Falling flavors in AdS/CFT

Abstract

We consider the behavior of D7 probes of supersymmetric warped geometries that are perturbed by the presence of anti-D3-branes. Such constructions are the gravitational duals of non-supersymmetric states in supersymmetric flavored gauge theories. Although the D7s that we consider do not feel a force from either D3s or anti-D3s alone, when both types of 3-branes are present the D7s deform and fall a small distance toward the 3-branes. We perform our analysis in AdS^5 x S^5 and the Klebanov-Witten solution and find qualitatively similar behavior in each case. We then extend our consideration to the approximately conical region of the Klebanov-Strassler solution and find that the effect is parametrically larger than in the AdS^5 x X^5 examples. Additionally, we discuss how these behaviors are modified by the presence of other flavors by considering the backreaction of such flavor branes in AdS^5 x X^5. Finally, we touch upon some of the implications that our results may have for model building and argue that the deformation of the worldvolume results in non-negligible corrections to soft terms in the low-energy description.