Gauge theory description of compactified pp-waves

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new Penrose limit of AdS_5*S^5 that results in a maximally symmetric pp-wave background with a manifest space-like isometry, establishing a novel duality with a scaled N=4 SYM theory.

Contribution

It presents a new Penrose limit leading to a maximally symmetric pp-wave with a space-like isometry and explores its dual gauge theory description involving a triple scaling limit.

Findings

Derived a new pp-wave background with a space-like isometry.

Established a duality with a scaled N=4 SYM theory.

Verified energy spectrum agreement at one-loop order.

Abstract

We find a new Penrose limit of AdS_5*S^5 that gives the maximally symmetric pp-wave background of type IIB string theory in a coordinate system that has a manifest space-like isometry. This induces a new pp-wave/gauge-theory duality which on the gauge theory side involves a novel scaling limit of N=4 SYM theory. The new Penrose limit, when applied to AdS_5*S^5/Z_M, yields a pp-wave with a space-like circle. The dual gauge theory description involves a triple scaling limit of an N=2 quiver gauge theory. We present in detail the map between gauge theory operators and string theory states including winding states, and verify agreement between the energy eigenvalues obtained from string theory and those computed in gauge theory, at least to one-loop order in the planar limit. We furthermore consider other related new Penrose limits and explain how these limits can be understood as part of a more general framework.