On Asymptotic Freedom and Confinement from Type-IIB Supergravity

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new type-IIB supergravity vacuum modeling a non-supersymmetric gauge theory with asymptotic freedom and a running theta angle, and explores related worm-hole solutions and quark-antiquark potential behaviors.

Contribution

It presents a novel supergravity solution capturing key features of a non-supersymmetric gauge theory, including asymptotic freedom and a running theta angle, along with a worm-hole solution and potential analysis.

Findings

The supergravity vacuum exhibits asymptotic freedom in the UV.

The solution includes a non-zero axion field causing a running theta angle.

The quark-antiquark potential shows area-law behavior at large separations.

Abstract

We present a new type-IIB supergravity vacuum that describes the strong coupling regime of a non-supersymmetric gauge theory. The latter has a running coupling such that the theory becomes asymptotically free in the ultraviolet. It also has a running theta angle due to a non-vanishing axion field in the supergravity solution. We also present a worm-hole solution, which has finite action per unit four-dimensional volume and two asymptotic regions, a flat space and an AdS^5\times S^5. The corresponding N=2 gauge theory, instead of being finite, has a running coupling. We compute the quark-antiquark potential in this case and find that it exhibits, under certain assumptions, an area-law behaviour for large separations.