Holography, 1-form symmetries, and confinement

Abstract

We study confinement in 4d N=1 SU(N) Super-Yang Mills (SYM) from a holographic point of view, focusing on the 1-form symmetry and its relation to chiral symmetry breaking (χSB). We identify the topological couplings in the 5d truncation of the Klebanov-Strassler solution that determine the 1-form symmetry and its 't Hooft anomalies. One coupling is a mixed 0-/1-form symmetry anomaly related to χSB in gapped confining vacua. In the gravity dual we also identify the infrared 4d topological field theory which realizes χSB and matches the mixed anomaly. Finally, complementing this, we derive the chiral and mixed anomalies from the little string theory realization of pure SYM.