Supersymmetric Wilson loops

TL;DR

This paper constructs various BPS Wilson loops in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory and demonstrates their non-renormalization at quantum level, revealing cancellations in the dual string theory at strong coupling.

Contribution

It introduces explicit constructions of 1/16, 1/8, and 1/4 BPS Wilson loops and analyzes their quantum properties and dual string theory implications.

Findings

1/4 BPS Wilson loops do not receive quantum corrections.

Non-renormalization leads to cancellations in the dual string partition function.

Cancellations occur at the semiclassical approximation level.

Abstract

I construct 1/16, 1/8 and 1/4 BPS Wilson loops in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory and argue that expectation values of 1/4 BPS loops do not receive quantum corrections. At strong coupling, non-renormalization of supersymmetric Wilson loops implies subtle cancellations in the partition function of the AdS string with special boundary conditions. The cancellations are shown to occur in the semiclassical approximation.