Worldsheet spectrum in AdS(4)/CFT(3) correspondence

TL;DR

This paper investigates the integrable AdS4/CFT3 duality, resolving a mismatch in degrees of freedom by showing some string modes dissolve into two-particle states, and confirms the exact S-matrix matches worldsheet calculations.

Contribution

It provides a resolution to the degree of freedom mismatch in AdS4/CFT3 and verifies the conjectured S-matrix against explicit worldsheet computations.

Findings

Half of the string modes dissolve into two-particle states with alpha' corrections.

The exact S-matrix agrees with tree-level worldsheet calculations.

The duality is confirmed as integrable and consistent at the quantum level.

Abstract

The AdS(4)/CFT(3) duality is a new example of an integrable and exactly solvable AdS/CFT system. There is, however, a puzzling mismatch between the number of degrees of freedom used in the exact solution (4B+4F scattering states) and 8B+8F transverse oscillation modes of critical superstring theory. We offer a resolution of this puzzle by arguing that half of the string modes dissolve in the continuum of two-particle states once alpha' corrections are taken into account. We also check that the conjectured exact S-matrix of AdS(4)/CFT(3) agrees with the tree-level worldsheet calculation.