Tracing the String: BMN correspondence at Finite J^2/N

Employing the string bit formalism of hep-th/0209215, we identify the basis transformation that relates BMN operators in N=4 gauge theory to string states in the dual string field theory at finite g_2=J^2/N. In this basis, the supercharge truncates at linear order in g_2, and the mixing amplitude between 1 and 2-string states precisely matches with the (corrected) answer of hep-th/0206073 for the 3-string amplitude in light-cone string field theory. Supersymmetry then predicts the order g_2^2 contact term in the string bit Hamiltonian. The resulting leading order mass renormalization of string states agrees with the recently computed shift in conformal dimension of BMN operators in the gauge theory.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur

Instability and Degeneracy in the BMN Correspondence

Non-degenerate perturbation theory, which was used to calculate the scale dimension of operators on the gauge theory side of the correspondence, breaks down when effects of triple trace operators are included. We interpret this as an instability of excited single-string states in the dual string theory for decay into the continuum of degenerate 3-string states. We apply time-dependent perturbation theory to calculate the decay widths from gauge theory. These widths are new gauge theory data which can be compared with future calculations in light cone string field theory.Comment: 23 pages, no figure

Predictions for PP-wave string amplitudes from perturbative SYM

The role of general two-impurity multi-trace operators in the BMN correspondence is explored. Surprisingly, the anomalous dimensions of all two-impurity multi-trace BMN operators to order g_2^2\lambda' are completely determined in terms of single-trace anomalous dimensions. This is due to suppression of connected field theory diagrams in the BMN limit and this fact has important implications for some string theory processes on the PP-wave background. We also make gauge theory predictions for the matrix elements of the light-cone string field theory Hamiltonian in the two string-two string and one string-three string sectors.Comment: 46 pages, 12 figures. V3:typos correcte

On light-cone SFT contact terms in a plane wave

Testing the BMN correspondence at non-zero string coupling g_s requires a one-loop string field theory calculation. At order g_s^2, matrix elements of the light-cone string field theory Hamiltonian between single-string states receive two contributions: the iterated cubic interaction, and a contact term {Q, Q} whose presence is dictated by supersymmetry. In this paper we calculate the leading large mu p^+ alpha' contribution from both terms for the set of intermediate states with two string excitations. We find precise agreement with the basis-independent order g_2^2 results from gauge theory.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figur

String interactions and discrete symmetries of the pp-wave background

Free string theory on the plane-wave background displays a discrete Z2 symmetry exchanging the two transverse SO(4) rotation groups. This symmetry should be respected also at the interacting level. We show that the zero mode structure proposed in hep-th/0208148 can be completed to a full kinematical vertex, contrary to claims appeared in the previous literature. We also comment on the relation with recent works on the string-bit formalism and on the comparison with the field theory side of the correspondence.Comment: Proceeding of the 35th Symposium Ahrenshoop Aug 2002 and the Leuven RTN-workshop Sept 200

The 3-string vertex and the AdS/CFT duality in the PP-wave limit

We pursue the study of string interactions in the PP-wave background and show that the proposal of hep-th/0211188 can be extended to a full supersymmetric vertex. Then we compute some string amplitudes in both the bosonic and fermionic sector, finding agreement with the field theory results at leading order in lambda'.Comment: Latex, 25 pages. Comments added and typos correcte

BMN operators with vector impurities, Z_2 symmetry and pp-waves

We calculate the coefficients of three-point functions of BMN operators with two vector impurities. We find that these coefficients can be obtained from those of the three-point functions of scalar BMN operators by interchanging the coefficient for the symmetric-traceless representation with the coefficient for the singlet. We conclude that the Z_2 symmetry of the pp-wave string theory is not manifest at the level of field theory three-point correlators.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures. v1: A reference and a footnote added; v2: New contributions found, Z_2 symmetry lost in 3-point function

Chiral primary cubic interactions from pp-wave supergravity

We explicitly construct cubic interaction light-cone Hamiltonian for the chiral primary system involving the metric fields and the self-dual four-form fields in the IIB pp-wave supergravity. The background fields representing pp-waves exhibit SO(4)*SO(4)*Z_2 invariance. It turns out that the interaction Hamiltonian is precisely the same as that for the dilaton-axion system, except for the fact that the chiral primary system fields have the opposite parity to that of the dilaton-axion fields under the Z_2 transformation that exchanges two SO(4)'s.Comment: 14 pages, A few comments are adde

Conformal Dimensions of Two-Derivative BMN Operators

We compute the anomalous dimensions of BMN operators with two covariant derivative impurities at the planar level up to first order in the effective coupling lambda'. The result equals those for two scalar impurities as well as for mixed scalar and vector impurities given in the literature. Though the results are the same, the computation is very different from the scalar case. This is basically due to the existence of a non-vanishing overlap between the derivative impurity and the ``background'' field Z. We present details of these differences and their consequences.Comment: 27 pages, v2: references added, minor change

The Bethe-Ansatz for N=4 Super Yang-Mills

We derive the one loop mixing matrix for anomalous dimensions in N=4 Super Yang-Mills. We show that this matrix can be identified with the Hamiltonian of an integrable SO(6) spin chain with vector sites. We then use the Bethe ansatz to find a recipe for computing anomalous dimensions for a wide range of operators. We give exact results for BMN operators with two impurities and results up to and including first order 1/J corrections for BMN operators with many impurities. We then use a result of Reshetikhin's to find the exact one-loop anomalous dimension for an SO(6) singlet in the limit of large bare dimension. We also show that this last anomalous dimension is proportional to the square root of the string level in the weak coupling limit.Comment: 35 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX; v2 references added, typos corrected, \Lambda fixed; v3 expanded discussion of higher loops in conclusion, matches published versio