Strings from Quivers, Membranes from Moose

TL;DR

This paper explores the duality between large moose/quiver gauge theories and string theory in a pp-wave background, identifying gauge operators corresponding to string states and providing a graphical and T-dual interpretation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel correspondence between N=2 moose/quiver gauge theories and string theory in a pp-wave background, including a T-dual perspective and a graphical string representation.

Findings

Identification of gauge operators for string DLCQ states

Graphical representation of string excitations via moose diagrams

Connection to non-relativistic type IIA string and T-duality insights

Abstract

We consider N=2 moose/quiver gauge theories corresponding to N_1 D3-branes at a C^2/Z_{N_2} singularity in the ``large moose'' limit where N_1 and N_2 are scaled to infinity together. In the dual holographic description, this scaling gives rise to a maximally supersymmetric pp-wave background with a compact light-cone direction. We identify the gauge theory operators that describe the Discrete Light-Cone Quantization (DLCQ) of the string in this background. For each discrete light-cone momentum and winding sector there is a separate ground state and Fock space. The large moose/quiver diagram provides a useful graphical representation of the string and its excitations. This representation has a natural explanation in a T-dual language. The dual theory is a non-relativistic type IIA string wound around the T-dual direction, and bound by a quadratic Newtonian potential. We end with some comments on D-string/D-particle states, a possible lift to M-theory and the relation to deconstruction.