Supergravity and Worldvolume Physics in the Dual Description of $\N=1^*$ Theory

TL;DR

This paper investigates the string theory dual of the $ ext{N}=1^*$ gauge theory, emphasizing the importance of brane worldvolume phenomena alongside supergravity to accurately capture confinement and screening behaviors.

Contribution

It demonstrates that supergravity alone is insufficient and incorporates brane dynamics to classify all relevant configurations, revealing multiple solutions per vacuum and discussing their implications.

Findings

Supergravity alone cannot reproduce correct confinement behavior.

Including brane worldvolume effects yields multiple valid configurations.

Analysis of global symmetries in $ ext{N}=1^*$ and $ ext{N}=0^*$ theories.

Abstract

We look at the string theory dual of the $\N=1^*$ theory, involving 5--branes, which was recently proposed by Polchinski and Strassler \cite{PolStr}. We argue that SUGRA alone is not enough in order to obtain the correct screening and confinement behaviour of the various massive field theory vacua, but that appropriate worldvolume phenomena of the 5--branes must be included. We therefore work within the SUGRA approximation, also taking into account the brane dynamics, and classify all the SUGRA configurations. In this level of analysis, we find multiple valid configurations for every given vacuum. We discuss some possible resolutions of this perplexing result. We also consider the spectrum of asymptotic states, and discuss the global symmetries of the SUGRA solution of the $\N=1^*$ theory and of the $\N=0^*$ theory obtained from it by explicit supersymmetry breaking.