QCD/String holographic mapping and glueball mass spectrum

Recently Polchinski and Strassler reproduced the high energy QCD scaling at fixed angles from a gauge string duality inspired by the AdS/CFT correspondence. In their approach a confining gauge theory is taken as approximately dual to an AdS space with an IR cut-off. Considering such an approximation (AdS slice) we found a one to one holographic mapping between bulk and boundary scalar fields. Associating the bulk fields with dilatons and the boundary fields with glueballs of the confining gauge theory we also found the same high energy QCD scaling. Here, using this holographic mapping, we give a simple estimate for the mass ratios of the glueballs assuming the AdS slice approximation to be valid at low energies. We also compare these results to those coming from supergravity and lattice QCD.Received: 10 September 2003, Revised: 19 November 2003, Published online: 9 January 2004     

AdS/QCD and Applications of Light-Front Holography

Light-front holography leads to a rigorous connection between hadronic amplitudes in a higher dimensional anti-de Sitter(AdS) space and frame-independent light-front wavefunctions of hadrons in(3 + 1)-dimensional physical space-time,thus providing a compelling physical interpretation of the AdS/CFT correspondence principle and AdS/QCD,a useful framework which describes the correspondence between theories in a modified AdS 5 background and confining field theories in physical space-time.To a first semiclassical approximation,where quantum loops and quark masses are not included,this approach leads to a single-variable light-front Schro¨dinger equation which determines the eigenspectrum and the light-front wavefunctions of hadrons for general spin and orbital angular momentum.The coordinate z in AdS space is uniquely identified with a Lorentz-invariant coordinate ζ which measures the separation of the constituents within a hadron at equal light-front time.The internal structure of hadrons is explicitly introduced and the angular momentum of the constituents plays a key role.We give an overview of the light-front holographic approach to strongly coupled QCD.In particular,we study the photon-to-meson transition form factors(TFFs) FMγ(Q 2) for γ→ M using light-front holographic methods.The results for the TFFs for the η and η ' mesons are also presented.Some novel features of QCD are discussed,including the consequences of confinement for quark and gluon condensates.A method for computing the hadronization of quark and gluon jets at the amplitude level is outlined.     

Hypothesis of Quark Binding by Condensation of Gluons in Hadrons

Hypothesis of quark binding through condensation of gluons inside hadrons is formulated in the context of a renormalization group procedure for effective particles (RGPEP) in the light-front (LF) Hamiltonian approach to QCD. At the momentum scales of relative motion of hadronic constituents that are comparable with Λ _QCD , the hypothetical boost-invariant constituent dynamics is identified using gauge symmetry. The resulting picture of mesons and baryons closely resembles constituent quark models with harmonic oscillator potentials, shares some features of AdS/QCD, and can be systematically studied using RGPEP in QCD.     

Astrobiology: a respectable new science

Holographic quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is an extra-dimensional approach to modelling hadrons, the bound states of the strong interactions. In holographic models, the extra spatial dimension creates a waveguide for fields, and the discrete towers of modes propagating in that waveguide are interpreted as hadronic resonances. These models are motivated by the AdS/CFT correspondence, which is a duality that relates theories in different numbers of spatial dimensions. Holographic models have the potential to provide a better understanding of strongly interacting systems of quarks and gluons, as well as unconventional superconductors and other nonperturbative systems.     

LargeN behaviour of perturbative QCD coupling

A correspondence between perturbative QCD in an axial gauge and dual topological unitarization (DTU) scheme is expressed by linking the QCD scale Λ toN, the number of flavors or colors supposed to be large through a relation which involves a typical hadronic scale.     

Hadronic spectra from deformed AdS backgrounds

Because of the presence of modified warp factors in metric tensors,we use deformed AdS_5 spaces to apply the AdS/CFT correspondence to calculate the spectra for even and odd glueballs,scalar and vector mesons,and baryons with different spins.For the glueball cases,we derive their Regge trajectories and compare them with those related to the pomeron and the odderon.For the scalar and vector mesons,as well as baryons,the determined masses are compatible with the PDG.In particular,for these hadrons we found Regge trajectories compatible with another holographic approach as well as with the hadronic spectroscopy,which present an universal Regge slope of approximately 1.1 GeV~2.     

