Quantum Landau-Lifshitz model at four loops: 1/J and 1/J^2 corrections to BMN energies

In a previous paper (hep-th/0510080) the effective Landau-Lifshitz (LL) Lagrangians in the SU(2) sector coming from string theory and gauge theory have been found to three loops in the effective expansion parameter $\tilde\lambda=\lambda/J^2$. In this paper we continue this study and find the effective Landau-Lifshitz Lagrangians to four loops. We extend to four-loops $\tilde\lambda^4$ the computations of 1/J and $1/J^2$ corrections to BMN energies done in hep-th/0510080 to three-loops. We compare these corrections obtained from quantum ``gauge-theory'' LL action with the corrections obtained from the conjectured Bethe ansatz for the long range spin chain representing perturbative {large $N$} \NN=4 Super Yang-Mills in the SU(2) sector and find perfect matching to four loops $\tilde\lambda^4$. We compare also the 1/J and $1/J^2$ corrections obtained from quantum ``string-theory'' LL action with those obtained from the "quantum string" Bethe ansatz and again find perfect matching to four-loops.Comment: 22 pages, references adde

Quantum corrections to energy of short spinning string in AdS5

Motivated by desire to shed light on the strong coupling behaviour of anomalous dimensions of "short" gauge theory operators we consider the famous example of folded spinning string in AdS_5 in the limit of small semiclassical spin parameter \S = S/sqrt[lambda]. In this limit the string becomes short and is moving in a near-flat central region of AdS_5. Its energy scales with spin as E = sqrt[2 S] [ a_0 + a_1 S + a_2 S^2 + ...]. We explicitly compute the leading 1-loop quantum AdS_5 x S^5 superstring corrections to the short-string limit coefficients a_0 and a_1 and show, in particular, that a_1 receives a contribution containing \zeta(3).Comment: 27 pages; v2: comments and appendix B about regularization ambiguity added; v3,4: minor corrections; v5: treatment of fermionic contribution corrected, a new appendix and a note adde

Matching the circular Wilson loop with dual open string solution at 1-loop in strong coupling

We compute the 1-loop correction to the effective action for the string solution in AdS_5 x S^5 dual to the circular Wilson loop. More generically, the method we use can be applied whenever the two dimensional spectral problem factorizes, to regularize and define the fluctuation determinants in terms of solutions of one-dimensional differential equations. A such it can be applied to non-homogeneous solutions both for open and closed strings and to various boundary conditions. In the case of the circular Wilson loop, we obtain, for the 1-loop partition function a result which up to a factor of two matches the expectation from the exact gauge theory computation. The discrepancy can be attributed to an overall constant in the string partition function coming from the normalization of zero modes, which we have not fixed.Comment: 32 pages; v2: typos corrected, acknowledgments added; v3: minor corrections, references adde

Semiclassical rigid strings with two spins in AdS_5

Semiclassical spinning string states in AdS_5 are, in general, characterised by the three SO(2,4) conserved charges: the energy E and the two spins S_1 and S_2. We discuss several examples of explicit classical solutions for rigid closed strings of (bended) circular shape with two non-zero spins. In particular, we identify a solution that should represent a state that has minimal energy for large values of the two equal spins. Similarly to the spiky string in AdS_3, in the large spin limit this string develops long "arcs" that stretch towards the boundary of AdS_5. This allows the string to increase the spin while having the energy growing only logarithmically with S=S_1 +S_2. The large spin asymptotics of such solutions is effectively controlled by their near-boundary parts which, as in the spiky string case, happen to be SO(2,4) equivalent to segments of the straight folded spinning string. As a result, the coefficient of the \log S term in the string energy should be given, up to an overall 3/2 coefficient, by the same universal scaling function (cusp anomaly) as in the folded string case, to all orders in the inverse string tension or strong-coupling expansion.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figure

Spinning strings in AdS_5 x S^5: one-loop correction to energy in SL(2) sector

We consider a circular string with spin $S$ in $AdS_5$ wrapped around big circle of $S^5$ and carrying also momentum $J$. The corresponding N=4 SYM operator belongs to the SL(2) sector, i.e. has tr$(D^S Z^J)+...$ structure. The leading large $J$ term in its 1-loop anomalous dimension can be computed using Bethe ansatz for the SL(2) spin chain and was previously found to match the leading term in the classical string energy. The string solution is stable at large $J$, and the Lagrangian for string fluctuations has constant coefficients, so that the 1-loop string correction to the energy $E_1$ is given simply by the sum of characteristic frequencies. Curiously, we find that the leading term in the zero-mode part of $E_1$ is the same as a 1/J correction to the one-loop anomalous dimension on the gauge theory (spin chain) side that was found in hep-th/0410105. However, the contribution of non-zero string modes does not vanish. We also discuss the ``fast string'' expansion of the classical string action which coincides with the coherent state action of the SL(2) spin chain at the first order in \l, and extend this expansion to higher orders clarifying the role of the $S^5$ winding number.Comment: 31 pages, 1 figure, latex; v3: minor changes and correction

