1/J corrections to semiclassical AdS/CFT states from quantum Landau-Lifshitz model

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that quantizing the Landau-Lifshitz effective action reproduces 1/J and 1/J^2 quantum corrections to energies of semiclassical states in AdS/CFT, matching gauge theory, string theory, and Bethe ansatz results.

Contribution

It shows that the quantum Landau-Lifshitz model accurately captures subleading quantum corrections in AdS/CFT, extending previous classical matches to quantum level with proper regularization.

Findings

Quantum LL reproduces 1/J corrections to BMN states.

Quantum LL matches 1/J^2 corrections from Bethe ansatz.

Results hold for deformed and classical string solutions.

Abstract

One way to relate semiclassical string states and dual gauge theory states is to show the equivalence between their low-energy effective 2d actions. The gauge theory effective action, which is represented by an effective Landau-Lifshitz (LL) model, was previously found to match with the string theory world-sheet action up to the first two orders in the effective parameter $\tilde{\lambda} ={\lambda / J^2}$, where $\lambda$ is the `t Hooft coupling and $J$ is the total $R$-charge. Here we address the question if quantizing the effective LL action reproduces the subleading 1/J corrections to the spin chain energies as well as the quantum corrections to the string energies. We demonstrate that this is indeed the case provided one chooses an appropriate regularization of the effective LL theory. Expanding near the BPS vacuum, we show that the quantum LL action gives the same 1/J corrections to energies of BMN states as found previously on the gauge theory and string theory sides. We also compute the subleading $1/J^2$ corrections and show that these too match with corrections computed from the Bethe ansatz. We also compare the results from the LL action with a more direct computation from the spin chain. We repeat the same computation for the $\beta$-deformed LL action and find that the quantum LL result is again equal to the 1/J correction computed from the $\beta$-deformed Bethe ansatz equations. We also quantize the LL action near the rotating circular and folded string solutions, generalizing the known gauge/string results for 1/J corrections to the classical energies. We emphasize the simplicity of this effective field theory approach as compared to the full quantum string computations.