A cascading N = 1 Sp(2N + 2M) × Sp(2N) gauge theory

We study the N=1 Sp(2N + 2M) × Sp(2N) cascading gauge theory on a stack of N physical and M fractional (half) D3-branes at the singularity of an orientifolded conifold. In addition to the D3-branes and an O7-plane, the background contains eight D7-branes, which give rise to matter in the fundamental representation of the gauge group. The moduli space of the gauge theory is analyzed and its structure is related to the brane configurations in the dual type IIB theory and in type IIA/M-theory. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.