Gordon Chalmers

The large Nc limit of four-point functions in N = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory from anti-de Sitter supergravity

Abstract We compute the imaginary part of scalar four-point functions in the AdS/CFT correspondence relevant to N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory. Unitarity of the AdS supergravity demands that the imaginary parts of the correlation functions factorize into products of lower-point functions. We include the exchange diagrams for scalars as well as gravitons and find explicit expressions for the imaginary parts of these correlators. In momentum space these expressions contain only rational functions and logarithms of the kinematic invariants, in such a manner that the correlator is not a free-field result. The simplicity of these results, however, indicate the possibility of additional symmetry structures in N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory in the large N c limit at strong effective coupling. The complete expressions may be computed from the integral results derived here.

Holographic normal ordering and multiparticle states in the AdS-CFT correspondence

The general correlator of composite operators of N=4 supersymmetric gauge field theory is divergent. We introduce a means for renormalizing these correlators by adding a boundary theory on the AdS space correcting for the divergences. Such renormalizations are not equivalent to the standard normal ordering of current algebras in two dimensions. The correlators contain contact terms that contribute to the OPE; we relate them diagrammatically to correlation functions of compound composite operators dual to multi-particle states. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society.

S and U-duality constraints on IIB S-matrices

Abstract S- and U-duality dictate that graviton scattering amplitudes in IIB superstring theory be automorphic functions on the appropriate fundamental domain which describe the inequivalent vacua of (compactified) theories. A constrained functional form of graviton scattering is proposed using Eisenstein series and their generalizations compatible with: (a) two-loop supergravity, (b) genus one superstring theory, (c) the perturbative coupling dependence of the superstring, and (d) with the unitarity structure of the massless modes. The form has a perturbative truncation in the genus expansion at a given order in the derivative expansion. Comparisons between graviton scattering S-matrices and effective actions for the first quantized superstring are made at the quantum level. Possible extended finiteness properties of maximally extended quantum supergravity theories in different dimensions is implied by the perturbative truncation of the functional form of graviton scattering in IIB superstring theory.

Degeneration of ALF Dn metrics

Beginning with the Legendre transform construction of hyperkahler metrics, we analyze the ALF version of the Dn metrics. We determine the constraint equation obtained from extremizing the w coordinate of the generating function F(z,,u,ū,w) and study its behavior as we send two of the mass parameters of the Dn metric to zero. We find that the constraint equation enforces the limit that the metric becomes that of multi-Taub-NUT.

Open string decoupling and tachyon condensation

The amplitudes in perturbative open string theory are examined as functions of the tachyon condensate parameter. The boundary state formalism demonstrates the decoupling of the open string modes at the non-perturbative minima of the tachyon potential via a degeneration of open world-sheets and identifies an independence of the coupling constants gs and gYM at general values of the tachyon condensate. The closed string sector is generated at the quantum level; it is also generated at the classical level perturbatively through the condensation of propagating open string modes on the D-brane degrees of freedom.

M-theory and automorphic scattering

The strongly coupled limit of string scattering and the automorphic construction of the graviton S-matrix is compared with the eleven dimensional formulation of Mtheory. In a particular scaling limit at strong string coupling, M-theory is described by eleven-dimensional supergravity which does not possess a dilaton, but rather a perturbative expansion in the gravitational coupling and derivatives. The latter theory provides an off-shell description of the string, upon dimensional reduction.

Dual expansions of N=4 super Yang–Mills theory via IIB superstring theory

Abstract We examine the dual correspondence between holographic IIB superstring theory and N =4 super Yang–Mills theory at finite values of the coupling constants. In particular we analyze a field theory strong-coupling expansion which is the S-dual of the planar expansion. This expansion arises naturally as the AdS/CFT dual of the IIB superstring scattering amplitudes given a genus truncation property due to modular invariance. The space–time structure of the contributions to the field theory four-point correlation functions obtained from the IIB scattering elements is investigated in the example of the product of four conserved stress tensors, and is expressed as an infinite sum of field theory triangle integrals. The OPE structure of these contributions to the stress tensor four-point function is analyzed and shown not to give rise to any poles. Quantization of the string in the background of a five-form field strength is performed through a covariantized background field approach, and relations to the N =4 topological string are found.

Simplifying algebra in Feynman graphs. III. Massive vectors

A T-dualized self-dual inspired formulation of massive vector fields coupled to arbitrary matter is generated; subsequently its perturbative series modeling a spontaneously broken gauge theory is analyzed. The new Feynman rules and external line factors are chirally minimized in the sense that only one type of spin index occurs in the rules. Several processes are examined in detail and the cross sections formulated in this approach. A double line formulation of the Lorentz algebra for Feynman diagrams is produced in this formalism, similar to color ordering, which follows from a spin ordering of the Feynman rules. The new double line formalism leads to further minimization of gauge invariant scattering in perturbation theory. The dualized electroweak model is also generated.

Global conformal anomaly in N=2 string

We show the existence of a global anomaly in the one-loop graphs of N=2 string theory, defined by sewing tree amplitudes, unless spacetime supersymmetry is imposed. The anomaly is responsible for the non-vanishing maximally helicity violating amplitudes. The supersymmetric completion of the N=2 string spectrum is formulated by extending the previous cohomological analysis with an external spin factor; the target space-time spin-statistics of these individual fields in a self-dual background are compatible with previous cohomological analysis as fields of arbitrary spin may be bosonized into one another. We further analyze duality relations between the open and closed string amplitudes and demonstrate this in the supersymmetric extension of the target space-time theory through the insertion of zero-momentum operators.

N=2 quantum string scattering

We calculate the genus-one three- and four-point amplitudes in the 2+2 dimensional closed N=(2,2) worldsheet supersymmetric string within the RNS formulation. Vertex operators are redefined with the incorporation of spinor helicity techniques, and the quantum scattering is shown to be manifestly gauge and Lorentz invariant after normalizing the string states. The continuous spin structure summation over the monodromies of the worldsheet fermions is carried out explicitly, and the field-theory limit is extracted. The amplitude in this limit is shown to be the maximally helicity violating amplitude in pure gravity evaluated in a two-dimensional setting, which vanishes, unlike the four-dimensional result. The vanishing of the genus-one N=2 closed string amplitude is related to the absence of one-loop divergences in dimensionally regulated IIB supergravity. Comparisons and contrasts between self-dual field theory and the N=2 string theory are made at the quantum level; they have different S-matrices. Finally, we point to further relations with self-dual field theory and two-dimensional models.