Quantum phase transitions in cascading gauge theory

We study N=1 supersymmetric SU(K+P)×SU(K) cascading gauge theory of Klebanov et al. (2000) [1], [2] on R×S3 at zero temperature, and at the origin of the baryonic branch. A radius of S3 sets a compactification scale μ. An interplay between μ and the strong coupling scale Λ of the theory leads to an interesting pattern of quantum phases of the system. For μ⩾μχSB=1.240467(8)Λ the vacuum state of the theory is chirally symmetric. At μ=μχSB 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 μc=0.950634(5)μχSB. Finally, we point out that for μ<1.486402(5)Λ the stress-energy tensor of cascading gauge theory can source inflation of a closed Universe.