Non-critical, near extremal AdS_6 background as a holographic laboratory of four dimensional YM theory

We study certain properties of the low energy regime of a theory which resembles four dimensional YM theory in the framework of a non-critical holographic gravity dual. We use for the latter the near extremal $AdS_6$ non-critical SUGRA. We extract the glueball spectra that associates with the fluctuations of the dilaton, one form and the graviton and compare the results to those of the critical near extremal $D4$ model and lattice simulations. We show an area law behavior for the Wilson loop and screening for the 't Hooft loop. The Luscher term is found to be $-{3/24}\frac {\pi}{L}$. We derive the Regge trajectories of glueballs associated with the spinning folded string configurations.Comment: 25 pages, JHEP styl

Glueballs, symmetry breaking and axionic strings in non-supersymmetric deformations of the Klebanov-Strassler background

We obtain an analytic solution for an axionic non-supersymmetric deformation of the warped deformed conifold. This allows us to study D-strings in the infrared limit of non-supersymmetric deformations of the Klebanov-Strassler background. They are interpreted as axionic strings in the dual field theory. Following the arguments of [hep-th/0405282], the axion is a massless pseudo-scalar glueball which is present in the supergravity fluctuation spectrum and it is interpreted as the Goldstone boson of the spontaneously broken U(1) baryon number symmetry, being the gauge theory on the baryonic branch. Besides, we briefly discuss about the Pando Zayas-Tseytlin solution where the SU(2) \times SU(2) global symmetry is spontaneously broken. This background has been conjectured to be on the mesonic branch of the gauge theory.Comment: 30 pages; V2: minor corrections; V3: section 3 corrected and misprints corrected to match version published in JHE

Glueball operators and the microscopic approach to N=1 gauge theories

We explain how to generalize Nekrasov's microscopic approach to N=2 gauge theories to the N=1 case, focusing on the typical example of the U(N) theory with one adjoint chiral multiplet X and an arbitrary polynomial tree-level superpotential Tr W(X). We provide a detailed analysis of the generalized glueball operators and a non-perturbative discussion of the Dijkgraaf-Vafa matrix model and of the generalized Konishi anomaly equations. We compute in particular the non-trivial quantum corrections to the Virasoro operators and algebra that generate these equations. We have performed explicit calculations up to two instantons, that involve the next-to-leading order corrections in Nekrasov's Omega-background.Comment: 38 pages, 1 figure and 1 appendix included; v2: typos and the list of references corrected, version to appear in JHE

Holography and Thermodynamics of 5D Dilaton-gravity

The asymptotically-logarithmically-AdS black-hole solutions of 5D dilaton gravity with a monotonic dilaton potential are analyzed in detail. Such theories are holographically very close to pure Yang-Mills theory in four dimensions. The existence and uniqueness of black-hole solutions is shown. It is also shown that a Hawking-Page transition exists at finite temperature if and only if the potential corresponds to a confining theory. The physics of the transition matches in detail with that of deconfinement of the Yang-Mills theory. The high-temperature phase asymptotes to a free gluon gas at high temperature matching the expected behavior from asymptotic freedom. The thermal gluon condensate is calculated and shown to be crucial for the existence of a non-trivial deconfining transition. The condensate of the topological charge is shown to vanish in the deconfined phase.Comment: LaTeX, 61 pages (main body) + 58 pages (appendix), 25 eps figures. Revised version, published in JHEP. Two equations added in Section 7.4; typos corrected; references adde

Exploring improved holographic theories for QCD: Part I

Various holographic approaches to QCD in five dimensions are explored using input both from the putative non-critical string theory as well as QCD. It is argued that a gravity theory in five dimensions coupled to a dilaton and an axion may capture the important qualitative features of pure QCD. A part of the higher alpha' corrections are resummed into a dilaton potential. The potential is shown to be in one-to-one correspondence with the exact beta-function of QCD, and its knowledge determines the full structure of the vacuum solution. The geometry near the UV boundary is that of AdS_5 with logarithmic corrections reflecting the asymptotic freedom of QCD. We find that all relevant confining backgrounds have an IR singularity of the "good" kind that allows unambiguous spectrum computations. Near the singularity the 't Hooft coupling is driven to infinity. Asymptotically linear glueball masses can also be achieved. The classification of all confining asymptotics, the associated glueball spectra and meson dynamics are addressed in a companion paper, ArXiv:0707.1349Comment: 37+23 pages, 11 figures. (v3) Some clarifications and typo corrections. Journal versio

Flavor brane on the baryonic branch of moduli space

We study an extra flavor in the cascading SU((k+1)M)xSU(k M) gauge theory by adding probe D7-brane to the geometry. By finding a solution to the kappa-symmetry equation we establish that the D7-brane is mutually supersymmetric with the background everywhere on the baryonic branch of moduli space. We also discuss possible applications of this result.Comment: 15 pages; v2 typo corrected, references adde

Wilson Loop, Regge Trajectory and Hadron Masses in a Yang-Mills Theory from Semiclassical Strings

We compute the one-loop string corrections to the Wilson loop, glueball Regge trajectory and stringy hadron masses in the Witten model of non supersymmetric, large-N Yang-Mills theory. The classical string configurations corresponding to the above field theory objects are respectively: open straight strings, folded closed spinning strings, and strings orbiting in the internal part of the supergravity background. For the rectangular Wilson loop we show that besides the standard Luescher term, string corrections provide a rescaling of the field theory string tension. The one-loop corrections to the linear glueball Regge trajectories render them nonlinear with a positive intercept, as in the experimental soft Pomeron trajectory. Strings orbiting in the internal space predict a spectrum of hadronic-like states charged under global flavor symmetries which falls in the same universality class of other confining models.Comment: 52 pages, latex 3 times, v3: references adde

Can holography reproduce the QCD Wilson line?

Recently a remarkable agreement was found between lattice simulations of long Wilson lines and behavior of the Nambu Goto string in flat space-time. However, the latter fails to fit the short distance behavior since it admits a tachyonic mode for a string shorter than a critical length. In this paper we examine the question of whether a classical holographic Wilson line can reproduce the lattice results for Wilson lines of any length. We determine the condition on the the gravitational background to admit a Coulombic potential at short distances. We analyze the system using three different renormalization schemes. We perform an explicit best fit comparison of the lattice results with the holographic models based on near extremal D3 and D4 branes, non-critical near extremal AdS6 model and the Klebanov Strassler model. We find that all the holographic models examined admit after renormalization a constant term in the potential. We argue that the curves of the lattice simulation also have such a constant term and we discuss its physical interpretation