Wilson loops and minimal surfaces

Journal Article · Wed Dec 15 04:00:00 EST 1999 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.60.125006· OSTI ID:20218063

Drukker, Nadav ^[1]; Gross, David J ^[1]; Ooguri, Hirosi ^[2]

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1. Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106 (United States)
2. Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-7300 (United States)

The AdS-CFT correspondence suggests that the Wilson loop of the large N gauge theory with N=4 supersymmetry in four dimensions is described by a minimal surface in AdS{sub 5}xS{sup 5}. We examine various aspects of this proposal, comparing gauge theory expectations with computations of minimal surfaces. There is a distinguished class of loops, which we call BPS loops, whose expectation values are free from ultraviolet divergence. We formulate the loop equation for such loops. To the extent that we have checked, the minimal surface in AdS{sub 5}xS{sup 5} gives a solution of the equation. We also discuss the zigzag symmetry of the loop operator. In the N=4 gauge theory, we expect the zigzag symmetry to hold when the loop does not couple the scalar fields in the supermultiplet. We will show how this is realized for the minimal surface. (c) 1999 The American Physical Society.

• OSTI ID: 20218063
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 60; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
CONFORMAL INVARIANCE
EXTENDED PARTICLE MODEL
GAUGE INVARIANCE
STRING MODELS
SUPERSYMMETRY
SURFACES
THEORETICAL DATA
WILSON LOOP
YANG-MILLS THEORY