A note on (meta)stable brane configurations in MQCD

Abstract

We examine the M-theory version of SQCD which is known as MQCD. In the IIA limit, this theory appears to have a supersymmetry-breaking brane configuration which corresponds to the meta-stable state of script N sign = 1 SU(N c) SQCD. However, the behavior at infinity of this non-supersymmetric brane construction differs from that of the supersymmetric ground state of MQCD. We interpret this to mean that it is not a meta-stable state in MQCD, but rather a state in another theory. This provides a concrete example of the fact that, while MQCD accurately describes the supersymmetric features of SCQD, it fails to reproduce its non-supersymmetric features (such as meta-stable states) not only quantitatively but also qualitatively. © SISSA 2006.