In this paper we explore some of the features of large $N$ supersymmetric and nonsupersymmetric gauge theories using Maldacena’s duality conjectures. We show that the resulting strong coupling behavior of the gauge theories is consistent with our qualitative expectations of these theories. Some of these consistency checks are highly nontrivial and give additional evidence for the validity of the proposed dualities.

• Received 29 May 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.58.106002