Computation of the Chiral Anomaly in the Bulk Quantization

The bulk quantization method is used for regularizing a conventional four dimensional theory of massless fermions coupled to an external non-Abelian gauge field and for subsequently evaluating the associated Ward identity. As a result one obtains the well-known chiral anomaly.Comment: 19 page

A light-cone approach to three-point functions in AdS_5 x S^5

We consider worldsheet correlation functions for strings in AdS_5 x S^5 using a light-cone gauge for the worldsheet theory. We compute the saddle-point approximation to three-point functions of BMN vertex operators, all with large charges, by explicitly finding the intersection of three euclidean BMN strings. We repeat this calculation for non-BPS circular winding strings extended along a great circle of the S^5, though in this case the appropriate form of the vertex operator is uncertain. Furthermore, we compute the spectrum of fluctuations about euclidean BMN strings for generic boundary conditions, and show that the spectrum depends only on the total charge and not the details of the string configuration. We extend our considerations to include near-BMN vertex operators and through the evaluation of the string path integral make contact with the light-cone string field theory calculations of gauge theory three-point structure constants.Comment: 42 pages, 2 figures; v2: typos corrected, references added; v3: significant changes in section 7, in particular corrected saddle point for three-point functio

Worldsheet Form Factors in AdS/CFT

We formulate a set of consistency conditions appropriate to worldsheet form factors in the massive, integrable but non-relativistic, light-cone gauge fixed AdS(5) x S**5 string theory. We then perturbatively verify that these conditions hold, at tree level in the near-plane-wave limit and to one loop in the near-flat (Maldacena-Swanson) limit, for a number of specific cases. We further study the form factors in the weakly coupled dual description, verifying that the relevant conditions naturally hold for the one-loop Heisenberg spin-chain. Finally, we note that the near-plane-wave expressions for the form factors, when further expanded in small momentum or, equivalently, large charge density, reproduce the thermodynamic limit of the spin-chain results at leading order.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figures, v3: typos fixed, improved discussion of bound states and bound state axio

World-sheet scattering in AdS_5 x S^5 at two loops

We study the AdS_5 x S^5 sigma-model truncated to the near-flat-space limit to two-loops in perturbation theory. In addition to extending previously known one-loop results to the full SU(2|2)^2 S-matrix we calculate the two-loop correction to the dispersion relation and then compute the complete two-loop S-matrix. The result of the perturbative calculation can be compared with the appropriate limit of the conjectured S-matrix for the full theory and complete agreement is found.Comment: 26pages, 3 figure

The Perfect Atom: Bound States of Supersymmetric Quantum Electrodynamics

We study hydrogen-like atoms in N=1 supersymmetric quantum electrodynamics with an electronic and a muonic family. These atoms are bound states of an anti-muon and an electron or their superpartners. The exchange of a photino converts different bound states into each other. We determine the energy eigenstates and calculate the spectrum to fourth order in the fine structure constant. A difference between these perfect atoms and non-supersymmetric ones is the absence of hyperfine structure. We organize the eigenstates into super multiplets of the underlying symmetry algebra.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures. v2: mistake associated with gauge choice fixed, references added. v3: comment about super-positronium added, published versio

On the breakdown of perturbative integrability in large N matrix models

We study the perturbative integrability of the planar sector of a massive SU(N) matrix quantum mechanical theory with global SO(6) invariance and Yang-Mills-like interaction. This model arises as a consistent truncation of maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory on a three-sphere to the lowest modes of the scalar fields. In fact, our studies mimic the current investigations concerning the integrability properties of this gauge theory. Like in the field theory we can prove the planar integrability of the SO(6) model at first perturbative order. At higher orders we restrict ourselves to the widely studied SU(2) subsector spanned by two complexified scalar fields of the theory. We show that our toy model satisfies all commonly studied integrability requirements such as degeneracies in the spectrum, existence of conserved charges and factorized scattering up to third perturbative order. These are the same qualitative features as the ones found in super Yang-Mills theory, which were enough to conjecture the all-loop integrability of that theory. For the SO(6) model, however, we show that these properties are not sufficient to predict higher loop integrability. In fact, we explicitly demonstrate the breakdown of perturbative integrability at fourth order.Comment: 27 page