Stable Non-Supersymmetric Supergravity Solutions from Deformations of the Maldacena-Nunez Background
Ofer Aharony, Ehud Schreiber, Jacob Sonnenschein
TL;DR
This work constructs a stable, non-supersymmetric holographic background by perturbing the Maldacena--Nuñez type IIB background with a scalar operator that deforms the LST compactified on $S^2$. Using a leading-order perturbative analysis in seven-dimensional $SO(4)$ gauged supergravity and uplifting to ten dimensions, the authors show that the deformation breaks all bulk supersymmetry while preserving a mass gap and the $U(1)$ R-symmetry. The deformation is carefully constrained by symmetry to a radial scalar mode $c_3( ho)$, and the full background remains stable due to the original mass gap. A dual S-dual description indicates that the string tension changes only at ${ m O}(oldsymbol{}^2)$, confirming confinement-like behavior in the non-SUSY theory. The results provide a concrete, controlled example of a holographic, non-supersymmetric yet stable vacuum with YM-like dynamics in four dimensions.
Abstract
We study a deformation of the type IIB Maldacena-Nunez background which arises as the near-horizon limit of NS5 branes wrapped on a two-cycle. This background is dual to a "little string theory" compactified on a two-sphere, a theory which at low energies includes four-dimensional N = 1 super Yang-Mills theory. The deformation we study corresponds to a mass term for some of the scalar fields in this theory, and it breaks supersymmetry completely. In the language of seven-dimensional SO(4) gauged supergravity the deformation involves (at leading order) giving a VEV, depending only on the radial coordinate, to a particular scalar field. We explicitly construct the corresponding solution at leading order in the deformation, both in seven-dimensional and in ten-dimensional supergravity, and we verify that it completely breaks supersymmetry. Since the original background had a mass gap and we are performing a small deformation, the deformed background is guaranteed to be stable even though it is not supersymmetric.