Geometric transitions and D-term SUSY breaking Original Research Article

We propose a new way of using geometric transitions to study metastable vacua in string theory and certain confining gauge theories. The gauge theories in question are image supersymmetric theories deformed to image by superpotential terms. We first geometrically engineer supersymmetry-breaking vacua by wrapping D5 branes on rigid 2-cycles in non-compact Calabi–Yau geometries, such that the central charges of the branes are misaligned. In a limit of slightly misaligned charges, this has a gauge theory description, where supersymmetry is broken by Fayet–Iliopoulos D-terms. Geometric transitions relate these configurations to dual Calabi–Yaus with fluxes, where image, image and dJ are all non-vanishing. We argue that the dual geometry can be effectively used to study the resulting non-supersymmetric, confining vacua.