Related papers: Quark-antiquark potential in defect conformal fiel…

We revisit the phase diagram of the N=4 SU(N_c) super-Yang-Mills theory coupled to N_f fundamental "quarks" at strong coupling using the gauge-gravity correspondence. We show that in the plane of temperature v.s. baryon chemical potential…

We examine in non-Abelian gauge theory the heavy quark limit in the presence of the (anti-)self-dual homogeneous background field and see that a confining potential emerges, consistent with the Wilson criterion, although the potential is…

Correlators of Wilson loop operators with O_4=Tr(F_{\mu\nu}^2+...) are computed in N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory using the AdS/CFT correspondence. The results are compared with the leading order perturbative computations. As a consequence of…

By using the gauge/gravity duality and the Maldacena prescription we compute the expectation values of the Wilson loops in noncommutative Yang-Mills (NCYM) theory in (3+1) dimensions. We consider both the time-like and the light-like Wilson…

This is the first of a series of two papers in which we study the one-dimensional defect CFT defined by insertions of local operators along a $\tfrac{1}{2}$-BPS Wilson line in $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills. In this first paper we focus…

We compute the force between oppositely charged W bosons in the large N limit of Yang-Mills with 16 supercharges broken to SU(N) x U(1) by a finite Higgs vev. We clarify some issues regarding Wilson line computations and show that there is…

We solve Schr\"odinger's equation for the ground-state of {\it four}-dimensional Yang-Mills theory as an expansion in inverse powers of the coupling. Expectation values computed with the leading order approximation are reduced to a…

We consider the 1-loop effective potential in type I string theory compactified on a torus, with supersymmetry broken by the Scherk-Schwarz mechanism. At fixed supersymmetry breaking scale M, and up to exponentially suppressed terms, we…

The Wilson loop in the non-commutative dipole field theory is re-examined within the framework of dual gravity description. In contrast to the previous investigations, we let the dual string be moving along the deformed $S^5$ and find the…

We propose a reformulation of Yang-Mills theory as a perturbative deformation of a novel topological (quantum) field theory. We prove that this reformulation of the four-dimensional QCD leads to quark confinement in the sense of area law of…

We suggest that the extrinsic curvature and torsion of a bosonic string can be employed as variables in a two dimensional Landau-Ginzburg gauge field theory. Their interpretation in terms of the abelian Higgs multiplet leads to two…

We present a three-loop O(g^6) calculation of the difference between the expectation values of Wilson loops evaluated in N=4 and superconformal N=2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with gauge group SU(N) using dimensional reduction. We find…

We analyze a recently proposed supersymmetry breaking mass deformation of the $E_1$ superconformal fixed point in five dimensions which, at weak gauge coupling, leads to pure $SU(2)$ Yang-Mills and which was conjectured to lead to an…

We study a D3-D5 system dual to a conformal field theory with a codimension-one defect that separates regions where the ranks of the gauge groups differ by $k$. With the help of this additional parameter, as observed by Nagasaki, Tanida and…

Compact string expressions are found for non-intersecting Wilson loops in SU(N) Yang-Mills theory on any surface (orientable or nonorientable) as a weighted sum over covers of the surface. All terms from the coupled chiral sectors of the…

We study the rich dynamics resulting from introducing static charged particles (Wilson lines) in 2+1 and 3+1 dimensional gauge theories. Depending on the charges of the external particles, there may be multiple defect fixed points with…

The N=2* Super-Yang-Mills theory (SYM*) undergoes an infinite sequence of large-N quantum phase transitions. We compute expectation values of Wilson loops in k-symmetric and antisymmetric representations of the SU(N) gauge group in this…

We study $\frac{1}{4}$-BPS Wilson loops in four-dimensional SU$(N$) ${\mathcal{N}}=2$ super-Yang-Mills theories with conformal matter in an arbitrary representation $\mathcal{R}$. These operators are formed of two meridians on the…

The static potential, corresponding to the interaction of two heavy sources is computed for $\mathcal{N}=4$ Super Yang Mills in the strong 't Hooft coupling regime by using the AdS/CFT conjecture and performing a computation of a…

In the context of class S theories and 4D/2D duality relations there, we discuss the skein relations of general topological defects on the 2D side which are expected to be counterparts of composite surface-line operators in 4D class S…