Symmetric Wilson Loops beyond leading order

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the symmetric Wilson loop in N=4 SYM, computing non-perturbative corrections and next-to-leading order terms, revealing insights into holographic duality and non-perturbative physics.

Contribution

It provides the first computation of exponentially-suppressed corrections and next-to-leading order 1/N terms for symmetric Wilson loops, matching exact results.

Findings

Exponential corrections suggest non-perturbative effects.

Next-to-leading order terms match exact fundamental representation results.

Results enhance understanding of holographic duality in SYM.

Abstract

We study the circular Wilson loop in the symmetric representation of U(N) in $\mathcal{N} = 4$ super-Yang-Mills (SYM). In the large N limit, we computed the exponentially-suppressed corrections for strong coupling, which suggests non-perturbative physics in the dual holographic theory. We also computed the next-to-leading order term in 1/N, and the result matches with the exact result from the k-fundamental representation.