Giant Gravitons in Conformal Field Theory

TL;DR

This paper proposes that giant gravitons in AdS spaces correspond to determinant and subdeterminant operators in the dual conformal field theory, supported by multiple lines of evidence including topological, correlator, and matrix model analyses.

Contribution

It identifies giant graviton operators as determinants/subdeterminants in the CFT, extending the understanding of their duality beyond single-trace operators.

Findings

Giant gravitons correspond to determinant operators in the CFT.

Protected correlators support the determinant operator identification.

Matrix model calculations confirm the duality in higher-dimensional theories.

Abstract

Giant gravitons in AdS_5 x S^5, and its orbifolds, have a dual field theory representation as states created by chiral primary operators. We argue that these operators are not single-trace operators in the conformal field theory, but rather are determinants and subdeterminants of scalar fields; the stringy exclusion principle applies to these operators. Evidence for this identification comes from three sources: (a) topological considerations in orbifolds, (b) computation of protected correlators using free field theory and (c) a Matrix model argument. The last argument applies to AdS_7 x S^4 and the dual (2,0) theory, where we use algebraic aspects of the fuzzy 4-sphere to compute the expectation value of a giant graviton operator along the Coulomb branch of the theory.