Gravity, finite duality cascades and confinement

TL;DR

This paper studies how adding an orientifold plane to a gauge theory setup modifies the usual infinite duality cascade into a finite one, providing a supergravity dual that captures this finite RG flow and confinement.

Contribution

It introduces a new supergravity solution for a finite duality cascade caused by orientifold planes, extending the understanding of RG flows and confinement in gauge theories.

Findings

Finite RG cascade with an orientifold plane is achieved.

Supergravity solution reproduces key features of the finite cascade.

Curvature remains small over large holographic ranges.

Abstract

Cascading RG flows are characteristic of $\mathcal{N}=1$ gauge theories realized by D3-branes probing singularities in the presence of fractional branes. A celebrated example is the Klebanov-Strassler model, which exhibits an infinite cascade that ends with confinement. In this work, we explore a related setup where the addition of an orientifold plane modifies the cascade structure: the RG flow now consists of a finite number of steps, originating from a UV fixed point with a finite number of degrees of freedom. We provide a supergravity solution dual to this flow, that reproduces all its salient features. The string frame curvature can be kept small up to parametrically large values of the holographic coordinate, larger than the one at which the first cascade step occurs.