Classical and Quantum Solitons in the Symmetric Space Sine-Gordon Theories

We construct the soliton solutions in the symmetric space sine-Gordon theories. The latter are a series of integrable field theories in 1+1-dimensions which are associated to a symmetric space F/G, and are related via the Pohlmeyer reduction to theories of strings moving on symmetric spaces. We show that the solitons are kinks that carry an internal moduli space that can be identified with a particular co-adjoint orbit of the unbroken subgroup H of G. Classically the solitons come in a continuous spectrum which encompasses the perturbative fluctuations of the theory as the kink charge becomes small. We show that the solitons can be quantized by allowing the collective coordinates to be time-dependent to yield a form of quantum mechanics on the co-adjoint orbit. The quantum states correspond to symmetric tensor representations of the symmetry group H and have the interpretation of a fuzzy geometric version of the co-adjoint orbit. The quantized finite tower of soliton states includes the perturbative modes at the base.Comment: 53 pages, additional comments and small errors corrected, final journal versio

On the perturbative S-matrix of generalized sine-Gordon models

Motivated by its relation to the Pohlmeyer reduction of AdS_5 x S^5 superstring theory we continue the investigation of the generalized sine-Gordon model defined by SO(N+1)/SO(N) gauged WZW theory with an integrable potential. Extending our previous work (arXiv:0912.2958) we compute the one-loop two-particle S-matrix for the elementary massive excitations. In the N = 2 case corresponding to the complex sine-Gordon theory it agrees with the charge-one sector of the quantum soliton S-matrix proposed in hep-th/9410140. In the case of N > 2 when the gauge group SO(N) is non-abelian we find a curious anomaly in the Yang-Baxter equation which we interpret as a gauge artifact related to the fact that the scattered particles are not singlets under the residual global subgroup of the gauge group

The AdS(5)xS(5) Semi-Symmetric Space Sine-Gordon Theory

The generalized symmetric space sine-Gordon theories are a series of 1+1-integrable field theories that are classically equivalent to superstrings on symmetric space spacetimes F/G. They are formulated in terms of a semi-symmetric space as a gauged WZW model with fermions and a potential term to deform it away from the conformal fixed point. We consider in particular the case of PSU(2,2|4)/Sp(2,2)xSp(4) which corresponds to AdS(5)xS(5). We argue that the infinite tower of conserved charges of these theories includes an exotic N=(8,8) supersymmetry that is realized in a mildy non-local way at the Lagrangian level. The supersymmetry is associated to a double central extension of the superalgebra psu(2|2)+psu(2|2) and includes a non-trivial R symmetry algebra corresponding to global gauge transformations, as well as 2-dimensional spacetime translations. We then explicitly construct soliton solutions and show that they carry an internal moduli superspace CP(2|1)xCP(2|1) with both bosonic and Grassmann collective coordinates. We show how to semi-classical quantize the solitons by writing an effective quantum mechanical system on the moduli space which takes the form of a co-adjoint orbit of SU(2|2)xSU(2|2). The spectrum consists of a tower of massive states in the short, or atypical, symmetric representations, just as the giant magnon states of the string world sheet theory, although here the tower is truncated.Comment: 39 pages, references adde

The Relativistic Avatars of Giant Magnons and their S-Matrix

The motion of strings on symmetric space target spaces underlies the integrability of the AdS/CFT correspondence. Although these theories, whose excitations are giant magnons, are non-relativistic they are classically equivalent, via the Polhmeyer reduction, to a relativistic integrable field theory known as a symmetric space sine-Gordon theory. These theories can be formulated as integrable deformations of gauged WZW models. In this work we consider the class of symmetric spaces CP^{n+1} and solve the corresponding generalized sine-Gordon theories at the quantum level by finding the exact spectrum of topological solitons, or kinks, and their S-matrix. The latter involves a trignometric solution of the Yang-Baxer equation which exhibits a quantum group symmetry with a tower of states that is bounded, unlike for magnons, as a result of the quantum group deformation parameter q being a root of unity. We test the S-matrix by taking the semi-classical limit and comparing with the time delays for the scattering of classical solitons. We argue that the internal CP^{n-1} moduli space of collective coordinates of the solitons in the classical theory can be interpreted as a q-deformed fuzzy space in the quantum theory. We analyse the n=1 case separately and provide a further test of the S-matrix conjecture in this case by calculating the central charge of the UV CFT using the thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz.Comment: 33 pages, important correction to S-matrix to ensure crossing symmetr

Supersymmetry Flows, Semi-Symmetric Space Sine-Gordon Models And The Pohlmeyer Reduction

