Wilson-Polyakov Loop at Finite Temperature in Large N Gauge Theory and Anti-de Sitter Supergravity

TL;DR

This paper investigates the behavior of Wilson-Polyakov loops and heavy quark potential in large N, finite temperature N=4 superconformal gauge theory using AdS/CFT correspondence, revealing Coulomb-like potential and conformal scaling.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of Wilson-Polyakov loop correlations and heavy quark potential at finite temperature in the context of AdS/CFT, highlighting finite range and conformal invariance effects.

Findings

Heavy quark potential is Coulomb-like with finite range.

Potential exhibits finite temperature scaling consistent with conformal invariance.

Evidence supports that near extremal D3-branes are located at the Schwarzschild horizon.

Abstract

Aspects of d=4, N=4 superconformal U(N) gauge theory are studied at finite temperature. Utilizing dual description of large $N$ and strong coupling limit via Type IIB string theory compactification on Schwarzschild anti-de Sitter spacetime, we study correlations of Wilson-Polyakov loops and heavy quark potential thereof. We find that the heavy quark potential is Coulomb-like and has a finite range, as expected for gauge theory in high temperature, deconfinement phase. The potential exhibits finite temperature scaling consistent with underlying conformal invariance. We also study isolated heavy quark on probe D3-brane world-volume and find supporting evidence that near extremal D3-branes are located at Schwarzschild horizon.