Semiclassical spinning strings and confining gauge theories

We study multi-charged rotating string states on type 1113 regular backgrounds dual to confining SU(N) gauge theories with (softly broken) N = I supersymmetry, in the infra red regime. After exhibiting the classical energy/charge relations for the folded and circular two-charge strings, we compute in the latter case the one loop sigma-model quantum correction. The classical relation has an expansion in positive powers of the analogous of the BMN effective coupling, while the quantum corrections are non-perturbative in nature and are not subleading in the limit of infinite charge. We comment about the dual field theory multi-charged hadrons and the implications of our computation for the AdS/N = 4 duality. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.