Brane-Inspired Orientifold Field Theories

In this paper we consider the gauge theory living on the world-volume of a stack of N D3-branes of Type 0B/\Omega' I_6(-1)^{F_{L}} and of its orbifolds C^2/Z_2 and C^3/(Z_2 x Z_2). The gauge theories obtained in the three cases are a brane realization of ``orientifold field theories'' having the bosonic sector common with N=4,2,1 super Yang-Mills respectively. In these non-supersymmetric theories, we investigate the possibility of keeping the gauge/gravity correspondence that has revealed itself so successful in the case of supersymmetric theories. In the open string framework we compute the coefficient of the gauge kinetic term showing that the perturbative behaviour of the orientifold field theory can be obtained from the closed string channel in the large N limit, where the theory exhibits Bose-Fermi degeneracy.Comment: 27 pages, LaTe

Kaehler Metrics: String vs Field Theoretical Approach

We use both a string and a field theoretical approach in order to determine respectively the Kaehler metrics of untwisted and twisted open strings attached to magnetized D9 branes in toroidal compactifications.Comment: 11 pages, LaTex file. Contribution to the proceedings of the 4th RTN workshop "Forces Universe", Varna, September 200

Anomalies and Tadpoles in Open/Closed String Duality

We discuss the role played by the divergences appearing in the interaction between a fractional D3 brane dressed with an SU(N) gauge field and a stack of N fractional D3 branes on the orbifolds C^2/Z_2 and C^3/(Z_2 x Z_2). In particular we show that the logarithmic divergences in the closed string channel, interpreted as due to twisted massless tadpoles, are mapped, under open/closed string duality, in the logarithmic ones in the open string channel, due to the massless states circulating in the annulus diagram and corresponding to the one-loop divergences that one finds in the gauge theory living in the world volume of the brane. This result provides a quantitative evidence of why the chiral and scale anomalies of the supersymmetric and non conformal gauge theories supported by the world volume of the branes can be inferred from supergravity calculations.Comment: LaTeX, 8 pages. Contribution to the proceedings of the workshop of the RTN Network "The quantum structure of space-time and the geometric nature of fundamental interactions", Copenhagen, September 200

Coulomb-gas formulation of SU(2) branes and chiral blocks

We construct boundary states in $SU(2)_k$ WZNW models using the bosonized Wakimoto free-field representation and study their properties. We introduce a Fock space representation of Ishibashi states which are coherent states of bosons with zero-mode momenta (boundary Coulomb-gas charges) summed over certain lattices according to Fock space resolution of $SU(2)_k$. The Virasoro invariance of the coherent states leads to families of boundary states including the B-type D-branes found by Maldacena, Moore and Seiberg, as well as the A-type corresponding to trivial current gluing conditions. We then use the Coulomb-gas technique to compute exact correlation functions of WZNW primary fields on the disk topology with A- and B-type Cardy states on the boundary. We check that the obtained chiral blocks for A-branes are solutions of the Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equations.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, revtex4. Essentially the published versio

On the Gauge/Gravity Correspondence and the Open/Closed String Duality

In this article we review the conditions for the validity of the gauge/gravity correspondence in both supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric string models. We start by reminding what happens in type IIB theory on the orbifolds C^2/Z_2 and C^3/(Z_2 x Z_2), where this correspondence beautifully works. In these cases, by performing a complete stringy calculation of the interaction among D3 branes, it has been shown that the fact that this correspondence works is a consequence of the open/closed duality and of the absence of threshold corrections. Then we review the construction of type 0 theories with their orbifolds and orientifolds having spectra free from both open and closed string tachyons and for such models we study the validity of the gauge/gravity correspondence, concluding that this is not a peculiarity of supersymmetric theories, but it may work also for non-supersymmetric models. Also in these cases, when it works, it is again a consequence of the open/closed string duality and of vanishing threshold corrections.Comment: Invited review article for Int. J. Mod. Phys. A, 95 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables, LaTeX. References and acknowledgements adde

Wrapped Magnetized Branes: Two Alternative Descriptions?

We discuss two inequivalent ways for describing magnetized D-branes wrapped N times on a torus T^2. The first one is based on a non-abelian gauge bundle U(N), while the second one is obtained by means of a Narain T-duality transformation acting on a theory with non-magnetized branes. We construct in both descriptions the boundary state and the open string vertices and show that they give rise to different string amplitudes. In particular, the description based on the gauge bundle has open string vertex operators with momentum dependent Chan-Paton factors.Comment: 60 pages, LaTe

Two-Loop ϕ4\phi^4-Diagrams from String Theory

Using the {\em cutting and sewing} procedure we show how to get Feynman diagrams, up to two-loop order, of $\Phi^{4}$-theory with an internal SU(N) symmetry group, starting from tachyon amplitudes of the open bosonic string theory. In a properly defined field theory limit, we easily identify the corners of the string moduli space reproducing the correctly normalized field theory amplitudes expressed in the Schwinger parametrization.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figure

N=1 gauge superpotentials from supergravity

We review the supergravity derivation of some non-perturbatively generated effective superpotentials for N=1 gauge theories. Specifically, we derive the Veneziano-Yankielowicz superpotential for pure N=1 Super Yang-Mills theory from the warped deformed conifold solution, and the Affleck-Dine-Seiberg superpotential for N=1 SQCD from a solution describing fractional D3-branes on a C^3 / Z_2 x Z_2 orbifold.Comment: LaTeX, iopart class, 8 pages, 3 figures. Contribution to the proceedings of the workshop of the RTN Network "The quantum structure of space-time and the geometric nature of fundamental interactions", Copenhagen, September 2003; v2: published version with minor clarification

The geometry of the limit of N=2 minimal models

We consider the limit of two-dimensional N=(2,2) superconformal minimal models when the central charge approaches c=3. Starting from a geometric description as non-linear sigma models, we show that one can obtain two different limit theories. One is the free theory of two bosons and two fermions, the other one is a continuous orbifold thereof. We substantiate this claim by detailed conformal field theory computations.Comment: 35 pages, 3 figures; v2 minor corrections, version to be published in J. Phys.

Gauge Theories from D Branes

In these lectures we start with a pedagogical introduction of the properties of open and closed superstrings and then, using the open/closed string duality, we construct the boundary state that provides the description of the maximally supersymmetric Dp branes in terms of the perturbative string formalism. We then use it for deriving the corresponding supergravity solution and the Born-Infeld action and for studying the properties of the maximally supersymmetric gauge theories living on their worldvolume. In the last section of these lectures we extend these results to less supersymmetric and non-conformal gauge theories by considering fractional branes of orbifolds and wrapped branes