Related papers: Macroscopic strings as heavy quarks: Large-N gauge…
It is known, since the 70's, that the large N 't Hooft limit of gauge theories is related to string theories. In 1998, J. M. Maldacena identified precisely such a relation: the so-called AdS/CFT correspondence which speculates a duality…
This dissertation consists of a comprehensive and pedagogical review of Maldacena's original derivation of the AdS/CFT correspondence and the main topics of string theory necessary to understand it. The large $N$ expansion of Yang-Mills…
In this thesis we discuss non-perturbative phenomena emerging in gauge and in string/supergravity theories. We compute the partition function of 5D minimal supersymmetric U(1) gauge theory with extra adjoint matter in general…
We extend recent remarkable progress in the comparison of the dynamical energy spectrum of rotating closed strings in AdS_5xS^5 and the scaling weights of the corresponding non-near-BPS operators in planar N=4 supersymmetric gauge theory.…
We investigate open string theory on backreacting D3-branes using a spacetime approach. We study in detail the half-BPS supergravity solutions describing open strings ending on D3-branes, in the near horizon of the D3-branes. We recover…
We study the embedding of cosmic strings, related to the Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen vortex solution, into d=4, N=1 supergravity. We find that the local cosmic string solution which saturates the BPS bound of supergravity with $D$-term…
We investigate the relationship between mass and spin of quark anti-quark bound state in non-commutative gauge theory with N=4 supersymmetry. In the large N and large 't Hooft coupling limit, these bound states correspond to rotating open…
We study the three-pronged strings (three string junctions) from the point of view of D-string worldsheet gauge theory. We justify interpreting kink solutions in the 2-dimensional gauge theory as pronged strings by examining BPS energy…
We study some dynamical aspects of the correspondence between strings in AdS space and external heavy quarks in N=4 SYM. Specifically, by examining waves propagating on such strings, we make some plausible (and some surprising) inferences…
Within the AdS/CFT correspondence we use multicentre D3-brane metrics to investigate Wilson loops and compute the associated heavy quark-antiquark potentials for the strongly coupled SU(N) super-Yang-Mills gauge theory, when the gauge…
String theory on AdS3 backgrounds arises as an IR limit of Little String Theory on NS5-branes. A wide variety of holographic RG flows from the fivebrane theory in the UV to (orbifolds of) AdS3 in the IR is amenable to exact treatment in…
We calculate the energy of a static string in an AdS slice between two D3-branes with orbifold condition. The energy for configurations with endpoints on a brane grows linearly for large separation between these points. The derivative of…
By identifying a bosonic consistent truncation from the 1/4-BPS wrapped M5-brane geometry of Maldacena, Strominger and Witten in D = 11 supergravity and finding a supersymmetric extension, we recover an N = 2 D = 3 supergravity theory.…
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 extend our earlier work, regarding the perturbative stability of string configurations used for computing the interaction potential of heavy quarks within the gauge/gravity correspondence, to cover a more general class of gravity duals.…
We study to what extent, and in what form, the notion of gauge-string duality may persist at finite $N$. It is shown, in the half-BPS sector, that the states of D3 giant graviton branes in $\mathrm{AdS}_5 \times S^5$ are holographically…
In 1998, J. M. Maldacena conjectured a precise duality in the low-energy (or decoupling) regime between a large N strongly-coupled SU(N) super-Yang-Mills theory defined in the four-dimensional Minkowski world-volume M^4 of a stack of N…
The near horizon geometry of a fundamental string wrapped around an S1 reduced to four dimensions is expected to be AdS2 x S2. A probe string analysis suggests a no-force condition indicating supersymmetry, which coincides with the…
This is an introductory review of the AdS/CFT correspondence and of the ideas that led to its formulation. We show how comparison of stacks of D3-branes with corresponding supergravity solutions leads to dualities between conformal large…
This talk begins with some history and basic facts about string theory and its connections with strong interactions. Comparisons of stacks of Dirichlet branes with curved backgrounds produced by them are used to motivate the AdS/CFT…