Fractional branes and the gravity dual of partial supersymmetry breaking Original Research Article

In type IIB string theory, we consider fractional D3-branes in the orbifold background dual to four-dimensional image supersymmetric Yang–Mills theory. We find the gravitational dual description of the generation of a non-trivial field theory potential on the Coulomb branch. When the orbifold singularity is softened to the smooth Eguchi–Hanson space, the resulting potential induces spontaneous partial supersymmetry breaking. We study the image theory arising in those vacua and we see how the resolved conifold geometry emerges in this way. It will be natural to identify the size of the blown-up two-cycle of that geometry with the inverse mass of the adjoint chiral scalar. We finally discuss the issue of geometric transition in this context.