SUSY Relics in One-Flavor QCD from a New 1/N Expansion

We suggest a new large-N_c limit for multi flavor QCD. Since fundamental and two-index antisymmetric representations are equivalent in SU(3), we have the option to define SU(N_c) QCD keeping quarks in the latter. We can then define a new 1/N_c expansion (at fixed number of flavors N_f) that shares appealing properties with the topological (fixed N_f/N_c) expansion while being more suitable for theoretical analysis. In particular, for N_f=1, our large-N_c limit gives a theory that we recently proved to be equivalent, in the bosonic sector, to N=1 supersymmetric gluodynamics. Using known properties of the latter, we derive several qualitative and semi-quantitative predictions for N_f=1 massless QCD which can be easily tested in lattice simulations. Finally, we comment on possible applications for pure SU(3) Yang-Mills theory and real QCD.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex. v2: note added at the end of the paper, ref. added. To appear in Phys.Rev.Let

From Super-Yang-Mills Theory to QCD: Planar Equivalence and its Implications

We review and extend our recent work on the planar (large N) equivalence between gauge theories with varying degree of supersymmetry. The main emphasis is made on the planar equivalence between N=1 gluodynamics (super-Yang-Mills theory) and a non-supersymmetric "orientifold field theory." We outline an "orientifold" large N expansion, analyze its possible phenomenological consequences in one-flavor massless QCD, and make a first attempt at extending the correspondence to three massless flavors. An analytic calculation of the quark condensate in one-flavor QCD starting from the gluino condensate in N=1 gluodynamics is thoroughly discussed. We also comment on a planar equivalence involving N=2 supersymmetry, on "chiral rings" in non-supersymmetric theories, and on the origin of planar equivalence from an underlying, non-tachyonic type-0 string theory. Finally, possible further directions of investigation, such as the gauge/gravity correspondence in large-N orientifold field theory, are briefly discussed.Comment: 106 pages, LaTex. 15 figures. v2:minor changes, refs. added. To be published in the Ian Kogan Memorial Collection "From Fields to Strings: Circumnavigating Theoretical Physics," World Scientific, 200

Confining k-string tensions with D-Branes in Super Yang-Mills theories

We discuss confining k strings in four dimensional gauge theories using D5 branes in AdS5xS5, and D3 branes in Klebanov-Strassler and Maldacena-Nunez backgrounds. We present two results: The first that confining k string tensions in N=4 can be calculated using D5 branes in AdS5xS5 with a cut-off in the bulk AdS. Using an embedding of R2 times S4 in S5, we show that the D5 brane replicates a string of rank k in the antisymmetric representation. The second result shows that the S-Dual calculation to hep-th/0111078 reproduces the action in the Klebanov-Strassler and Maldacena-Nunez backgrounds exactly, while providing a more natural manifestation of the string charge k.Comment: LaTeX, 12 pages; v2 references adde

Quantum Broadening of k-Strings from the AdS/CFT Correspondence

We study the quantum broadening (width) of k-strings. We generalise an old result by Luscher, Munster and Weisz to the case of a k-string, by using the gauge/gravity correspondence. When the fundamental QCD-string is replaced by a bound state of k strings, the bound state is better described by a wrapped D-brane. We calculate the width of the k-string (the wrapped D-brane) in several AdS/CFT backgrounds by using a D-brane probe and find universally that omega_k ^2 = 1 / (2\pi \sigma_k) log R/r .Comment: 13 pages, LaTex. v2: minor changes, references added. To appear in Nucl.Phys.

