Quantum field theories coupled to supergravity
b'This dissertation is devoted to the investigation of the interplay of\\nsupersymmetric Yang-Mills theories (SYM) and supergravity (SUGRA). The\\ntopic is studied from two points of view:\\n\\nFirstly from the point of view of AdS/CFT correspondence, which\\nrealises the coupling of four dimensional superconformal N=4 SYM\\ntheory and ten dimensional type IIB SUGRA in a holographic way. In\\norder to arrive at theories that resemble quantum chromodynamics (QCD)\\nmore closely, fundamental fields are introduced using probe D7-branes\\nand non-trivial background configuration are considered. In\\nparticular supergravity solutions that are only asymptotically anti-de\\nSitter and break supersymmetry are used. This allows the description\\nof spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking. The meson spectrum is\\ncalculated and the existence of an associated Goldstone mode is\\ndemonstrated. Moreover it is shown that highly radially excited mesons\\nare not degenerate. Additionally instanton configurations on the\\nD7-branes are investigated, which lead to a holographic description of\\nthe dual field theory\'s Higgs branch. Finally a holographic\\ndescription of heavy-light mesons is developed, which are mesons\\nconsisting of quarks with a large mass difference, such that a\\ntreatment of B mesons can be achieved.\\n\\nThe second approach to the topic of this thesis is the technique of\\nso-called space-time dependent couplings ("local couplings"), where\\ncoupling constants are promoted to external sources. This allows to\\nexplore the conformal anomaly of quantum field theories coupled to a\\nclassical gravity background. The technique is extended to the\\nsuperfield description of N=1 supergravity, a complete basis for the\\nanomaly is given and the consistency conditions that arise from a\\ncohomological treatment are calculated. Possible implications for an\\nextension of Zamolodchikov\'s c-theorem to four dimensional\\nsupersymmetric quantum field theories are discussed.'