Extended MQCD and SUSY/non-SUSY duality

Abstract

We study the SUSY/non-SUSY duality proposed by Aganagic et al. from Type IIA string and M-theory perspectives. We find that our brane configuration generalizes the so-called $extended$ Seiberg-Witten theory on the one hand, and provides a way to realize non-SUSY vacua by intersecting NS5-branes on the other hand. We also argue how the partial SUSY breaking from $\Ncal=2$ down to $\Ncal=1$ can be clearly visualized through the brane picture.

13 pages, 9 figures; v2: changes and a reference added; v3: three references added, to appear in JHEP