Warping and vacua of $(S)YM_{3+1}$

TL;DR

This paper constructs string theory duals for a perturbed 2+1 dimensional gauge theory on D2 branes, exploring different vacua and phases through brane polarization, and analyzing effects of fermion mass perturbations on supersymmetry and confinement.

Contribution

It introduces non-singular string duals for perturbed 2+1D gauge theories with various vacua and phases, including confining and Higgs states, via dielectric branes and mass perturbations.

Findings

Higgs vacua correspond to D2 to D4 brane polarization.

Confining vacua correspond to D2 to NS5 brane polarization.

Adding fermion masses breaks supersymmetry and induces confinement.

Abstract

We use dielectric branes to find non singular string theory duals of a perturbed 2+1 dimensional gauge theory living on D2 branes. By adding fermion masses we obtain theories with reduced supersymmetry. The Higgs vacua of the perturbed theory correspond to polarization of the D2 branes into D4 branes. The confining vacua correspond to polarization of the D2 branes into NS5 branes. We consider different mass perturbations. Adding three equal masses preserves N=2 supersymmetry. In this case there are no confining vacua. By adding a fourth fermion mass we break all the supersymmetry, and find confining vacua. We also obtain duals for domain walls, condensates, baryon vertices, glueballs and flux tubes. We comment on the Kahler potentials for the Higgs and confining phases. In the course of the calculations we also find a nontrivial consistency check of the NS5 brane action in a D2 brane background.