Event

Standard lore suggests that four-dimensional SU(N) gauge theory with 2 massless adjoint Weyl fermions ("adjoint QCD") flows to a phase with confinement and chiral symmetry breaking. In this talk, I will describe how to obtain adjoint QCD from SU(N) Seiberg-Witten theory by deforming the latter with a soft supersymmetry-breaking mass for the adjoint scalars. I will show how qualitative features of the expected adjoint QCD phase are captured semi-classically using a Lagrangian that originates from the multi-monopole points of Seiberg-Witten theory upon soft SUSY-breaking. This Lagrangian also suggests the existence of intermediate phases, separated by first order phase transitions, that interpolate between the Coulomb phase of Seiberg-Witten theory and the confining, chiral symmetry breaking phase expected for adjoint QCD.