Lattice Gauge Theories and the AdS/CFT Correspondence

Abstract

This is the write-up of a set of lectures on the comparison between Lattice Gauge Theories and AdS/CFT results for the non-perturbative behaviour of non-supersymmetric Yang Mills theories. These notes are intended for students which are assumed not to be experts in L.G.T. For this reason the first part is devoted to a pedagogical introduction to the Lattice regularization of QCD. In the second part we discuss some basic features of the AdS/CFT correspondence and compare the results obtained in the non-supersymmetric limit with those obtained on the Lattice. We discuss in particular the behaviour of the string tension and of the glueball spectrum. Lectures delivered at the School of Theoretical Physics (S.N.F.T.), Parma, September 1999.