Exact computation of one-loop correction to energy of pulsating strings in AdS_5 x S^5

TL;DR

This paper calculates the one-loop quantum correction to the energy of pulsating strings in AdS_5 x S^5, revealing a universal structure and potential insights into the dual gauge theory at strong coupling.

Contribution

It provides an exact computation of one-loop corrections for pulsating string solutions, extending previous work on rigid spinning strings and introducing the use of stability angles.

Findings

One-loop correction expressed via stability angles.

Universality observed in the short string limit.

Results may inform strong-coupling expansions in gauge theory.

Abstract

In the present paper, which is a sequel to arXiv:1001:4018, we compute the one-loop correction to the energy of pulsating string solutions in AdS_5 x S^5. We show that, as for rigid spinning string elliptic solutions, the fluctuation operators for pulsating solutions can be also put into the single-gap Lame' form. A novel aspect of pulsating solutions is that the one-loop correction to their energy is expressed in terms of the stability angles of the quadratic fluctuation operators. We explicitly study the "short string" limit of the corresponding one-loop energies, demonstrating a certain universality of the form of the energy of "small" semiclassical strings. Our results may help to shed light on the structure of strong-coupling expansion of anomalous dimensions of dual gauge theory operators.