Minkowski-space correlators in AdS/CFT correspondence: recipe and applications

TL;DR

This paper develops a method to compute Minkowski-space correlators in AdS/CFT, successfully applying it to retarded propagators and transport coefficients like the Chern-Simons diffusion constant in strongly coupled theories.

Contribution

It introduces a new prescription for Minkowski correlators in AdS/CFT, applicable at zero and finite temperature, and clarifies the relation between quasinormal modes and Green's function poles.

Findings

Correct retarded propagators at zero temperature in 4D

Calculation of Chern-Simons diffusion constant at finite temperature

Explanation of quasinormal modes as poles of Green's functions

Abstract

We formulate a prescription for computing Minkowski-space correlators from AdS/CFT correspondence. This prescription is shown to give the correct retarded propagators at zero temperature in four dimensions, as well as at finite temperature in the two-dimensional conformal field theory dual to the BTZ black hole. Using the prescription, we calculate the Chern-Simons diffusion constant of the finite-temperature N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in the strong coupling limit. We explain why the quasinormal frequencies of the asymptotically AdS background correspond to the poles of the retarded Green's function of the boundary conformal field theory.