Confinement and strings in MQCD

We study aspects of confinement in the M-theory fivebrane version of QCD (MQCD). We show heavy quarks are confined in hadrons (which take the form of membrane-fivebrane bound states) for N = 1 and softly broken N = 2 SU( N) MQCD. We explore and clarify the transition from the exotic physics of the l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nuclear physics. B 1998-03, Vol.513 (1), p.87-118
Main Authors: Hanany, Amihay, Strassler, Matthew J., Zaffaroni, Alberto
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:We study aspects of confinement in the M-theory fivebrane version of QCD (MQCD). We show heavy quarks are confined in hadrons (which take the form of membrane-fivebrane bound states) for N = 1 and softly broken N = 2 SU( N) MQCD. We explore and clarify the transition from the exotic physics of the latter to the standard physics of the former. In particular, the many strings and quark-antiquark mesons found in N = 2 field theory by Douglas and Shenker are reproduced. It is seen that in the N = 1 limit all but one such meson disappears while all of the strings survive. The strings of softly broken N = 2, N = 1, and even non-supersymmetric SU( N) MQCD have a common ratio for their tensions as a function of the amount of flux they carry. We also comment on the almost BPS properties of the Douglas-Shenker strings and discuss the brane picture for monopole confinement on N = 2 QCD Higgs branches.
ISSN:0550-3213
1873-1562
DOI:10.1016/S0550-3213(97)00651-2