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Bits, Matrices and 1/N

Herman Verlinde
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Abstract

We propose a simple string bit formalism for interacting strings in a plane wave background, in terms of supersymmetric quantum mechanics with a symmetric product target-space. We construct the light-cone supersymmetry generators and Hamiltonian at finite string coupling. We find a precise match between string amplitudes and the non-planar corrections to the correlation functions of BMN operators computed from gauge theory, and conjecture that this correspondence extends to all orders in perturbation theory. We also give a simple RG explanation for why the effective string coupling is g_2 = J^2/N instead of g_s = g_{ym}^2.

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Herman Verlinde. 2003-09-05. Bits, Matrices and 1/N. https://doi.org/10.1088/1126-6708%2F2003%2F12%2F052

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