The Supergravity Dual of N=1 Super Yang-Mills Theory

TL;DR

The paper constructs an exact N=1 supersymmetric kink in 5d gauged supergravity and interprets it as the holographic RG flow from N=4 SYM deformed by a relevant operator to pure N=1 YM in the IR. It validates this duality by computing confinement, magnetic screening, and a gaugino condensate from the gravity solution, showing a true deformation of the UV theory that yields an IR gaugino-condensed vacuum. Grounded in the 5d gauged supergravity framework, it leverages a c-theorem and a supersymmetric first-order flow via a superpotential to study the RG trajectory, including a two-scalar mass deformation that realizes the N=1 flow. The results support the viability of holographic descriptions for non-conformal, confining gauge theories and provide explicit analytic forms for running scalars and condensates, including a two-parameter deformation with potential domain-wall structures.

Abstract

We find an exact, N=1 supersymmetric kink solution of 5d gauged supergravity. We associate this solution with the RG flow from N=4 super Yang-Mills theory, deformed by a relevant operator, to pure N=1 super Yang-Mills in the IR. We test this identification by computing various QFT quantities using the supergravity dual: the tension of electric and magnetic strings and the gaugino condensate. As demanded by our identification, our kink solution is a true deformation of N=4, that exhibits confinement of quarks, magnetic screening, and spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking.