Quantum phase transitions in cascading gauge theory

We study N = 1 supersymmetric SU(K + P) x SU(K) cascading gauge theory of Klebanov et al. (2000) [1,2] on R x S-3 at zero temperature, and at the origin of the baryonic branch. A radius of S3 sets a compactification scale mu. An interplay between mu and the strong coupling scale Lambda of the theory leads to an interesting pattern of quantum phases of the system. For it mu >= mu(chi SB) = 1.240467(8)Lambda the vacuum state of the theory is chirally symmetric. At mu = mu(chi SB) the theory undergoes the first-order transition to a phase with spontaneous breaking of the chiral symmetry. We further demonstrate that the chirally symmetric state of cascading gauge theory becomes perturbatively unstable at scales below mu(C) = 0.950634(5)mu(chi SB). Finally, we point out that for mu < 1.486402(5)Lambda the stress-energy tensor of cascading gauge theory can source inflation of a closed Universe. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.