A 4D-2D equivalence for large-N Yang-Mills theory

Abstract

General string-theoretic considerations suggest that four-dimensional large-N gauge theories should have dual descriptions in terms of two-dimensional conformal field theories. However, for non-supersymmetric confining theories such as pure Yang-Mills theory, a long-standing challenge has been to explicitly show that such dual descriptions actually exist. In this paper, we consider the large-N limit of four-dimensional pure Yang-Mills theory compactified on a three-sphere in the solvable limit where the sphere radius is small compared to the strong length scale, and demonstrate that the confined-phase spectrum of this gauge theory coincides with the spectrum of an irrational two-dimensional conformal field theory.

v2: various minor clarifications and corrections, references added

References in corpus (4)

• Cardy Formulae for SUSY Theories in d=4 and d=6
• Bosonic Ghosts at $c=2$ as a Logarithmic CFT
• Casimir energy of confining large $N$ gauge theories
• T-Reflection

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Warped Weyl fermion partition functions
• Modular invariance on $S^1\times S^3$ and circle fibrations
• Emergent Dimensions and Braneworlds from Large-N Confinement
• Bose-Fermi cancellations without supersymmetry
• Spectral sum rules for confining large-N theories
• Temperature-reflection I: field theory, ensembles, and interactions
• L-functions for Meromorphic Modular Forms and Sum Rules in Conformal Field Theory
• Hagedorn transition and topological entanglement entropy
• Flow of Hagedorn singularities and phase transitions in large $N$ gauge theories
• N=2 minimal model from 4d supersymmetric theory