Related papers: BPS Z_k strings, string tensions and confinement i…
We study supersymmetric 't Hooft loop operators in N=4 super Yang-Mills, generalizing the well-known circular 1/2 BPS case and investigating their S-duality properties. We derive the BPS condition for a generic line operator describing…
We study the system of M2-branes suspended between parallel M5-branes using ABJM model with a natural half-BPS boundary condition. For small separation between M5-branes, the worldvolume theory is shown to reduce to a 2D N=(4,4) super…
Confinement remains one the most interesting and challenging nonperturbative phenomenon in non-Abelian gauge theories. Recent semiclassical (for SU(2)) and lattice (for QCD) studies have suggested that confinement arises from interactions…
In order to clarify the mechanism of quark confinement in the Yang-Mills theory with mass gap, we propose to investigate the massive Yang-Mills model, namely, Yang-Mills theory with ``a gauge-invariant gluon mass term'', which is to be…
We argue that certain BPS states in the D3-brane probe realization of N=2 SU(2) Super-Yang-Mills theory correspond to multi-pronged strings connecting the D3-brane to the background 7-branes. This provides a physical realization of the…
The mechanism of confinement in Yang-Mills theories remains a challenge to our understanding of nonperturbative gauge dynamics. While it is widely perceived that confinement may arise from chromo-magnetically charged gauge configurations…
The role of instantons in three dimensional N=2 supersymmetric SU(2) Yang-Mills theory is studied, especially in relation to the issue of confinement. The instanton-induced low energy effective action is derived by extending the dilute gas…
We study decoupling limits and S-dualities for noncommutative open string/ Yang-Mills theory in a gravity setup by considering an $SL(2,Z)$ invariant supergravity solution of the form ((F, D1), D3) bound state of type IIB string theory.…
We investigate the relationship between colour confinement and the monopoles derived from the Cho-Duan-Ge decomposition. These monopoles, unlike Dirac and 't Hooft monopoles, do not require a singular gauge field and are defined for any…
N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with gauge group SU(n) (n>=3) is believed to have two exactly marginal deformations which break the supersymmetry to N=1. We discuss the construction of the string theory dual to these deformations, in…
Yang-Mills theory in AdS$_{4}$ with Dirichlet boundary conditions is expected to undergo a transition as the AdS radius varies, since the boundary data is incompatible with confinement in flat space. Various mechanisms have been proposed…
We study five dimensional non critical type 0 string theory and its correspondence to non supersymmetric Yang Mills theory in four dimensions. We solve the equations of motion of the low energy effective action and identify a class of…
In this paper we investigate the nature of the transition from Abelian to non-Abelian confinement (i.e. crossover vs. phase transition). To this end we consider the basic N=2 model where non-Abelian flux tubes (strings) were first found:…
We summarize recent nonperturbative results obtained for the thermodynamics of an SU(2) and an SU(3) Yang-Mills theory being in its confining (center) phase. This phase is associated with a dynamical breaking of the local magnetic center…
Basing on a semiclassical picture of dyons, we present a nonperturbative model of a pure Yang--Mills theory at any temperatures, for an arbitrary simple gauge group. We argue that at low temperatures dyons drive the Yang--Mills system for…
We discuss the formation of cosmic strings or macroscopic color flux tubes at the phase transition from the deconfinement to confinement phase in pure Yang-Mills (YM) theory, such as SU($N$), Sp($N$), SO($N$), and Spin($N$), based on the…
The role non-Abelian magnetic monopoles play in the dynamics of confinement is discussed by examining carefully a class of supersymmetric gauge theories as theoretical laboratories. In particular, in the so-called $r$-vacua of softly broken…
The dual superconductivity is a promising mechanism of quark confinement. In the preceding works, we have given a non-Abelian dual superconductivity picture for quark confinement, and demonstrated the numerical evidences on the lattice. In…
A model for the quantum effective description of the vacuum structure of thermalized SU(3) Yang-Mills theory is proposed. The model is based on Abelian projection leading to a Ginzburg-Landau theory for the magnetic sector. The possibility…
Svetitsky and Yaffe have argued that -- if the deconfinement phase transition of a (d+1)-dimensional Yang-Mills theory with gauge group G is second order -- it should be in the universality class of a d-dimensional scalar model symmetric…