Related papers: Strings from Quivers, Membranes from Moose
We review recent progress in the study of non-rational (boundary) conformal field theories and their applications to describe exact holographic backgrounds in superstring theory. We focus mainly on the example of the supersymmetric coset…
We study gauge/string duality with flavor degrees of freedom in type 0B string theory. We construct a model by placing the N_f probe D9_-/anti-D9_- brane pairs in the background of the N_c electric D3-branes. This model has some features in…
Based on the observation that $AdS_5\times S^5/Z_k$ orbifolds have a maximal supersymmetric PP-wave limit, the description of strings in PP-waves in terms of ${\cal N}=2$ quiver gauge theories is presented. We consider two different, small…
We consider an infinite class of 5d supersymmetric gauge theories involving products of symplectic and unitary groups that arise from D4-branes at orbifold singularities in Type I' string theory. The theories are argued to be dual to warped…
In these lectures we start with a pedagogical introduction of the properties of open and closed superstrings and then, using the open/closed string duality, we construct the boundary state that provides the description of the maximally…
SU(N_L) X SU(N_R) gauge theories are investigated as effective field theories on D_4 branes in type IIA string theory. The classical gauge configuration is shown to match quantitatively with a corresponding classical U(N_L) X U(N_R) gauge…
We study brane configurations for four dimensional N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories with quartic superpotentials which flow in the infrared to manifolds of interacting superconformal fixed points. We enumerate finite N=2 theories, from…
We study the N=1 supersymmetric cascading gauge theory found in type IIB string theory on p regular and M fractional D3-branes at the tip of the conifold, using the T-dual type IIA description. We reproduce the supersymmetric vacuum…
I review aspects of string theory on plane wave backgrounds emphasising the connection to gauge theory given by the BMN correspondence. Topics covered include the Penrose limit and its role in deriving the BMN duality from AdS/CFT,…
We calculate configuration energies of string-like membranes in M2- and M5-brane spaces. In the near horizon approximation these backgrounds reduce to $AdS_4\times S^7$ and $AdS_7\times S^4$ spaces and the dual theories are supersymmetric…
D-branes can end on orbifold planes if the action of the orbifold group includes (-1)^{F_L}. We consider configurations of D-branes ending on such orbifolds and study the low-energy theory on their worldvolume. We apply our results to gauge…
We conjecture the existence of two new non-gravitational six-dimensional string theories, defined as the decoupling limit of NS5-branes in the background of near-critical electrical two- and three-form RR fields. These theories are…
A correspondence between type IIB string theory with N D7-branes on R^{1,3} x C^1/Z_2 x T^2/Z_2 x T^2/Z_2 and pure N=1 SU(N) gauge theory in four dimensions is proposed and argued. First the supergravity background of unwrapped and flat…
It is an old speculation that SU(N) gauge theory can alternatively be formulated as a string theory. Recently this subject has been revived, in the wake of the discovery of D-branes. In particular, it has been argued that at least some…
We study $\textrm{AdS}_2\times S^4 \times S^2 \times \Sigma_2$ solutions in type IIB string theory arising from D1 -- D3 -- NS5 brane intersections. These backgrounds enjoy sixteen supercharges and the corresponding internal geometry is…
We study M theory fivebranes to understand the moduli space of vacua of N=1 supersymmetric SO(N_c) gauge theory with N_f flavors in four dimensions. We discuss how the various branches of this theory arise in the string/M theory brane…
We discuss the relation between M theory and type II string theories. We show that, assuming ``natural'' interactions between membranes and fivebranes in M theory, the known interactions between strings and D-branes in type II string…
This thesis consists of two parts. In the first part we study some topics in $\mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmeric gauge theory and the relation to matrix models. We review the relevant non-perturbative techniques for computing effective…
Recently, a D-brane construction in type IIA string theory was shown to yield the electric/magnetic duality of four dimensional N=1 supersymmetric U(N_c) gauge theories with N_f flavours of quark. We present here an extension of that…
We discuss Gubser-Klebanov-Polyakov proposal for the gauge/string theory correspondence for gauge theories in curved space. Specifically, we consider Klebanov-Tseytlin cascading gauge theory compactified on S^3. We explain regime when this…