Three-dimensional N=6 SCFT's and their membrane dynamics

Abstract

We analyze several aspects of the recent construction of three-dimensional conformal gauge theories by Aharony et al. in various regimes. We pay special attention to understanding how the M-theory geometry and interpretation can be extracted from the analysis of the field theory. We revisit the calculations of the moduli space of vacua and the complete characterization of chiral ring operators by analyzing the field theory compactified on a 2-sphere. We show that many of the states dual to these operators can be interpreted as D-brane states in the weak coupling limit. Also, various features of the dual AdS geometry can be obtained by performing a strong coupling expansion around moduli space configurations, even though one is not taking the planar expansion. In particular, we show that at strong coupling the corresponding weak coupling D-brane states of the chiral ring localize on particular submanifolds of the dual geometry that match the M-theory interpretation. We also study the massive spectrum of fields in the moduli space. We use this to investigate the dispersion relation of giant magnons from the field theory point of view. Our analysis predicts the exact functional form of the dispersion relation as a function of the world-sheet momentum, independently of integrability assumptions, but not the exact form with respect to the 't Hooft coupling. We also get the dispersion relation of bound states of giant magnons from first principles, providing evidence for the full integrability of the corresponding spin chain model at strong 't Hooft coupling.

64 pages, 5 figures; v2: added references

References in corpus (27)

• N=6 superconformal Chern-Simons-matter theories, M2-branes and their gravity duals
• Gauge Symmetry and Supersymmetry of Multiple M2-Branes
• Algebraic structures on parallel M2-branes
• Modeling Multiple M2's
• Green-Schwarz action for Type IIA strings on $Ad{S}_4\times C{P}^3$
• The Bethe ansatz for superconformal Chern-Simons
• Diagonal multi-matrix correlators and BPS operators in N=4 SYM
• Studies of the ABJM Theory in a Formulation with Manifest SU(4) R-Symmetry
• Seiberg Duality for Quiver Gauge Theories
• The AdS4/CFT3 algebraic curve
• Integrable Spin Chain in Superconformal Chern-Simons Theory
• Giant Gravitons - with Strings Attached (III)
• Giant Gravitons - with Strings Attached (II)
• Comments on 1/16 BPS Quantum States and Classical Configurations
• Multi-matrix models and emergent geometry
• Superconformal Chern-Simons Theories and the Squashed Seven Sphere
• Semi-classical strings in AdS_4*CP^3
• From N M2's to N D2's
• Giant magnons in AdS_4/CFT_3: dispersion, quantization and finite--size corrections
• Multiple D2-Brane Action from M2-Branes
• Geometry and topology of bubble solutions from gauge theory
• D2 or M2? A Note on Membrane Scattering
• Reconstructing 1/2 BPS Space-Time Metrics from Matrix Models and Spin Chains
• Giant magnon bound states from strongly coupled N=4 SYM
• Strings on conifolds from strong coupling dynamics, part I
• Strings on conifolds from strong coupling dynamics: quantitative results
• A strong coupling expansion for N=4 SYM theory and other SCFT's

Cited by in corpus (17)

• Wilson Loops in Superconformal Chern-Simons Theory and Fundamental Strings in Anti-de Sitter Supergravity Dual
• Quantum spinning strings in AdS_4 x CP^3: testing the Bethe Ansatz proposal
• M2-branes on Orbifolds of the Cone over Q^{1,1,1}
• Notes on Supersymmetry Enhancement of ABJM Theory
• Finite size giant magnons in the SU(2) x SU(2) sector of AdS_4 x CP^3
• On Half-BPS States of the ABJM Theory
• SDiff Gauge Theory and the M2 Condensate
• Two-loop test of the N=6 Chern-Simons theory S-matrix
• Dressed Giant Magnons on CP^3
• Finite-Size Corrections of the ${\mathbb{CP}}^3$ Giant Magnons: the Lüscher terms
• Comments on Baryon-like Operators in N=6 Chern-Simons-matter theory of ABJM
• Squashing Gravity Dual of N=6 Superconformal Chern-Simons Gauge Theory
• Membrane Dynamics in Three dimensional N=6 Supersymmetric Chern-Simons Theory
• Supersymmetric Wilson Loops in Diverse Dimensions
• Aspects of ABJM orbifolds
• Membrane scattering from Bagger-Lambert theory
• Emergent geometry in N=6 Chern-Simons-matter theory