RG-flows and Open/Closed String Duality

TL;DR

The paper investigates how IR/UV divergences in open/ unoriented string theories with D-branes and orientifolds encode gauge-theory running via NS-NS dilaton tadpoles, and it formalizes a generating framework for threshold corrections to gauge couplings. It shows that in sectors with ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetry the IR/UV running coefficients match and can be expressed through bulk tadpoles, providing a concrete open–closed string bridge to RG flows. By analyzing explicit D3-brane probes in various backgrounds (II, IB, and orientifold singularities), it demonstrates how one-loop beta-functions can be read from the open-string spectrum and identifies conformal points where tadpoles cancel. The work further connects these insights to AdS/CFT, showing that a varying 10D dilaton due to disk/projective-plane tadpoles reproduces subleading running in holographic duals, and it discusses limitations and directions for higher-loop checks and less supersymmetric cases.

Abstract

We discuss the interpaly between IR and UV divergences in theories with open and unoriented strings in view of the AdS/CFT correspondence. We start by deriving general formulas for the computation of threshold corrections to gauge couplings in generic configurations with open and unoriented strings. These allow us to discuss the IR/UV correspondence between beta-function coefficients and ``dilaton'' tadpoles for several brane configurations probed by D3-branes. Finally we comment on the AdS supergravity descriptions of gauge theories that are (super)conformal in the large N limit.