Stable and Metastable Vacua in Brane Constructions of SQCD

TL;DR

This paper embeds N=1 supersymmetric QCD with superpotential deformations into string theory via brane configurations, revealing that classical string effects mirror quantum corrections and elucidate the vacuum landscape.

Contribution

It introduces a string theory brane construction for SQCD with superpotential deformations, connecting classical string effects to quantum field theory vacuum structures.

Findings

Vacuum structure in brane models resembles field theory predictions.

Classical gravitational effects in string theory mimic one-loop quantum corrections.

Brane configurations help identify stable and metastable vacua.

Abstract

In a recent paper [1] we showed that N=1 supersymmetric QCD in the presence of certain superpotential deformations has a rich landscape of supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric vacua. In this paper we embed this theory in string theory as a low energy theory of intersecting NS and D-branes. We find that in the region of parameter space of brane configurations that can be reliably studied using classical string theory, the vacuum structure is qualitatively similar to that in the field theory regime. Effects that in field theory come from one loop corrections arise in string theory as classical gravitational effects. The brane construction provides a useful guide to the structure of stable and metastable gauge theory vacua.