A mixed phase of SUSY gauge theories from a-maximization

We study N = 1 supersymmetric SU(N) gauge theories with an antisymmetric tensor and F flavors using the recent proposal of a-maximization by Intriligator and Wecht. This theory had previously been studied using the method of "deconfinement," but such an analysis was not conclusive since anomalous dimensions in the non-perturbative regime could not be calculated. Using a-maximization we show that for a large range of F the theory is at an interacting superconformal fixed point. However, we also find evidence that for a range of F the theory in the IR splits into a free "magnetic" gauge sector and an interacting superconformal sector.