Coulomb Branch and Integrability

Abstract

We study one-point functions of non-BPS single-trace operators on the Coulomb branch of planar $\mathcal{N}=4$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. Holography relates them to overlaps between on-shell closed string states and a boundary state describing a probe D3-brane in $Ad{S}_5\times S^5$. Assuming that the D-brane preserves integrability, we formulate and solve integrable bootstrap equations satisfied by the boundary state at finite 't Hooft coupling. This leads to a closed-form determinant expression for one-point functions at finite coupling, valid for sufficiently long operators. We test the result against direct field theory computations at tree level and one loop, finding perfect agreement.

35 pages + appendices, 13 figures, v2 Explicit evaluation of self-energy diagrams added