M theory, type IIA string and 4D N = 1 SUSY SU(NL) ⊗ SU(NR) gauge theory Original Research Article

SU(NL) ⊗ SU(NR) gauge theories are investigated as effective field theories on D4-branes in type IIA string theory. The classical gauge configuration is shown to match quantitatively with a corresponding classical U(NL) ⊗ U(NR) gauge theory. Quantum effects freeze the U(1) gauge factors and turn some parameters into moduli. The SU(NL) ⊗ SU(NR) quantum model is realized in M theory. Starting with an N = 2 configuration (parallel NS 5-branes), the rotation of a single NS 5-brane is considered. Generically, this leads to a complete lifting of the Coulomb moduli space. The implications of this result to field theory and the dynamics of branes are discussed. When the initial M 5-brane is reducible, part of the Coulomb branch may survive. Some such situations are considered, leading to curves describing the effective gauge couplings for N = 1 models. The generalization to models with more gauge group factors is also discussed.