Supersymmetric Wilson Loops in Diverse Dimensions

Abstract

We consider supersymmetric Wilson loops a la Zarembo in planar supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories in diverse dimensions. Using perturbation theory we show that these loops have trivial vacuum expectation values to second order in the 't Hooft coupling. We review the known superspace results which, for specific dimensions, extend this triviality to all orders in the 't Hooft coupling. Using the gauge/gravity correspondence, we construct the explicit dual fundamental string solutions corresponding to these Wilson loops for the case of circular geometry. We find that the regularized action of these string solutions vanishes. We also generalize the framework of calibrated surfaces to prove the vanishing of the regularized action for loops of general geometry. We propose a possible string-side manifestation of the gauge theory generalized Konishi anomaly in seven dimensions.

21 pages, 1 figure. v2 references added, JHEP version. v3, minor improvements to the string theoretic analysis and a possible extension of the stringy origin of the generalized Konishi anomaly to d=8

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