry. When the `t Hooft coupling of the gauge theory is small, the dual…

We explore the string spectrum in the Witten QCD model by considering classical string configurations, thereby obtaining energy formulas for quantum states with large excitation quantum numbers representing glueballs and Kaluza-Klein…

We pursue the possibility of using subcritical string theory in 4 space-time dimensions to establish a string dual for large N QCD. In particular we study the even G-parity sector of the 4 dimensional Neveu-Schwarz dual resonance model as…

I put forward the low-energy confining asymptote of the solution $<W_{C}>$ (valid for large macroscopic contours C of the size $>>1/\Lambda_{QCD}$) to the large N Loop equation in the D=4 U(N) Yang-Mills theory with the asymptotic freedom…

We consider the particle spectrum and event shapes in large N gauge theories in different regimes of the short-distance 't Hooft coupling, lambda. The mesons in the small lambda limit should have a Regge spectrum in order to agree with…

I describe renewed efforts to establish a string description of large N_c QCD by summing large ``fishnet'' diagrams. Earlier work on fishnets indicated that the usual relativistic (zero thickness) string theory can arise at strong 't Hooft…

Confining gauge theories contain glueballs and mesons with arbitrary spin, and these particles become metastable at large $N$. However, metastable higher spin particles, when coupled to gravity, are in conflict with causality. This tension…

We attack the long-standing problem of finding the AdS dual of N = 2 superconformal QCD, the N=2 super Yang Mills theory with gauge group SU(N_c) and N_f = 2 N_c fundamental hyper multiplets. The theory admits a Veneziano expansion of large…

We present a set of long-range Bethe ansatz equations for open quantum strings on AdS_5 x S^5 and demonstrate that they diagonalize bosonic su(2) and sl(2) sectors of the theory in the near-pp-wave limit. Results are compared with energy…

In this paper we make further refinements to the duality proposed between N=1 SQCD and certain string (supergravity plus branes) backgrounds, working in the regime of comparable large number of colors and flavors. Using the string theory…

In N=2 supersymmetric QCD with the U(N) gauge group and N_f>N we study the crossover transition from the weak coupling regime at large \xi to strong coupling at small \xi where \xi is the Fayet--Iliopoulos parameter. We find that at strong…

We investigate stringy excitations in Randall-Sundrum effective theories for electroweak symmetry breaking arising from embedding in string theory. RS is dual to a confining gauge theory, which we expect to have "QCD strings," or color flux…

YM and QCD are known to be renormalizable, but not ultraviolet finite, order by order in perturbation theory. It is a fundamental question as to whether YM or QCD are ultraviolet finite, or only renormalizable, order by order in the large-N…

The sum over planar multi-loop diagrams in the NS+ sector of type 0 open strings in flat spacetime has been proposed by Thorn as a candidate to resolve non-perturbative issues of gauge theories in the large $N$ limit. With $SU (N)$…

We revisit the symmetries of massless two-dimensional adjoint QCD with gauge group $SU(N)$. The dynamics is not sufficiently constrained by the ordinary symmetries and anomalies. Here we show that the theory in fact admits $\sim 2^{2N}$…

We study the renormalization of non-commutative gauge theories with matter. As in the scalar field theory cases, there are logarithmic infrared divergences resulting from integrating out high momentum modes. In order to reproduce the…

We analyze systems where an effective large-N expansion arises naturally in gauge theories without a large number of colors: a sufficiently large charge density alone can produce a perturbative string ('tHooft) expansion. One example is…

Here we study two important properties of $2+1$ dimensional QCD -- confinement and pseudoscalar glueball spectrum -- with holographic approach. We consider the low energy decoupled geometry of the isotropic non-susy D$2$ brane. We find the…

We lay out an approach to derive the closed string dual to the simplest possible gauge theory, a single hermitian matrix integral, in the conventional 't Hooft large $N$ limit. In this first installment of three papers, we propose and…