Related papers: The SQCD vacuum coupled to supergravity and string…
The Standard Model is the low-energy limit of a microscopic theory which includes extra dimensions and new symmetries. A part of my thesis consisted in constructing a new class of models with two extra dimensions. We showed that these…
We derive the exact effective superpotential in 4d, N=1 supersymmetric SU(2) gauge theories with $N_A$ triplets and $2N_f$ doublets of matter superfields. We find the quantum vacua of these theories; the equations of motion (for $N_A=1$)…
Dijkgraaf and Vafa have conjectured that the effective superpotentials for N=1 four-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories can be given by the planar diagrams of matrix models. We examine some special models with cubic and quartic tree…
Gravitational corrections in N=1 and N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories are obtained from topological string amplitudes. We show how they are recovered in matrix model computations. This provides a test of the proposal by Dijkgraaf and Vafa…
The classical dynamics of the tachyon scalar field of cubic string field theory is considered on a cosmological background. Starting from a nonlocal action with arbitrary tachyon potential, which encodes the bosonic and several…
We discuss some recent attempts to reconcile cosmology with supergravity and M/string theory. First of all, we point out that in extended supergravities the scalar masses are quantized in terms of the cosmological constant in de Sitter…
Responding to the recent claim that the origin of moduli space may be unstable in "magnetic" supersymmetric quantum chromodynamics (SQCD) with N_f <= 3N_c/2 (N_c>2) for N_f flavors and N_c colors of quarks, we explore the possibility of…
We study the gauge symmetry breaking of an ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory defined on $M^4\times S^1$, taking correctly account of the vacuum expectation values for the adjoint scalar field $\vev{\Sigma}$ in vector multiplet…
Recent data point in the direction of a cosmological constant dominated universe. We investigate the role of supersymmetric QCD with N_f < N_c as a possible candidate for dynamical cosmological constant (``quintessence''). We take in full…
We derive the scalar potential of the effective theory of type IIB orientifold with 3-form fluxes turned on in presence of non abelian brane coordinates. N=4 supergravity predicts a positive semidefinite potential with vanishing…
We compute the leading behaviour of the quark anti-quark potential from a generalized Nambu-Goto action associated with a curved space-time having an "extra dimension". The extra dimension can be the radial coordinate in the AdS/CFT…
We study N=1 supersymmetric SU(2) gauge theory in four dimensions with a large number of massless quarks. We argue that effective superpotentials as a function of local gauge-invariant chiral fields should exist for these theories. We show…
The duality-invariant gaugino condensation with or without massive matter fields is re-analysed, taking into account the dependence of the string threshold corrections on the moduli fields and recent results concerning one-loop corrected…
We determine the exact global structure of the moduli space of $N{=}2$ supersymmetric $SO(n)$ and $\USp(2n)$ gauge theories with matter hypermultiplets in the fundamental representations, using the non-renormalization theorem for the Higgs…
To obtain some exact results of U(1) gauge theory (QED), we construct the low energy effective action of N=2 supersymmetric QED with a massless matter and Fayet-Iliopoulos term, assuming no confinement. The harmonic superspace formalism for…
We discuss how the inclusion of singular gauge fields in the partition function for QCD can lead to a domain-like picture for the QCD vacuum by virtue of specific conditions on quantum fluctuations at the singularities. With a simplified…
We study U(N) SQCD with N_f <= N flavors of quarks and antiquarks by engineering it with a configuration of fractional D3-branes on a C^3 / Z_2 x Z_2 orbifold. In particular we show how the moduli space of the gauge theory naturally emerges…
We study N=1 supersymmetric U(N) gauge theory coupled to an adjoint scalar superfiled with a cubic superpotential containing a multi trace term. We show that the field theory results can be reproduced from a matrix model which its potential…
Both in electroweak theory and QCD, the vacuum in strong magnetic fields develops charged vector condensates once a critical value of the magnetic field is reached. Both ground states have a similar Abrikosov lattice structure and…
We enlarge the usual D=3 N=1 supergraph techniques to include the case of (explicitly or spontaneously) broken supersymmetric gauge theories. To illustrate the utility of these techniques, we calculate the two-loop effective potential of…