Holomorphic D7-Branes and Flavored N=1 Gauge Theories

TL;DR

This paper studies D7-branes in a string theory setup, introducing flavors into an N=1 supersymmetric gauge theory, and finds a supergravity solution showing a slowed or halted cascade of Seiberg dualities.

Contribution

It provides a supersymmetric supergravity solution with backreacted D7-branes in a conifold background, incorporating flavors into the gauge/gravity correspondence.

Findings

Supergravity solution with backreacted D7-branes obtained.

The flavor introduction slows and can stop the Seiberg cascade.

Dual gauge theory exhibits a cascade with flavors affecting its IR behavior.

Abstract

We consider D7-branes in the gauge theory/string theory correspondence, using a probe approximation. The D7-branes have four directions embedded holomorphically in a non-compact Calabi-Yau 3-fold (which for specificity we take to be the conifold) and their remaining four directions are parallel to a stack of D3-branes transverse to the Calabi-Yau space. The dual gauge theory, which has $\mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmetry, contains quarks which transform in the fundamental representation of the gauge group, and we identify the interactions of these quarks in terms of a superpotential. By activating three-form fluxes in the gravity background, we obtain a dual gauge theory with a cascade of Seiberg dualities. We find a supersymmetric supergravity solution for the leading backreaction effects of the D7-branes, valid for asymptotically large radius. The cascading theory with flavors exhibits the interesting phenomenon that the rate of the cascade slows and can stop as the theory flows to the infrared.