Supergravity and The Large N Limit of Theories With Sixteen Supercharges

TL;DR

This paper explores the connection between large N limits of supersymmetric field theories and supergravity solutions, using D-brane systems to analyze decoupling and weakly coupled regions in string theory.

Contribution

It establishes a relationship between large N supersymmetric field theories and supergravity solutions, providing insights into their dual descriptions in string theory.

Findings

Large N limit corresponds to specific supergravity backgrounds.

Supergravity solutions have multiple weakly coupled regions.

Decoupling of brane worldvolume theories from gravity is demonstrated.

Abstract

We consider field theories with sixteen supersymmetries, which includes U(N) Yang-Mills theories in various dimensions, and argue that their large N limit is related to certain supergravity solutions. We study this by considering a system of D-branes in string theory and then taking a limit where the brane worldvolume theory decouples from gravity. At the same time we study the corresponding D-brane supergravity solution and argue that we can trust it in certain regions where the curvature (and the effective string coupling, where appropriate) are small. The supergravity solutions typically have several weakly coupled regions and interpolate between different limits of string-M-theory.