String Theory Journal Club

Safe theories are quantum field theories whose continuum limit is defined by a non-Gaussian ultraviolet fixed point when the ultraviolet cutoff is removed. In this talk, I put forward "safe" gauge-string correspondence program: d-dimensional safe gauge theories are holographically dual to (d+1)-dimensional noncritical string theories in asymptotically anti-de Sitter space. I present evidence for this correspondence. Safe theories can feature in the infrared both a weak coupling phase and a strong coupling phase on either side of the ultraviolet fixed point. They correspond respectively to dilaton and warp factors taking domain-wall or Liouville-wall profiles on asymptotically anti-de Sitter space. The weak coupling phase provides a solvable holographic renormalization group flow while the strong coupling infrared phase provides a runaway-free alternative to holographic QCD. I finally outline open issues for research program.