On string junctions in supersymmetric gauge theories

We study junctions consisting of confining strings in N=1 supersymmetric large N gauge theories by means of the gauge/gravity correspondence. We realize these junctions as D-brane configurations in infrared geometries of the Klebanov-Strassler (KS) and the Maldacena-Nunez (MN) solutions. After discussing kinematics associated with the balance of tensions, we compute the energies of baryon vertices numerically. In the KS background, baryon vertices give negative contributions to the energies. The results for the MN back-ground strongly suggest that the energies of baryon vertices exactly vanish, as in the case of supersymmetric (p, q)-string junctions. We find that brace configurations in the MN back-ground have a property similar to the holomorphy of the M-theory realization of (p, q)-string junctions. With the help of this property, we analytically prove the vanishing of the energies of baryon vertices in the MN background. (author)