Vacua, Propagators, and Holographic Probes in AdS/CFT

TL;DR

This paper explores the connection between bulk and boundary theories in AdS/CFT, analyzing vacua, propagators, and probes, with applications to confinement and flux tubes in Yang-Mills theories.

Contribution

It provides new insights into bulk-boundary relations, derives retarded propagators, and investigates confinement mechanisms in Yang-Mills theories within the AdS/CFT framework.

Findings

Retarded propagators expressed in boundary theory

Objects in free fall resemble expanding bubbles in boundary

Flux tube profiles and tension in confining theories

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the relation between the bulk and boundary in AdS/CFT. We first discuss the relation between the Poincare and the global vacua, and then study various probes of the bulk from the boundary theory point of view. We derive expressions for retarded propagators and note that objects in free fall look like expanding bubbles in the boundary theory. We also study several Yang-Mills theory examples where we investigate thermal screening and confinement using propagators. In the case of confinement we also calculate the profile of a flux tube and provide an alternative derivation of the tension.