AdS/QCD at finite density and temperature

We review some basics of AdS/QCD following a non-standard path and list a few results from AdS/QCD or holographic QCD. The non-standard path here is to use the analogy of the way one obtains an effective model of QCD like linear sigma model and the procedure to construct an AdS/QCD model based on the AdS/CFT dictionary.     

Holographic models of the scalar sector of QCD

We investigate the AdS/QCD duality for the two-point correlation functions of the lowest dimension scalar meson and scalar glueball operators,in the case of the Soft Wall holographic model of QCD.Masses and decay constants as well as gluon condensates are compared to their QCD estimates.In particular,the role of the boundary conditions for the bulk-to-boundary propagators is emphasized.     

Couplings of the rho meson in a holographic dual of QCD with Regge trajectories

The couplings g_ρHH of the ρ meson with a scalar meson H are calculated in a holographic dual of QCD in which the Regge trajectories for the mesons are manifest. In contrast to the conclusion in general AdS/QCD models, the resulting couplings grow linearly with the quantum number of excited H; thus they are far from universal. This non-universality seems to result from the disappearance of an explicit cutoff in the holographic dimension in this model. Correspondingly, the ρ-dominance for the electromagnetic form factors of H does not hold any more, even in an apparent sign-alternating manner. With these couplings at hand, the asymptotic behavior of the form factors can easily be calculated. The form factor exhibits the 1/Q^(2Δ-2) behavior, which is in accordance with the scaling behavior of the fixed-angle scattering amplitude based on the AdS/CFT correspondence. It is also pointed out that the asymptotic behavior can be matched to the results of perturbative QCD, if the conformal dimension Δ of the operator is replaced by the combination τ+L of the meson. PACS  11.25.Tq; 12.40.Vv; 14.40.Cs     

Light scalar tetraquarks from a holographic perspective

We discuss how a dominant tetraquark component of the lightest scalar mesons may emerge in AdS/QCD gravity duals. In particular, we show that the exceptionally strong binding required to render the tetraquark ground state lighter than the lowest-lying scalar quark–antiquark nonet can be holographically encoded into bulk-mass corrections for the tetraquark's dual mode. The latter are argued to originate from the anomalous dimension of the corresponding four-quark interpolator. To provide a concrete example, we implement this mechanism into the dilaton soft-wall dual for holographic QCD. Preventing the lowest-lying dual mode from collapsing into the AdS boundary then establishes a rather generic lower bound on the tetraquark mass (which may be overcome in the presence of additional background fields). We further demonstrate that the higher tetraquark excitations can become heavier than their quark–antiquark counterparts and are thus likely to dissolve into the multiparticle continuum.     

Aspects of holography in the AdS/CFT correspondence

We study quantities which are important for the realization of the holographic principle in the AdS/CFT correspondence: boundaries, geodesics and the propagators of scalar fields. They should play a role in the holographic setup in the BMN limit as well. We review the backgrounds and their relations that are relevant in the AdS/CFT correspondence and in its BMN limit. We describe the realization of the holographic principle in the AdS/CFT correspondence and summarize proposals of how to translate it in the BMN limit. We analyze the boundaries, geodesics and propagators of scalar fields in detail and observe how they behave in the limiting process from AdS₅×S⁵ to the 10‐dimensional plane wave, which is the spacetime in the BMN limit.     

