Operator Formulation of Green-Schwarz Superstring in the Semi-Light-Cone Conformal Gauge

In this article we present a comprehensive account of the operator formulation of the Green-Schwarz superstring in the semi-light-cone (SLC) gauge, where the worldsheet conformal invariance is preserved. Starting from the basic action, we systematically study the symmetry structure of the theory in the SLC gauge both in the Lagrangian and the phase space formulations. After quantizing the theory in the latter formulation we construct the quantum Virasoro and the super-Poincare generators and clarify the closure properties of these symmetry algebras. Then by making full use of this knowledge we will be able to construct the BRST-invariant vertex operators which describe the emission and the absorption of the massless quanta and show that they form the appropriate representation of the quantum symmetry algebras. Furthermore, we will construct an exact quantum similarity transformation which connects the SLC gauge and the familiar light-cone (LC) gauge. As an application BRST-invariant DDF operators in the SLC gauge are obtained starting from the corresponding physical oscillators in the LC gauge.Comment: 88 pages, ptptex, no figure. Some clarifications are made and a reference is added in section 6. Published versio

Three-point functions in the SU(2) sector at strong coupling

Extending the methods developed in our previous works (arXiv:1110.3949, arXiv:1205.6060), we compute the three-point functions at strong coupling of the non-BPS states with large quantum numbers corresponding to the composite operators belonging to the so-called SU(2) sector in the $\mathcal{N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills theory in four dimensions. This is achieved by the semi-classical evaluation of the three-point functions in the dual string theory in the $AdS_3 \times S^3$ spacetime, using the general one-cut finite gap solutions as the external states. In spite of the complexity of the contributions from various parts in the intermediate stages, the final answer for the three-point function takes a remarkably simple form, exhibiting the structure reminiscent of the one obtained at weak coupling. In particular, in the Frolov-Tseytlin limit the result is expressed in terms of markedly similar integrals, however with different contours of integration. We discuss a natural mechanism for introducing additional singularities on the worldsheet without affecting the infinite number of conserved charges, which can modify the contours of integration.Comment: 128 pages (A summary is given in section 1); v2 minor improvement

On the singlet projector and the monodromy relation for psu(2, 2|4) spin chains and reduction to subsectors

As a step toward uncovering the relation between the weak and the strong coupling regimes of the $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory beyond the specral level, we have developed in a previous paper [arXiv:1410.8533] a novel group theoretic interpretation of the Wick contraction of the fields, which allowed us to compute a much more general class of three-point functions in the SU(2) sector, as in the case of strong coupling [arXiv:1312.3727], directly in terms of the determinant representation of the partial domain wall partition funciton. Furthermore, we derived a non-trivial identity for the three point functions with monodromy operators inserted, being the discrete counterpart of the global monodromy condition which played such a crucial role in the computation at strong coupling. In this companion paper, we shall extend our study to the entire ${\rm psu}(2,2|4)$ sector and obtain several important generalizations. They include in particular (i) the manifestly conformally covariant construction, from the basic principle, of the singlet-projection operator for performing the Wick contraction and (ii) the derivation of the monodromy relation for the case of the so-called "harmonic R-matrix", as well as for the usual fundamental R-matrtix. The former case, which is new and has features rather different from the latter, is expected to have important applications. We also describe how the form of the monodromy relation is modified as ${\rm psu}(2,2|4)$ is reduced to its subsectors.Comment: 49+10 pages;v3 Published version. Typos corrected. Explicit form of the monodromy relations for the three-point functions displaye

Novel construction and the monodromy relation for three-point functions at weak coupling

In this article, we shall develop and formulate two novel viewpoints and properties concerning the three-point functions at weak coupling in the SU(2) sector of the N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory. One is a double spin-chain formulation of the spin-chain and the associated new interpretation of the operation of Wick contraction. It will be regarded as a skew symmetric pairing which acts as a projection onto a singlet in the entire SO(4) sector, instead of an inner product in the spin-chain Hilbert space. This formalism allows us to study a class of three-point functions of operators built upon more general spin-chain vacua than the special configuration discussed so far in the literature. Furthermore, this new viewpoint has the signicant advantage over the conventional method: In the usual "tailoring" operation, the Wick contraction produces inner products between off-shell Bethe states, which cannot be in general converted into simple expressions. In contrast, our procedure directly produces the so-called partial domain wall partition functions, which can be expressed as determinants. Using this property, we derive simple determinantal representation for a broader class of three-point functions. The second new property uncovered in this work is the non-trivial identity satisfied by the three-point functions with monodromy operators inserted. Generically this relation connects three-point functions of different operators and can be regarded as a kind of Schwinger-Dyson equation. In particular, this identity reduces in the semiclassical limit to the triviality of the product of local monodromies around the vertex operators, which played a crucial role in providing all important global information on the three-point function in the strong coupling regime. This structure may provide a key to the understanding of the notion of "integrability" beyond the spectral level.Comment: 35 pages;v2 Minor corrections made. An appendix and references added;v3 Typos correcte

On the conservation of electric charge around a monopole of finite size

In monopole-fermion dynamics, the boundary condition which is responsible for baryon number non-conservation also violates electric and color hypercharge conservation. We show by detailed calculations that actually the latter conservation laws are dynamically restored. It is shown that for a finite size monopole, there is a small but finite amplitude for the monopole ground state to make a virtual transition into a state containing a dyon and some fermions carrying equal and opposite charge as that of the dyon. But the amplitude for this state to make a virtual transition to a state carrying a net total charge is identically zero. The monopole ground state, as a result, is an eigenstate of electric charge even in the presence of massless fermions. We also calculate the four-body charge and chirality conserving but baryon number violating condensates, which exist independently of the existence of the anomaly and hence persist even in the presence of more generations of massless fermions