QCD-like Theories on R_3\times S_1: a Smooth Journey from Small to Large r(S_1) with Double-Trace Deformations

We consider QCD-like theories with one massless fermion in various representations of the gauge group SU$(N)$. The theories are formulated on $R_3\times S_1$. In the decompactification limit of large $r(S_1)$ all these theories are characterized by confinement, mass gap and spontaneous breaking of a (discrete) chiral symmetry ($\chi$SB). At small $r(S_1)$, in order to stabilize the vacua of these theories at a center-symmetric point, we suggest to perform a double trace deformation. With these deformation, the theories at hand are at weak coupling at small $r(S_1)$ and yet exhibit basic features of the large-$r(S_1)$ limit: confinement and $\chi$SB. We calculate the string tension, mass gap, bifermion condensates and $\theta$ dependence. The double-trace deformation becomes dynamically irrelevant at large $r(S_1)$. Despite the fact that at small $r(S_1)$ confinement is Abelian, while it is expected to be non-Abelian at large $r(S_1)$, we argue that small and large-$r(S_1)$ physics are continuously connected. If so, one can use small-$r(S_1)$ laboratory to extract lessons about QCD and QCD-like theories on $R_4$.Comment: 49 pages, 2 figure

Exact Results in Non-Supersymmetric Large N Orientifold Field Theories

We consider non-supersymmetric large N orientifold field theories. Specifically, we discuss a gauge theory with a Dirac fermion in the anti-symmetric tensor representation. We argue that, at large N and in a large part of its bosonic sector, this theory is non-perturbatively equivalent to N=1 SYM, so that exact results established in the latter (parent) theory also hold in the daughter orientifold theory. In particular, the non-supersymmetric theory has an exactly calculable bifermion condensate, exactly degenerate parity doublets, and a vanishing cosmological constant (all this to leading order in 1/N).Comment: 18 pages, Latex. 3 figures. v2,v3: minor changes, refs. added, to appear in Nucl.Phys.

QCD Quark Condensate from SUSY and the Orientifold Large-N Expansion

We estimate the quark condensate in one-flavor massless QCD from the known value of the gluino condensate in SUSY Yang-Mills theory using our newly proposed "orientifold" large-N expansion. The numerical result for the quark condensate renormalized at the scale 2 GeV is then given as a function of alpha_s(2 GeV) and of possible corrections from sub-leading terms. Our value can be compared with the quark condensate in (quenched) lattice QCD or with the one extracted from the Gell-Mann--Oakes--Renner relation by virtue of non-lattice determinations of the quark masses. In both cases we find quite a remarkable agreement.Comment: 15 pages, LaTe

Non-Perturbative Planar Equivalence and the Absence of Closed String Tachyons

We consider 'orbifold' and 'orientifold' field theories from the dual closed string theory side. We argue that a necessary condition for planar equivalence to hold is the absence of a closed string tachyonic mode in the dual non-supersymmetric string. We analyze several gauge theories on R3xS1. In the specific case of U(N) theories with symmetric/anti-symmetric fermions ('orientifold field theories') the relevant closed string theory is tachyon-free at large compactification radius (due to winding modes), but it develops a tachyonic mode below a critical radius. Our finding is with agreement with field theory expectations of a phase transition from a C-parity violating phase to a C-parity preserving phase as the compactification radius increases. In the case of U(N)xU(N) theories with bi-fundamental matter ('orbifold field theories') a tachyon is always present in the string spectrum, at any compactification radius. We conclude that on R4 planar equivalence holds for 'orientfiold field theories', but fails for 'orbifold field theories' daughters of N=4 SYM and suggest the same for daughters of N=1 SYM. We also discuss examples of SO/Sp gauge theories with symmetric/anti-symmetric fermions. In this case planar equivalence holds at any compactification radius -in agreement with the absence of tachyons in the string dual.Comment: 14 pages, Latex. 3 eps figures. v2: ref. added. v3: clarifying sentences added in the abstract and at the end of section 4. version accepted to JHE

On the spectrum of QCD(1+1) with large numbers of flavours N_F and colours N_C near N_F/N_C = 0

QCD(1+1) in the limit of a large number of flavours N_F and a large number of colours N_C is examined in the small N_F/N_C regime. Using perturbation theory in N_F/N_C, stringent results for the leading behaviour of the spectrum departing from N_F/N_C = 0 are obtained. These results provide benchmarks in the light of which previous truncated treatments of QCD(1+1) at large N_F and N_C are critically reconsidered.Comment: 6 revtex page