On a new type of orbifold equivalence and M-theoretic AdS4/CFT3 duality

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new type of orbifold equivalence in M-theoretic AdS4/CFT3 duality, linking non-protected observables in strongly coupled ABJM theories with different parameters, extending beyond the planar approximation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel duality predicting equivalences between non-protected observables in ABJM theories with different levels and ranks, beyond the planar limit.

Findings

Predicts a new duality on the gauge theory side based on gravity orbifold equivalence.

Establishes equivalence of certain observables in strongly coupled ABJM theories with different parameters.

Extends the concept of orbifold equivalence beyond the planar approximation.

Abstract

We consider the large-N limit of \mathcal{N}=6 U(N) \times U(N) superconformal Chern-Simons (ABJM) theory with fixed level k, which is conjectured to be dual to M-theory on AdS4\times (S^7/Z_k) background. We point out that the so-called orbifold equivalence on the gravity side, combined with the AdS4/CFT3 duality, predicts a hitherto unknown type of duality on the gauge theory side. It establishes the equivalence between a class of observables, which are not necessarily protected by supersymmetry, in strongly coupled ABJM theories away from the planar approximation, with different values of k and N but sharing common kN. This limit is vastly different from the planar limit, and hence from the gauge theory point of view the duality is more difficult to explain compared to the previously known analogous equivalence between planar gauge theories, where one can explicitly prove the equivalence diagrammatically using the dominance of the planar diagrams.