Related papers: Gauge/String Duality in Confining Theories
Two different mechanisms exist in non-perturbative String / M- theory for enhanced SU(N) (SO(2N)) gauge symmetries. It can appear in type IIA string theory or M-theory near an $A_{N-1}$ (D_N) type singularity where membrnes wrapped around…
We study the SO(4)-symmetric solution of the five-dimensional SU(2) x U(1) gauged N=4 supergravity theory obtained in [hep-th/0101202]. This solution contains purely magnetic non-Abelian and electric Abelian fields. It can be interpreted as…
Compactification of Type IIB superstring on an $AdS_5 \times S^5/\Gamma$ background leads to SU(N) gauge field theories with prescribed matter representations. In the 't Hooft limit of large N such theories are conformally finite. For…
Recently, developments in the understanding of low-energy N=1 supersymmetric gauge theory have revealed two important phenomena: the appearance of new four-dimensional superconformal field theories and a non-Abelian generalization of…
This is a general introduction to duality in field theories. The existence and breaking of global symmetries is used as a guideline to systematically prove duality between different field theories. Systems discussed include abelian and…
In this thesis we review the Seiberg-Witten solution of four dimensional N=2 gauge theories, the six-dimensional construction of these models recently proposed by Gaiotto and the BPS quiver technique for the determination of the BPS…
These lectures give an introduction to the novel duality relating type IIB string theory in a maximally supersymmetric plane-wave background to N=4, d=4, U(N) Super Yang-Mills theory in a particular large N and large R-charge limit due to…
Coincident D3-branes placed at a conical singularity are related to string theory on $AdS_5\times X_5$, for a suitable five-dimensional Einstein manifold $X_5$. For the example of the conifold, which leads to $X_5=T^{1,1}=(SU(2)\times…
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…
The crossover transition from weak coupling at large \xi to strong coupling at small \xi is studied in N=2 supersymmetric gauge theory with the U(N) gauge group and N_f>N (here \xi is the Fayet--Iliopoulos parameter). We find that at strong…
Following is a collection of lecture notes on D-branes, which may be used by the reader as preparation for applications to modern research applications such as: the AdS/CFT and other gauge theory/geometry correspondences, Matrix Theory and…
A new class of warped Anti-de Sitter solutions is found, arising as the near-horizon region of various semi-localized brane intersections. The dual gauge theories of AdS in warped spacetimes have reduced supersymmetry, which is pertinent to…
We consider the interplay of duality symmetries and gauged isometries of supergravity models giving N-extended, spontaneously broken supergravity with a no-scale structure. Some examples, motivated by superstring and M-theory…
This is a brief introductory review of the AdS/CFT correspondence and of the ideas that led to its formulation. Emphasis is placed on dualities between conformal large $N$ gauge theories in 4 dimensions and string backgrounds of the form…
We present two classes of regular supergravity backgrounds dual to supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric gauge theories living on the world-volume of wrapped branes. In particular we consider the Maldacena Nunez and the Klebanov Strassler…
In this series of lectures I present a review of the geometric structures of supergravity in diverse dimensions mostly relevant to p-brane physics and to pinpoint the correspondence between the macroscopic and microscopic description of…
This presentation is intended to give a flavour of the physics to be studied and discovered by exploiting the interface between string theory, M-theory and field theory provided by the dynamics of extended objects called `branes', and their…
This work is devoted to a study of some of the non-perturbative aspects of superstring theory that have come within reach thanks to dualities. The first chapter gives a non-technical zero-equation introduction to these developments intended…
Exact duality in supersymmetric gauge theories leads to highly non-trivial predictions about the moduli spaces of BPS monopole solutions. These notes attempt to be a pedagogical review of the current status of these investigations and are…
We use low-energy effective description of gauge theory/string theory duality to argue that the Kovtun-Son-Starinets viscosity bound is generically violated in superconformal gauge theories with non-equal central charges $c\ne a$. We…