UV/IR mixing via closed strings and tachyonic instabilities

We discuss UV/IR mixing effects in non-supersymmetric non-commutative U(N) gauge theories. We show that the singular (non-planar) terms in the 2- and 3-point functions, namely the poles and the logarithms, can be obtained from a manifestly gauge invariant effective action. The action. which involves open Wilson line operators, can be derived front closed strings exchange between two stacks of D-branes. Our concrete example is type 0B string theory and the field theory that lives on a collection of N electric D3-branes. We show that one of the closed string modes that couple to the field theory operator which is responsible for the infrared poles, is the type 0 tachyon. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.