Aspects of confinement and screening in M-theory Original Research Article

Confinement and screening are investigated in SUSY gauge theories, realized by an M5-brane configuration, extending an approach applied previously to N = 1 SYM theory, to other models. The electric flux tubes are identified as M2-branes ending on the M5-branes and the conserved charge they carry is identified as a topological property. The group of charges carried by the flux tubes is calculated and the results agree in all cases considered with the field-theoretical expectations. In particular, whenever the dynamical matter is expected to screen the confining force, this is reproduced correctly in the M-theory realization.