We study the extended supersymmetric integrable hierarchy underlying the Pohlmeyer reduction of superstring sigma models on semi-symmetric superspaces F/G. This integrable hierarchy is constructed by coupling two copies of the homogeneous integrable hierarchy associated to the loop Lie superalgebra extension f of the Lie superalgebra f of F and this is done by means of the algebraic dressing technique and a Riemann-Hilbert factorization problem. By using the Drinfeld-Sokolov procedure we construct explicitly, a set of 2D spin \pm1/2 conserved supercharges generating supersymmetry flows in the phase space of the reduced model. We introduce the bi-Hamiltonian structure of the extended homogeneous hierarchy and show that the two brackets are of the Kostant-Kirillov type on the co-adjoint orbits defined by the light-cone Lax operators L_\pm. By using the second symplectic structure, we show that these supersymmetries are Hamiltonian flows, we compute part of the supercharge algebra and find the supersymmetric field variations they induce. We also show that this second Poisson structure coincides with the canonical Lorentz-Invariant symplectic structure of the WZNW model involved in the Lagrangian formulation of the extended integrable hierarchy, namely, the semi-symmetric space sine-Gordon model (SSSSG), which is the Pohlmeyer reduced action functional for the transverse degrees of freedom of superstring sigma models on the cosets F/G. We work out in some detail the Pohlmeyer reduction of the AdS_2xS^2 and the AdS_3xS^3 superstrings and show that the new conserved supercharges can be related to the supercharges extracted from 2D superspace. In particular, for the AdS_2xS^2 example, they are formally the same.Comment: V2: Two references added, V3: Modifications in section 2.6, V4: Published versio

Spiky Strings and Giant Holes

We analyse semiclassical strings in AdS in the limit of one large spin. In this limit, classical string dynamics is described by a finite number of collective coordinates corresponding to spikes or cusps of the string. The semiclassical spectrum consists of two branches of excitations corresponding to "large" and "small" spikes respectively. We propose that these states are dual to the excitations known as large and small holes in the spin chain description of N=4 SUSY Yang-Mills. The dynamics of large spikes in classical string theory can be mapped to that of a classical spin chain of fixed length. In turn, small spikes correspond to classical solitons propagating on the background formed by the large spikes. We derive the dispersion relation for these excitations directly in the finite gap formalism.Comment: 36 pages, 9 figure

Alleviating the non-ultralocality of coset sigma models through a generalized Faddeev-Reshetikhin procedure

The Faddeev-Reshetikhin procedure corresponds to a removal of the non-ultralocality of the classical SU(2) principal chiral model. It is realized by defining another field theory, which has the same Lax pair and equations of motion but a different Poisson structure and Hamiltonian. Following earlier work of M. Semenov-Tian-Shansky and A. Sevostyanov, we show how it is possible to alleviate in a similar way the non-ultralocality of symmetric space sigma models. The equivalence of the equations of motion holds only at the level of the Pohlmeyer reduction of these models, which corresponds to symmetric space sine-Gordon models. This work therefore shows indirectly that symmetric space sine-Gordon models, defined by a gauged Wess-Zumino-Witten action with an integrable potential, have a mild non-ultralocality. The first step needed to construct an integrable discretization of these models is performed by determining the discrete analogue of the Poisson algebra of their Lax matrices.Comment: 31 pages; v2: minor change

Scattering and duality in the 2 dimensional OSP(2|2) Gross Neveu and sigma models

We write the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz for the massive OSp(2|2) Gross Neveu and sigma models. We find evidence that the GN S matrix proposed by Bassi and Leclair [12] is the correct one. We determine features of the sigma model S matrix, which seem highly unconventional; we conjecture in particular a relation between this sigma model and the complex sine-Gordon model at a particular value of the coupling. We uncover an intriguing duality between the OSp(2|2) GN (resp. sigma) model on the one hand, and the SO(4) sigma (resp. GN model) on the other, somewhat generalizing to the massive case recent results on OSp(4|2). Finally, we write the TBA for the (SUSY version of the) flow into the random bond Ising model proposed by Cabra et al. [39], and conclude that their S matrix cannot be correct.Comment: 41 pages, 27 figures. v2: minor revisio

Series Solution and Minimal Surfaces in AdS

According to the Alday-Maldacena program the strong coupling limit of Super Yang-Mills scattering amplitudes is given by minimal area surfaces in AdS spacetime with a boundary consisting of a momentum space polygon. The string equations in AdS systematically reduce to coupled Toda type equations whose Euclidean classical solutions are then of direct relevance. While in the simplest case of AdS_3 exact solutions were known from earlier studies of the sinh-Gordon equation, there exist at present no similar exact forms for the generalized Toda equations related to AdS_d with d>=4. In this paper we develop a series method for the solution to those equations and evaluate their contribution to the finite piece of the worldsheet area. For the known sinh-Gordon case the method is seen to give results in excellent agreement with the exact answer.Comment: 19 pages, no figures; references added, one note adde

g-Functions and gluon scattering amplitudes at strong coupling

We study gluon scattering amplitudes/Wilson loops in N=4 super Yang-Mills theory at strong coupling by calculating the area of the minimal surfaces in AdS_3 based on the associated thermodynamic Bethe ansatz system. The remainder function of the amplitudes is computed by evaluating the free energy, the T- and Y-functions of the homogeneous sine-Gordon model. Using conformal field theory (CFT) perturbation, we examine the mass corrections to the free energy around the CFT point corresponding to the regular polygonal Wilson loop. Based on the equivalence between the T-functions and the g-functions, which measure the boundary entropy, we calculate corrections to the T- and Y-functions as well as express them at the CFT point by the modular S-matrix. We evaluate the remainder function around the CFT point for 8 and 10-point amplitudes explicitly and compare these analytic expressions with the 2-loop formulas. The two rescaled remainder functions show very similar power series structures.Comment: 51 pages, 4 figures, v2: some comments and references added, based on the published version, v3: minor change