Using AdS/CFT, we study the addition of an arbitrary number of backreacting flavors to the Klebanov-Witten theory, making many checks of consistency between our new Type IIB plus branes solution and expectations from field theory. We study generalizations of our method for adding flavors to all N = 1 SCFTs that can be realized on D3-branes at the tip of a Calabi-Yau cone. Also, general guidelines suitable for the addition of massive flavor branes are developed.

In this paper we present new analytic solutions of pure Type IIB supergravity plus D7branes describing the addition of an arbitrary number of flavors to the Klebanov-Tseytlin and Klebanov-Strassler backgrounds. We provide a precise field theory dual and a detailed analysis of the duality cascade which describes its RG flow. Matchings of beta functions and anomalies between the field theory and the string setup are presented. We give an understanding of Seiberg duality as a large gauge transformation on the RR and NSNS potentials. We also analyze the UV behavior of the field theory, that as suggested by the string background can be associated with a duality wall.

We obtain the supergravity dual of N = 1 gauge theory in 2+1 dimensions with a large number of unquenched massless flavors. The geometries found are obtained by solving the equations of motion of supergravity coupled to a suitable continuous distribution of flavor branes. The background obtained preserves two supersymmetries. We find that when N c ≥ 2N f the behavior of the solutions is compatible with having an asymptotically free dual gauge theory with dynamical quarks. On the contrary, when N c < 2N f the theory develops a Landau pole in the UV. We also find a new family of (unflavored) backgrounds generated by D5-branes that wrap a three-cycle of a cone with G 2 holonomy. 1 canoura@fpaxp1.usc.es 2 merlatti@fpaxp1.usc.es 3 alfonso@fpaxp1.usc.es

We systematically study supersymmetric embeddings of D-brane probes of different dimensionality in the AdS 5 × Y p,q background of type IIB string theory. The main technique employed is the kappa symmetry of the probe's worldvolume theory. In the case of D3branes, we recover the known three-cycles dual to the dibaryonic operators of the gauge theory and we also find a new family of supersymmetric embeddings. The BPS fluctuations of dibaryons are analyzed and shown to match the gauge theory results. Supersymmetric configurations of D5-branes, representing domain walls, and of spacetime filling D7-branes (which can be used to add flavor) are also found. We also study the baryon vertex and some other embeddings which break supersymmetry but are nevertheless stable. US-FT-3/05 CECS-PHY-05/15 MCTP-05-99 NSF-KITP-05-107 hep-th/0512087 December 2005 1 canoura@fpaxp1.usc.es 2 edels@fpaxp1.usc.es 3 lpandoz@umich.edu 4 alfonso@fpaxp1.usc.es 5 diana@neu.physics.

We study supersymmetric embeddings of D-brane probes of different dimensionality in the AdS 5 × L a,b,c background of type IIB string theory. In the case of D3-branes, we recover the known three-cycles dual to the dibaryonic operators of the gauge theory and we also find a new family of supersymmetric embeddings. Supersymmetric configurations of D5-branes, representing fractional branes, and of spacetime filling D7-branes (which can be used to add flavor) are also found. Stable non supersymmetric configurations corresponding to fat strings and domain walls are found as well.

We study the stringy description of N = 1 supersymmetric SU(N) gauge theory on R 1,2 ×S 1 . Our description is based on the known Klebanov-Strassler and Maldacena-Núñez solutions, properly modified to account for the compact dimension. The presence of this circle turns out to be a non trivial modification and it leads us to consider the up-lifted eleven dimensional solution. We discuss some of its properties. Perhaps the most interesting one is that extra BPS M-branes are present. These generate a non-perturbative superpotential that we explicitly compute. Our findings, besides their interest in the gauge-string correspondence, may also have applications in the cosmological KKLT and KKLMMT scenarios. US-FT-2/07 hep-th/yymmnnnMarch 2007 1 canoura@fpaxp1.usc.es 2 merlatti@fpaxp1.usc.es

We find supersymmmetric configurations of a D5-brane probe in the Maldacena-Núñez background which are extended along one or two of the spatial directions of the gauge theory. These embeddings are worldvolume solitons which behave as codimension two or one defects in the gauge theory and preserve two of the four supersymmetries of the background. US-FT-2/05 CPHT-RR 045.0705 hep-th/0507155 July 2005 1 canoura@fpaxp1.usc.es 2 Angel.Paredes@cpht.polytechnique.fr 3 alfonso@fpaxp1.usc.esFor instance, in SU(N) N = 1 SYM there are 1/2-BPS domain walls which interpolate between the inequivalent N vacua which come from the spontaneous breaking of the Z Z 2N symmetry (the non-anomalous subgroup of the U(1) R ) to Z Z 2 by the gaugino condensate. There can be also BPS codimension two objects, namely strings (flux tubes) which have been studied in the context of different N = 1 theories, see [14] and references therein. For recent progress along these lines, see also [15] and references therein. The physics of such objects turns out to be quite rich, including for instance the phenomenon of enhanced (supersized) supersymmetry, also present for domain walls [15]. Holographically, these objects can be introduced by adding D-branes to the setup. As argued above, one can also think of adding supersymmetric defects also of codimension one or two. Since this modifies the lagrangian of the field theory, we expect, on general grounds, that the string theory setup should be modified at infinity. Therefore, the defects should be dual to D-branes extending infinitely in the holographic direction. The purpose of this work is to make a rather systematic search for possible supersymmetric embeddings for D-brane probes in a concrete model, the Maldacena-Nuñez dual [16,17] to SU(N) N = 1 super Yang-Mills (for a review see [18]). As shown in ref. [19], the Maldacena-Nuñez background has a rich structure of submanifolds along which one can wrap a D5-brane probe without breaking supersymmetry completely. Actually, a series of such embeddings in which the D5-brane probe fills all the gauge theory directions was found in ref. [19]. In those configurations the probe preserves the same supersymmetry as the background and some of them can be considered as flavor branes [20], suitable to study the meson spectrum of four-dimensional N = 1 super Yang-Mills theory.In this paper we continue the analysis of [19] by studying the configurations of D5-brane probes which are a codimension one or two defect in the gauge theory directions. As in ref.[19] the main tool used will be kappa symmetry [21], which is based on the fact that there exists certain matrix Γ κ such that, if ǫ is a Killing spinor of the background, only those embeddings satisfying Γ κ ǫ = ǫ preserve some supersymmetry [22]. The matrix Γ κ depends on the metric induced on the worldvolume of the probe and, actually, by imposing the equation Γ κ ǫ = ǫ one can systematically determine the supersymmetric embeddings of the probe and it is possible to identify the fraction of supersymmetry preserv...

We study the stringy description of 𝒩 = 1 supersymmetric SU(N) gauge theory on ℝ1,2 × S1. Our description is based on the known Maldacena‐Núñez solution, properly modified to account for the compact dimension. The most interesting of its properties is that extra BPS M‐branes are present, which generate a non‐perturbative superpotential that we explicitly compute.