Strong-coupling expansion of cusp anomaly and gluon amplitudes from quantum open strings in AdS_5 x S^5

An important ``observable'' of planar N=4 SYM theory is the scaling function f(lambda) that appears in the anomalous dimension of large spin twist 2 operators and also in the cusp anomaly of light-like Wilson loops. The non-trivial relation between the anomalous dimension and the Wilson interpretations of f(lambda) is well-understood on the perturbative gauge theory side of the AdS/CFT duality. In the first part of this paper we present the dual string-theory counterpart of this relation, to all orders in lambda^(-1/2) expansion. As a check, we explicitly compute the leading 1-loop string sigma model correction to the cusp Wilson loop, reproducing the same subleading coefficient in f(lambda) as found earlier in the spinning closed string case. The same function f(lambda) appears also in the resummed form of the 4-gluon amplitude as discussed at weak coupling by Bern, Dixon and Smirnov and recently found at the leading order at strong coupling by Alday and Maldacena (AM). Here we attempt to extend this approach to subleading order in lambda^(-1/2) by computing the IR singular part of 1-loop string correction to the corresponding T-dual Wilson loop. We discuss explicitly the 1-cusp case and comment on apparent problems with the dimensional regularization proposal of AM when directly applied order by order in strong coupling (inverse string tension) expansion.Comment: 35 pages. v2: minor corrections, references adde

Spiky strings in AdS_3 x S^1 and their AdS-pp-wave limits

We study a class of classical solutions for closed strings moving in AdS_3 x S^1 part of AdS_5 x S^5 with energy E and spin S in AdS_3 and angular momentum J and winding m in S^1. They have rigid shape with n spikes in AdS_3. We find that when J or m are non-zero, the spikes do not end in cusps. We consider in detail a special large n limit in which S ~ n^2, J ~ n, i.e. S >> J >> 1, with (E+S)/ n^2, (E-S)/ n, J/n, m/n staying finite. In that limit the spiky spinning string approaches the boundary of AdS_5. We show that the corresponding solution can be interpreted as describing a periodic-spike string moving in AdS_3 --pp-wave x S^1 background. The resulting expression for the string energy should represent a strong-coupling prediction for anomalous dimension of a class of dual gauge theory states in a particular thermodynamic limit of the SL(2) spin chain.Comment: 34 pages, 4 figures; v2: references added; v3: typos correcte

BPS and non-BPS states in a supersymmetric Landau-Ginzburg theory

We analyze the spectrum of the N=(2,2) supersymmetric Landau-Ginzburg theory in two dimensions with superpotential W=X^{n+2}-lambda X^2. We find the full BPS spectrum of this theory by exploiting the direct connection between the UV and IR limits of the theory. The computation utilizes results from the Picard-Lefschetz theory of singularities and its extension to boundary singularities. The additional fact that this theory is integrable requires that the BPS states do not close under scattering. This observation fixes the masses of non-BPS states as well.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figure

Structure of large spin expansion of anomalous dimensions at strong coupling

The anomalous dimensions of planar N = 4 SYM theory operators like tr (ΦD S + Φ) expanded in large spin S have the asymptotics γ = f ln S + f c + 1 S (f 11 ln S + f 10 ) + ··· ,where f (the universal scaling function or cusp anomaly), f c and f mn are given by power series in the ’t Hooft coupling λ . The subleading coefficients appear to be related by the so-called functional relation and parity (reciprocity) property of the function expressing γ in terms of the conformal spin of the collinear group. Here we study the structure of such large spin expansion at strong coupling via AdS/CFT, i.e. by using the dual description in terms of folded spinning string in AdS 5 . The large spin expansion of the classical string energy happens to have exactly the same structure as that of γ in the perturbative gauge theory. Moreover, the functional relation and the reciprocity constraints on the coefficients are also satisfied. We compute the leading string 1-loop corrections to the coefficients f c , f 11 , f 10 and verify the functional/reciprocity relations at subleading 1 √ λ order. This provides a strong indication that these relations hold not only in weak coupling (gauge-theory) but also in strong coupling (string-theory) perturbative expansions