Comments on the Mirror TBA

We discuss various aspects of excited state TBA equations describing the energy spectrum of the AdS_5 \times S^5 strings and, via the AdS/CFT correspondence, the spectrum of scaling dimensions of N = 4 SYM local operators. We observe that auxiliary roots which are used to partially enumerate solutions of the Bethe-Yang equations do not play any role in engineering excited state TBA equations via the contour deformation trick. We further argue that the TBA equations are in fact written not for a particular string state but for the whole superconformal multiplet, and, therefore, the psu(2,2|4) invariance is built in into the TBA construction.Comment: 28 pages, 1 figure, v2: misprints are correcte

Exceptional Operators in N=4 super Yang-Mills

We consider one particularly interesting class of composite gauge-invariant operators in N=4 super Yang-Mills theory. An exceptional feature of these operators is that in the Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz approach the one-loop rapidities of the constituent magnons are shown to be exact in the 't Hooft coupling constant. This is used to propose the mirror TBA description for these operators. The proposal is shown to pass several non-trivial checks.Comment: 40 pages, 2 figures, 1 attached Mathematica noteboo

Lifting asymptotic degeneracies with the Mirror TBA

We describe a qualitative feature of the AdS_5 x S^5 string spectrum which is not captured by the asymptotic Bethe ansatz. This is reflected by an enhanced discrete symmetry in the asymptotic limit, whereby extra energy degeneracy enters the spectrum. We discuss how finite size corrections should lift this degeneracy, through both perturbative (Luscher) and non-perturbative approaches (the Mirror TBA), and illustrate this explicitly on two such asymptotically degenerate states.Comment: v3, 20 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables, as publishe

TBA, NLO Luscher correction, and double wrapping in twisted AdS/CFT

The ground-state energy of integrably-twisted theories is analyzed in finite volume. We derive the leading and next-to-leading order (NLO) L\"uscher-type corrections for large volumes of the vacuum energy for integrable theories with twisted boundary conditions and twisted S-matrix. We then derive the twisted thermodynamic Bethe ansatz (TBA) equations to describe exactly the ground state, from which we obtain an untwisted Y-system. The two approaches are compared by expanding the TBA equations to NLO, and exact agreement is found. We give explicit results for the O(4) model and for the three-parameter family of $\gamma$-deformed (non-supersymmetric) planar AdS/CFT model, where the ground-state energy can be nontrivial and can acquire finite-size corrections. The NLO corrections, which correspond to double-wrapping diagrams, are explicitly evaluated for the latter model at six loops.Comment: 42 pages, 2 figures, v2: references added, v3: minor correction

Konishi operator at intermediate coupling

TBA equations for two-particle states from the sl(2) sector proposed by Arutyunov, Suzuki and the author are solved numerically for the Konishi operator descendent up to 't Hooft's coupling lambda ~ 2046. The data obtained is used to analyze the properties of Y-functions and address the issue of the existence of the critical values of the coupling. In addition we find a new integral representation for the BES dressing phase which substantially reduces the computational time.Comment: lots of figures, v2: improved numerics, c1=2, c2=0, c4 does not vanis

Contour deformation trick in hybrid NLIE

The hybrid NLIE of AdS_5 x S^5 is applied to a wider class of states. We find that the Konishi state of the orbifold AdS_5 x (S^5/Z_S) satisfies A_1 NLIE with the source terms which are derived from contour deformation trick. For general states, we construct a deformed contour with which the contour deformation trick yields the correct source terms.Comment: 39 pages, 6 figures, v2: discussion on analyticity constraints replaced by consistent deformed contou

Hybrid-NLIE for the AdS/CFT spectral problem

Hybrid-NLIE equations, an alternative finite NLIE description for the spectral problem of the super sigma model of AdS/CFT and its gamma-deformations are derived by replacing the semi-infinite SU(2) and SU(4) parts of the AdS/CFT TBA equations by a few appropriately chosen complex NLIE variables, which are coupled among themselves and to the Y-functions associated to the remaining central nodes of the TBA diagram. The integral equations are written explicitly for the ground state of the gamma-deformed system. We linearize these NLIE equations, analytically calculate the first correction to the asymptotic solution and find agreement with analogous results coming from the original TBA formalism. Our equations differ substantially from the recently published finite FiNLIE formulation of the spectral problem.Comment: 63 pages, 1 figur

Exploring the mirror TBA

We apply the contour deformation trick to the Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz equations for the AdS_5 \times S^5 mirror model, and obtain the integral equations determining the energy of two-particle excited states dual to N=4 SYM operators from the sl(2) sector. We show that each state/operator is described by its own set of TBA equations. Moreover, we provide evidence that for each state there are infinitely-many critical values of 't Hooft coupling constant \lambda, and the excited states integral equations have to be modified each time one crosses one of those. In particular, estimation based on the large L asymptotic solution gives \lambda \approx 774 for the first critical value corresponding to the Konishi operator. Our results indicate that the related calculations and conclusions of Gromov, Kazakov and Vieira should be interpreted with caution. The phenomenon we discuss might potentially explain the mismatch between their recent computation of the scaling dimension of the Konishi operator and the one done by Roiban and Tseytlin by using the string theory sigma model.Comment: 69 pages, v2: new "hybrid" equations for YQ-functions, figures and tables are added. Analyticity of Y-system is discussed, v3: published versio

Quasi-local formulation of the mirror TBA

We present a method of removing all infinite sums from the various forms of the mirror TBA equations and the energy formula of the AdS/CFT spectral problem. This new formulation of the TBA system is quasi-local because Y-functions that are connected by the TBA equations are at most next to nearest neighbors with respect to the Y-system diagram of AdS/CFT.Comment: 13 pages, LaTe

Numerical results for the exact spectrum of planar AdS4/CFT3

We compute the anomalous dimension for a short single-trace operator in planar ABJM theory at intermediate coupling. This is done by solving numerically the set of Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz equations which are expected to describe the exact spectrum of the theory. We implement a truncation method which significantly reduces the number of integral equations to be solved and improves numerical efficiency. Results are obtained for a range of 't Hooft coupling lambda corresponding to $0 \leq h(\lambda) \leq 1$, where h(lambda) is the interpolating function of the AdS4/CFT3 Bethe equations.Comment: v3: corrected Acknowledgements section; v4: minor changes, published version; v5: fixed typos in Eq. (3.9