N=1 Super Yang-Mills Domain Walls via The Extended Veneziano Yankielowicz Theory

We investigate the vacuum structure of pure SU(N) N=1 super Yang-Mills. The theory is expected to possess N vacua with associated domain walls. We show that the newly extended version of the low energy effective Lagrangian for super Yang-Mills supports the BPS domain wall solutions associated with any two vacua aligned with the origin of the moduli space. For the two color theory the domain wall analysis is complete. We also find new non BPS domain wall solutions connecting any two vacua of the underling SU(N) super Yang-Mills theory not necessarely aligned. When two vacua are aligned with the origin of the moduli space these solutions are the BPS ones. We also discuss the generic BPS domain wall solutions connecting any two vacua within the extended Veneziano-Yankielowicz theory.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures plain Late

Extending the Veneziano-Yankielowicz Effective Theory

We extend the Veneziano Yankielowicz (VY) effective theory in order to account for ordinary glueball states. We propose a new form of the superpotential including a chiral superfield for the glueball degrees of freedom. When integrating it ``out'' we obtain the VY superpotential while the N vacua of the theory naturally emerge. This fact has a counterpart in the Dijkgraaf and Vafa geometric approach. We suggest a link of the new field with the underlying degrees of freedom which allows us to integrate it ``in'' the VY theory. We finally break supersymmetry by adding a gluino mass and show that the Kahler independent part of the ``potential'' has the same form of the ordinary Yang-Mills glueball effective potential.Comment: LaTeX, 20 page

A note on the dual of N=1 super Yang-Mills theory

We refine the dictionary of the gauge/gravity correspondence realizing N=1 super Yang-Mills by means of D5-branes wrapped on a resolved Calabi-Yau space. This is done by fixing an ambiguity on the correct interpretation of the holographic dual of the running gauge coupling and amounts to identify a specific 2-cycle in the dual ten-dimensional supergravity background. In doing so, we also discuss the role played in this context by gauge transformations in the relevant seven-dimensional gauged supergravity. While all nice properties of the duality are maintained, this modification of the dictionary has some interesting physical consequences and solves a puzzle recently raised in the literature. In this refined framework, it is also straightforward to see how the correspondence naturally realizes a geometric transition.Comment: 11 pages, latex; minor changes and typos correcte

Gauge theories from wrapped and fractional branes

We compare two applications of the gauge/gravity correspondence to a non conformal gauge theory, based respectively on the study of D-branes wrapped on supersymmetric cycles and of fractional D-branes on orbifolds. We study two brane systems whose geometry is dual to N=4, D=2+1 super Yang-Mills theory, the first one describing D4-branes wrapped on a two-sphere inside a Calabi-Yau two-fold and the second one corresponding to a system of fractional D2/D6-branes on the orbifold R^4/Z_2. By probing both geometries we recover the exact perturbative running coupling constant and metric on the moduli space of the gauge theory. We also find a general expression for the running coupling constant of the gauge theory in terms of the "stringy volume" of the two-cycle which is involved in both types of brane systems.Comment: AMS-LaTeX, 35 pages, no figures. Minor typos corrected, version to appear in NP

Index for Three Dimensional Superconformal Field Theories and Its Applications

We review aspects of superconformal indices in three dimension. Three dimensional superconformal indices can be exactly computed by using localization method including monopole contribution, and can be applied to provide evidences for mirror duality, AdS_4/CFT_3 correspondence and global symmetry enhancement of strongly coupled gauge theories. After reviewing, we discuss the possibility of global symmetry enhancement in a finite rank of gauge group.Comment: 14 pages, Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference Quantum Theory and Symmetries (QTS-7) in Prague, Czech Republic, August, 2011; v2: minor modifications, discussion of supersymmetry enhancement of abelian ABJM theory by using an index were adde

On the M-theory description of supersymmetric gluodynamics

We study the stringy description of N=1 supersymmetric SU(N) gauge theory on R^{1,2} X S^1. Our description is based on the known Klebanov-Strassler and Maldacena-Nunez solutions, properly modified to account for the compact dimension. The presence of this circle turns out to be a non trivial modification and it leads us to consider the up-lifted eleven dimensional solution. We discuss some of its properties. Perhaps the most interesting one is that extra BPS M-branes are present. These generate a non-perturbative superpotential that we explicitly compute. Our findings, besides their interest in the gauge-string correspondence, may also have applications in the cosmological KKLT and KKLMMT scenarios.Comment: 24 pages; typos corrected and references adde

Factorization of Seiberg-Witten Curves with Fundamental Matter

We present an explicit construction of the factorization of Seiberg-Witten curves for N=2 theory with fundamental flavors. We first rederive the exact results for the case of complete factorization, and subsequently derive new results for the case with breaking of gauge symmetry U(Nc) to U(N1)xU(N2). We also show that integrality of periods is necessary and sufficient for factorization in the case of general gauge symmetry breaking. Finally, we briefly comment on the relevance of these results for the structure of N=1 vacua.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figure

N=1 and N=2 Super Yang-Mills theories from wrapped branes

We consider supergravity solutions of D5 branes wrapped on supersymmetric 2-cycles and use them to discuss relevant features of four-dimensional N=1 and N=2 super Yang-Mills theories with gauge group SU(n). In particular in the N=1 case, using a gravitational dual of the gaugino condensate, we obtain the complete NSVZ beta-function. We also find non-perturbative corrections associated to fractional instantons with charge 2/n. These non-perturbative effects modify the running of the coupling constant which remains finite even at small scales in a way that resembles to the soft confinement scenario of QCD.Comment: Latex file, 30 pages; several references adde