  General string-theoretic considerations suggest that four-dimensional large-N
gauge theories should have dual descriptions in terms of two-dimensional
conformal field theories. However, for non-supersymmetric confining theories
such as pure Yang-Mills theory, a long-standing challenge has been to
explicitly show that such dual descriptions actually exist. In this paper, we
consider the large-N limit of four-dimensional pure Yang-Mills theory
compactified on a three-sphere in the solvable limit where the sphere radius is
small compared to the strong length scale, and demonstrate that the
confined-phase spectrum of this gauge theory coincides with the spectrum of an
irrational two-dimensional conformal field theory.
