Confining k-string tensions with D-branes in super Yang-Mills theories

We discuss confining k strings in four-dimensional gauge theories using D5 branes in AdS5×S5, and D3 branes in Klebanov-Strassler and Maldacena-Núñez backgrounds. We present two results: The first that confining k string tensions in N=4 can be calculated using D5 branes in AdS5×S5 with a cut-off in the bulk AdS. Using an embedding of R2 times S4⊂S5, we show that the D5 brane replicates a string of rank k in the antisymmetric representation. The second result shows that the S-dual calculation to hep-th/0111078 reproduces the action in the Klebanov-Strassler and Maldacena-Núñez backgrounds exactly, while providing a more natural manifestation of the string charge k.