Correlators in Nontrivial Backgrounds

TL;DR

This paper develops techniques to compute correlation functions in nontrivial AdS5xS5 backgrounds dual to operators with large R-charge in N=4 super Yang-Mills, revealing rescaled propagators and the absence of open string excitations.

Contribution

It introduces efficient methods for calculating correlators in complex backgrounds, showing how field contractions encode geometry and that only closed strings propagate.

Findings

Correlation functions are given by free field contractions with rescaled propagators.

Field contractions between string words and background operators encode the geometry.

No open string excitations with endpoint interactions are present in these backgrounds.

Abstract

Operators in N=4 super Yang-Mills theory with an R-charge of O(N^2) are dual to backgrounds which are asymtotically AdS5xS5. In this article we develop efficient techniques that allow the computation of correlation functions in these backgrounds. We find that (i) contractions between fields in the string words and fields in the operator creating the background are the field theory accounting of the new geometry, (ii) correlation functions of probes in these backgrounds are given by the free field theory contractions but with rescaled propagators and (iii) in these backgrounds there are no open string excitations with their special end point interactions; we have only closed string excitations.