Equation of state and chiral transition in soft-wall AdS/QCD with a more realistic gravitational background

We construct an improved soft-wall AdS/QCD model with a cubic coupling term of the dilaton and the bulk scalar field. The background fields in this model are solved by the Einstein-dilaton system with a nontrivial dilaton potential, which has been shown to reproduce the equation of state from the lattice QCD with two flavors. The chiral transition behaviors are investigated in the improved soft-wall AdS/QCD model with the solved gravitational background, and the crossover transition can be realized. Our study provides the possibility to address the deconfining and chiral phase transitions simultaneously in the bottom-up holographic framework.     

On the possibility of P-violation at finite baryon-number densities

We show how the introduction of a finite baryon density may trigger spontaneous parity violation in the hadronic phase of QCD. Since this involves strong interaction physics in an intermediate energy range we approximate QCD by a σ model that retains the two lowest scalar and pseudoscalar multiplets. We propose a novel mechanism based on interplay between lightest and heavy meson states which cannot be realized solely in the Goldstone boson (pion) sector and thereby is unrelated to the one advocated by Migdal some time ago. Our approach is relevant for dense matter in an intermediate regime of few nuclear densities where quark percolation does not yet play a significant role.     

Hadronic spectrum of a holographic dual of QCD

We compute the spectrum of light hadrons in a holographic dual of QCD defined on AdS5 x S5 which has conformal behavior at short distances and confinement at large interquark separation. Specific hadrons are identified by the correspondence of string modes with the dimension of the interpolating operator of the hadron's valence Fock state. Higher orbital excitations are matched quanta to quanta with fluctuations about the AdS background. Since only one parameter, the QCD scale Lambda(QCD), is used, the agreement with the pattern of physical states is remarkable. In particular, the ratio of delta to nucleon trajectories is determined by the ratio of zeros of Bessel functions.     

Remark on the variational principle in the AdS/CFT correspondence for the scalar field

We discuss how the variational principle can be used as a criterion for choosing, among scalar field actions implying the same equation of motion, the appropriate one for the AdS/CFT correspondence.     

Gauge boson exchange in AdSd+1

We study the amplitude for exchange of massless gauge bosons between pairs of massive scalar fields in anti-de Sitter space. In the AdS/CFT correspondence this amplitude describes the contribution of conserved flavor symmetry currents to 4-point functions of scalar operators in the boundary conformal theory. A concise, covariant, Y2K compatible derivation of the gauge boson propagator in AdS_{d + 1} is given. Techniques are developed to calculate the two bulk integrals over AdS space leading to explicit expressions or convenient, simple integral representations for the amplitude. The amplitude contains leading power and sub-leading logarithmic singularities in the gauge boson channel and leading logarithms in the crossed channel. The new methods of this paper are expected to have other applications in the study of the Maldacena conjecture.     

Four-point vector correlators and AdS/QCD correspondence

The four-point vector correlators in QCD have been derived from the AdS/QCD correspondence. It is shown that meson poles are correctly reproduced. The final expression also suggests a nonzero amplitude in the limit of zero virtuality of two longitudinal photons. This fact does not mean that real longitudinal photons can be produced, absorbed or scattered.     

Consistency constraints on from QCD dispersion relations and chiral perturbation theory in decays

We use both old and new theoretical developments in QCD dispersion relation constraints on the scalar form factor in the decay to obtain constraints on the strange quark mass. The perturbative QCD side of the calculation incorporates up to four-loop corrections, while the hadronic side uses a recently developed parameterization constructed explicitly to satisfy the dispersive constraints. Using chiral perturbation theory ( PT) as a model for soon-to-be measured data, we find a series of lower bounds on increasing with the accuracy to which one believes PT to represent the full QCD result.     

Spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry, and eventually of parity, in a σ-model with two Mexican hats

A σ-model with two linked Mexican hats is discussed. This scenario could be realized in low-energy QCD when the ground state and the first excited (pseudo)scalar mesons are included, and where not only in the subspace of the ground states, but also in that of the first excited states, a Mexican hat potential is present. This possibility can change some basic features of a low-energy hadronic theory of QCD. It is also shown that spontaneous breaking of parity can occur in the vacuum for some parameter choice of the model.