Related papers: BPS Z_k strings, string tensions and confinement i…

A mechanism of generating the metric is proposed, where the Kalb-Ramond symmetry existing in the topological BF theory is broken through the condensation of the string fields which are so introduced as to couple with the anti-symmetric…

First, we give a gauge-independent definition of chromomagnetic monopoles in $SU(N)$ Yang-Mills theory which is derived through a non-Abelian Stokes theorem for the Wilson loop operator. Then we discuss how such magnetic monopoles can give…

We present a Liouville-string approach to confinement in four-dimensional gauge theories, which extends previous approaches to include non-conformal theories. We consider Liouville field theory on world sheets whose boundaries are the…

The dual superconductivity is believed to be a promising mechanism for quark confinement. Indeed, what this picture is true has been confirmed in the maximal Abelian (MA) gauge. However, it is not yet confirmed in any other gauge and the MA…

We study various entanglement measures in a one-parameter family of three-dimensional, strongly coupled Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons field theories by means of their dual supergravity descriptions. A generic field theory in this family possesses…

N=4 Super Yang-Mills theory supplies us with a non-Abelian 4D gauge theory with a meaningful perturbation expansion, both in the UV and in the IR. We calculate the free energy on a 3-sphere and observe a deconfinement transition for large N…

Pure Yang-Mills theory has a finite-temperature phase transition, separating the confined and deconfined bulk phases. Svetitsky and Yaffe conjectured that if this phase transition is of second order, it belongs to the universality class of…

We investigate the role of massless magnetic monopoles in the N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills Higgs theories. They can appear naturally in the 1/4-BPS dyonic configurations associated with multi-pronged string configurations. Massless…

Non-Abelian flux tubes (strings) are well studied in N=2 supersymmetric QCD in (3+1) dimensions. In addition to translational zero modes they have also orientational moduli associated with rotations of their fluxes inside a non-Abelian…

We describe general methods for determining higher-form symmetry groups of known 5d and 6d superconformal field theories (SCFTs), and 6d little string theories (LSTs). The 6d theories can be described as supersymmetric gauge theories in 6d…

We consider N=1, D=4 superconformal U(N)^{pq} Yang-Mills theories dual to AdS_5xS^5/Z_pxZ_q orbifolds. We construct the dilatation operator of this superconformal gauge theory at one-loop planar level. We demonstrate that a specific sector…

We consider a Yang-Mills-Higgs theory with spontaneous symmetry breaking of the gauge group G -> U(1)^r -> C(G), with C(G) being the center of G. We study two vacua solutions of the theory which produce this symmetry breaking. We show that…

We describe a class of six-dimensional conformal field theories that have some properties in common with and possibly are related to a subsector of the tensionless string theories. The latter theories can for example give rise to…

We study finite-temperature N=1 SU(2) super Yang-Mills theory, compactified on a spatial circle of size L with supersymmetric boundary conditions. In the semiclassical small-L regime, a deconfinement transition occurs at T_c <<1/L. The…

Several distinct mechanisms of confinement and dynamical symmetry breaking (DSB) are identified, in a class of supersymmetric $SU(n_c)$, $USp(2n_c)$ and $SO(n_c)$ gauge theories. In some of the vacua, the magnetic monopoles carrying…

D3 and D7-branes intersecting in 2+1 dimensions give rise at low energies to N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory coupled to defect fermions in the fundamental representation. This theory undergoes a BKT-type phase transition from a…

The series of perturbative fluctuations around a multi-instanton contribution to a specific class of correlation functions of supercurrents in $\cal N=4$ supersymmetric SU(N) Yang-Mills theory is examined in the light of the AdS/CFT…

We investigate stringy excitations in Randall-Sundrum effective theories for electroweak symmetry breaking arising from embedding in string theory. RS is dual to a confining gauge theory, which we expect to have "QCD strings," or color flux…

We study N=1 gauge theories obtained by adding finite mass terms to N=4 Yang-Mills theory. The Maldacena dual is nonsingular: in each of the many vacua, there is an extended brane source, arising from Myers' dielectric effect. The source…

We consider supergravity solutions of D5 branes wrapped on supersymmetric 2-cycles and use them to discuss relevant features of four-dimensional N=1 and N=2 super Yang-Mills theories with gauge group SU(n). In particular in the N=1 case,…