Nonlinear waves in AdS/CFT correspondence

TL;DR

This paper uses AdS/CFT correspondence to analyze nonlinear wave emission from an accelerated charge in strongly coupled ${ m N}=4$ SU(N) Yang-Mills theory, revealing a local energy functional and an exact string worldsheet solution.

Contribution

It provides the first exact solution for nonlinear waves on the string worldsheet in AdS/CFT, linking radiated energy to a local functional of the charge's trajectory.

Findings

Energy emission matches the Lienard formula up to a factor.

Radiated energy is carried by a nonlinear wave on the string.

The energy functional depends locally on the charge's trajectory.

Abstract

We calculate in the strong coupling and large N limit the energy emitted by an accelerated external charge in ${\cal N}=4$ SU(N) Yang-Mills theory, using the AdS/CFT correspondence. We find that the energy is a local functional of the trajectory of the charge. It coincides up to an overall factor with the Lienard formula of the classical electrodynamics. In the AdS description the radiated energy is carried by a nonlinear wave on the string worldsheet for which we find an exact solution.