Related papers: Confinement in a finite duality cascade
We study supersymmetric $SO(N_c)$ gauge theories with $N_f$ flavors of quarks in the vector representation. Among the phenomena we find are dynamically generated superpotentials with physically inequivalent branches, smooth moduli spaces of…
Using holography, we study the entanglement entropy of strongly coupled field theories perturbed by operators that trigger an RG flow from a conformal field theory in the ultraviolet (UV) to a new theory in the infrared (IR). The…
We investigate the possibility of false vacuum decay in $N=1$ supergravity theories. By establishing a Bogomol'nyi bound for the energy density stored in the domain wall of the $O(4)$ invariant bubble, we show that supersymmetric vacua…
We propose a method for constructing pairs of nonsupersymmetric gauge theories related by S-duality. Starting from a known S-duality of supersymmetric theories realized on the worldvolume of D3 branes in type IIB string theory, a new…
A five-dimensional Chern-Simons gravity theory based on the anti-de Sitter group SO(4,2) is argued to be a useful model in which to understand the details of holography and the relationship between generally covariant and dual local quantum…
We discuss a solution of the equations of motion of five-dimensional gauged type IIB supergravity that describes confining SU(N) gauge theories at large N and large 't Hooft parameter. We prove confinement by computing the Wilson loop, and…
We study two-dimensional N=(4,4) supersymmetric gauge theories which do not have classical Higgs branches, but are believed to have isolated quantum Higgs vacua. We provide arguments for the existence of such vacua based on brane dynamics…
String representation of the Wilson loop in 3D Abelian-projected SU(3)-gluodynamics is constructed in the approximation that Abelian-projected monopoles form a gas. Such an assumption is much weaker than the standard one, demanding the…
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…
We initiate a non-perturbative study of anisotropic, non-conformal and confining gauge theories that are holographically realized in gravity by generic Einstein-Axion-Dilaton systems. In the vacuum our solutions describe RG flows from a…
We consider D7-branes in the gauge theory/string theory correspondence, using a probe approximation. The D7-branes have four directions embedded holomorphically in a non-compact Calabi-Yau 3-fold (which for specificity we take to be the…
In this paper we present three new families of smooth Type II string theory backgrounds. These are dual to supersymmetry-preserving deformations of 4d SCFTs. The deformations include a VEV for a global current and a `twisted…
Previously, two of the present authors obtained the decoupling limit and the corresponding throat geometry of non-supersymmetric D3 brane solution of type IIB string theory. In analogy with the supersymmetric case, it describes the gravity…
We propose and prove a new exact duality between the F-terms of supersymmetric gauge theories in five and three dimensions with adjoint matter fields. The theories are compactified on a circle and are subject to the Omega deformation. In…
In this work, we present a new geometric transition in non-compact Calabi-Yau 4-folds, specifically for the cone over the 7d Sasaki-Einstein manifold $Q^{\scriptscriptstyle(1,1,1)}/\mathbb{Z}_{N}$. We discover a new smoothing of such…
We investigate the general features of renormalization group flows near superconformal fixed points of four dimensional N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories with gravity duals. The gauge theories we study arise as the world-volume theory on a…
We use the embedding tensor formalism to analyse maximally symmetric backgrounds of N=2 gauged supergravities which have the full N=2 supersymmetry. We state the condition for N=2 vacua and discuss some of their general properties. We show…
We consider "double-winding" Wilson loops in SU(2) gauge theory. These are contours which wind once around a loop $C_1$ and once around a loop $C_2$, where the two co-planar loops share one point in common, and where $C_1$ lies entirely in…
We present a 1-loop toroidal membrane winding sum reproducing the conjectured $M$-theory, four-graviton, eight derivative, $R^4$ amplitude. The $U$-duality and toroidal membrane world-volume modular groups appear as a Howe dual pair in a…
In this paper we analyze the structure of supersymmetric vacua in compactifications of the heterotic string on certain manifolds with SU(3) structure. We first study the effective theories obtained from compactifications on half-flat…