The large N c limit of QCD on the lattice

Abstract

We review recent progress in the study of the large $N_c$ limit of gauge theories from lattice simulations. The focus is not only the planar limit but also the size of $O\left(N_c^{-1}\right)$ corrections for values of $N_c\gtrsim 3$ . Some concrete examples of the topics we include are tests of large- $N_c$ factorization, the topological susceptibility, the glueball, meson and baryon spectra, the chiral dependence of masses and decay constants, and weak matrix elements related to the $\Delta I=1/2$ rule in kaon decays.