Aspects of topology and confinement in large-N gauge theories

Although the strong interaction observed in Nature is described within the Standard Model of Fundamental Interactions by an SU(3) gauge theory, where N = 3 is the number of quark "colors", studying the behavior of SU(N) Yang-Mills theories in the ideal limit N --> ∞ provides a unique tool to gain a deeper understanding of the non-perturbative properties of gauge theories, and their connection with phenomenological aspects of the Standard Model and beyond. In this talk, I will review some of the main predictions obtained for SU(N) gauge theories in the large-N limit using very general theoretical arguments, highlighting the tight connection among topological features of gauge theories and confinement, and I will discuss several recent novel non-perturbative results confirming the predicted large-N scenario.