Related papers: World-Sheet Defects, Strings, and Quark Confinemen…

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…

We first review the interpretation of world-sheet defects as $D$ branes described by a critical theory in 11 dimensions, that we interpret as $M$ theory. We then show that $D$-brane recoil induces dynamically an anti-de-Sitter (AdS)…

We consider non-Abelian semilocal strings (vortices, or vortex-strings) arising in N=2 supersymmetric U(N) gauge theory with Nf=N+\~N matter hypermultiplets in the fundamental representation (quarks), and a Fayet-Iliopoulos term {\xi}. We…

We explore non-Abelian strings in the r=N-1 vacuum of N=2 supersymmetric QCD with the gauge group U(N) and N_f flavors of quarks (N_f\geq N), where r is the number of condensed quarks. N=2 supersymmetry is broken down to N=1 by a small mass…

It has been shown that the non-Abelian vortex string in 4D $\mathcal{N}=2$ SQCD with the U(2) gauge group and $N_f=4$ flavors becomes a critical superstring. Its 10D target space is a product of the flat 4D space and an internal noncompact…

This thesis is devoted to studying strong coupling phenomena (and confinement in particular) in supersymmetric gauge theories. The central object of investigation is the non-Abelian string that is responsible for the…

We consider the N=1* supersymmetric SU(2) gauge theory and demonstrate that the Z_2 vortices in this theory acquire orientational zero modes, associated with the rotation of magnetic flux inside SU(2) group, and turn into the non-Abelian…

We study worldsheet theory of confining strings in two-dimensional massive adjoint QCD. Similarly to confining strings in higher dimensions this theory exhibits a non-trivial $S$-matrix surviving even in the strict planar limit. In the…

This is a set of lectures on the gauge/string duality and non-critical strings, with a particular emphasis on the discretized, or matrix model, approach. After a general discussion of various points of view, I describe the recent…

Color symmetry is spontaneously broken in quark matter at high density as a consequence of di-quark condensations with exhibiting color superconductivity. Non-Abelian vortices or color magnetic flux tubes stably exist in the color-flavor…

We introduce a new two-dimensional string theory defined by coupling two copies of Liouville CFT with complex central charge $c=13\pm i \lambda$ on the worldsheet. This string theory defines a novel, consistent and controllable model of…

We explain, in a slightly modified form, an old construction allowing to reformulate the U(N) gauge theory defined on a D-dimensional lattice as a theory of lattice strings (a statistical model of random surfaces). The world surface of the…

We calculate Wilson loop (quark anti-quark potential) in dS/CFT correspondence. The brane-world model is considered where bulk is two 5d Euclidean de Sitter spaces and boundary (brane) is 4d de Sitter one. Starting from the Nambu-Goto…

We study non-critical superstrings propagating in $d \le 6$ dimensional Minkowski space or equivalently, superstrings propagating on the two-dimensional Euclidean black hole tensored with d-dimensional Minkowski space. We point out a…

Let $\mathfrak{g}$ be a simple Lie algebra. We study 1/2-BPS Wilson loops of supersymmetric 5d $\mathfrak{g}$-type quiver gauge theories on a circle, in a non-trivial instanton background. The Wilson loops are codimension 4 defects of the…

We derive a new non-abelian Stokes theorem by rewriting the Wilson loop as a gauge-invariant area integral, at the price of integrating over an auxiliary field from the coset SU(N) / [U(1)]^{N-1} space. We then introduce the relativistic…

The quantum worldsheet dynamics of vortex strings contains information about the 4d non-Abelian gauge theory in which the string lives. Here I tell this story. The string worldsheet theory is typically some variant of the CP^{N-1}…

We consider non-Abelian strings in N=2 supersymmetric QCD with the U$(N)$ gauge group and $N_f=N$ quark flavors deformed by a mass term for the adjoint matter. This deformation breaks N=2 supersymmetry down to N=1. Dynamics of orientational…

Recently we observed a crossover transition (in the Fayet-Iliopoulos parameter) from weak to strong coupling in N=2 supersymmetric QCD with the U(N) gauge group and N_f > N quark flavors. At strong coupling this theory can be described by a…

We study the nonlinear sigma model (NLSM) worldsheet action describing the motion of closed bosonic strings in the target space of a two-dimensional (2D) flat cone in polar coordinates. We calculate the cylinder partition function. We first…