Dualities in 4D Theories with Product Gauge Groups from Brane Configurations

We study brane configurations which correspond to N=1 field theories in four dimensions. By inverting the order of the NS 5-branes and D6-branes, a check on dualities in four dimensional theories can be made. We consider a brane configuration which yields electric/magnetic duality for gauge theories with $SO(N_{c1})\times Sp(N_{c2})$ product gauge group. We also discuss the possible extension to any alternating product of SO and Sp groups. The new features arising from the intersection of the NS 5-branes on the orientifold play a crucial role in our construction.Comment: 13 pages, Latex, version to appear in Physics Letters

Flows between Dualities for 3d Chern-Simons Theories

We study Seiberg-like dualities for 3d N=2 theories with flavors in fundamental and adjoint representations. The recent results of Intriligator and Seiberg provide a derivation of an Aharony duality from a Giveon-Kutasov duality. We extend their result to the case of more general theories involving various masses for fundamental quarks and adjoint fields. By fine tuning the vev of a scalar field and using various identifications between gauge groups and their singlet duals, we derive several examples of Aharony dualities. For theories with an adjoint field, we discuss the connection between the Aharony dualities proposed by Kim and Park for theories with multiple Coulomb branches and Giveon-Kutasov-Niarchos dualities.Comment: 21 page

Renormalization Group Flows on D3 branes at an Orbifolded Conifold

We consider D3-branes at an orbifolded conifold whose horizon ${X_5}$ resolves into a smooth Einstein manifold which joins several copies of ${\bf T}^{1,1}$. We describe in details the resolution of the singular horizon ${X_5}$ and describe different types of two-cycles appearing in the resolution. For a large number of D3 branes, the AdS/CFT conjecture becomes a duality between type IIB string theory on $AdS_5 \times {X_5}$ and the ${\cal N} = 1$ field theory living on the D3 branes. We study the fractional branes as small perturbations of the string background and we reproduce the logarithmic flow of field theory couplings by studying fluxes of NS-NS and R-R two forms through different 2-cycles of the resolved horizon.Comment: Latex 22 pages with 3 eps file

Three Dimensional SCFT from M2 Branes at Conifold Singularities

Recently it was conjectured that parallel branes at conical singularities are related to string/M theory on $AdS \times X$ where $X$ is an Einstein manifold. In this paper we consider coincident M2 branes near a conifold singularity when M theory is compactified on $AdS_4 \times Q^{1,1,1}$ where $Q^{1,1,1} = (SU(2) \times SU(2) \times SU(2))/(U(1) \times U(1))$ is a seven dimensional Sasaki-Einstein manifold. We argue that M theory on $AdS_4 \times Q^{1,1,1}$ can be described in terms of a three dimensional superconformal field theory.We use the fact that the three dimensional self-mirror duality is preserved by exact marginal operators, as observed by Strassler.Comment: 16 pages, Latex, minor extensions, important references added, acknowledgements extende

Branes at Orbifolded Conifold Singularities and Supersymmetric Gauge Field Theories

We consider D3 branes at orbifolded conifold singularities which are not quotient singularities. We use toric geometry and gauged linear sigma model to study the moduli space of the gauge theories on the D3 branes. We find that topologically distinct phases are related by a flop transition. It is also shown that an orbifold singularity can occur in some phases if we give expectation values to some of the chiral fields.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, late

Geometry, D-branes and N=1 Duality in Four Dimensions with Product Gauge Group

We study N=1 dualities in four dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories by D 6-branes wrapping around 3-cycles of Calabi-Yau threefolds in the type IIA string theory. We consider the models involving $SU(N_{c1})\times SU(N_{c2})$ product gauge group without or with adjoint matter in terms of geometrical realisation of the configuration of D 6-branes wrapped 3-cycles. We also find simple geometric description for the triple product gauge group $SU(N_{c1})\times SU(N_{c2})\times SU(N_{c3})$ interpreted recently by Brodie and Hanany in the context of D brane configurations together with NS 5-branes. Their introduction of semi-infinite D 4-branes appears naturally by looking at the flavor group in the dual theory. We generalize to product of arbitrary number of gauge groups.Comment: 14 pages, late

Matrix Model Description of Baryonic Deformations

We investigate supersymmetric QCD with N_c+1 flavors using an extension of the recently proposed relation between gauge theories and matrix models. The impressive agreement between the two sides provides a beautiful confirmation of the extension of the gauge theory-matrix model relation to this case.Comment: 33pages, late