The Klebanov-Strassler model with massive dynamical flavors

TL;DR

This paper constructs a supergravity dual to a gauge theory with massive flavors, analyzing IR physics, quark potential, phase transitions, and meson spectra, revealing universal mean-field critical behavior.

Contribution

It provides a fully backreacted supergravity solution for the Klebanov-Strassler model with massive flavors, enabling detailed IR and phase transition studies.

Findings

Discontinuous and smooth phase transitions in quark potential depending on parameters.

Critical exponents follow classical mean-field values.

Regular supergravity solutions suitable for IR physics exploration.

Abstract

We present a fully backreacted D3-D7 supergravity solution dual to the Klebanov-Strassler cascading gauge theory coupled to a large number of massive dynamical flavors in the Veneziano limit. The mass of the flavors can be larger or smaller than the dynamically generated scale. The solution is always regular at the origin of the radial coordinate and as such it can be suitably employed to explore the rich IR physics of the dual gauge theory. In this paper we focus on the static quark-antiquark potential, the screening of chromoelectric charges induced by the dynamical flavors, the flux tube breaking and the mass spectrum of the first mesonic excitations. Moreover, we discuss the occurrence of quantum phase transitions in the connected part of the static quark-antiquark potential. Depending on the ratio of certain parameters, like the flavor mass, with respect to some critical values, we find a discontinuous (first order) or smooth transition from a Coulomb-like to a linear phase. We evaluate the related critical exponents finding that they take classical mean-field values and argue that this is a universal feature of analogous first order transitions occurring in the static potential for planar gauge theories having a dual supergravity description.