arXiv subjects

D. Z. Freedman

Publications and source records attributed to D. Z. Freedman.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2004

The dual of Janus -:- an interface CFT

We propose and study a specific gauge theory dual of the smooth, non-supersymmetric (and apparently stable) Janus solution of Type IIB supergravity found in hep-th/0304129. The dual field theory is N=4 SYM theory on two half-spaces separated by a planar interface with different coupling constants in each half-space. We assume that the position dependent coupling multiplies the operator L' which is the fourth descendent of the primary Tr(X^I X^J) and closely related to the N=4 Lagrangian density. At the classical level supersymmetry is broken explicitly, but SO(3,2) conformal symmetry is preserved. We use conformal perturbation theory to study various correlation functions to first and second order in the discontinuity of g^2_{YM}, confirming quantum level conformal symmetry. Certain quantities such as the vacuum expectation value are protected to all orders in g^2_{YM}N, and we find perfect agreement between the weak coupling value in the gauge theory and the strong coupling gravity result. SO(3,2) symmetry requires vanishing vacuum energy, =0, and this is confirmed in first order in the discontinuity.

hep-th↗

arXiv2004

Fake Supergravity and Domain Wall Stability

We review the generalized Witten-Nester spinor stability argument for flat domain wall solutions of gravitational theories. Neither the field theory nor the solution need be supersymmetric. Nor is the space-time dimension restricted. We develop the non-trivial extension required for AdS-sliced domain walls and apply this to show that the recently proposed "Janus" solution of Type IIB supergravity is stable non-perturbatively for a broad class of deformations. Generalizations of this solution to arbitrary dimension and a simple curious linear dilaton solution of Type IIB supergravity are byproducts of this work.

hep-th↗

arXiv2000

Continuous distributions of D3-branes and gauged supergravity

States on the Coulomb branch of N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory are studied from the point of view of gauged supergravity in five dimensions. These supersymmetric solutions provide examples of consistent truncation from type IIB supergravity in ten dimensions. A mass gap for states created by local operators and perfect screening for external quarks arise in the supergravity approximation. We offer an interpretation of these surprising features in terms of ensembles of brane distributions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2000

Modeling the fifth dimension with scalars and gravity

A method for obtaining solutions to the classical equations for scalars plus gravity in five dimensions is applied to some recent suggestions for brane-world phenomenology. The method involves only first order differential equations. It is inspired by gauged supergravity but does not require supersymmetry. Our first application is a full non-linear treatment of a recently studied stabilization mechanism for inter-brane spacing. The spacing is uniquely determined after conventional fine-tuning to achieve zero four-dimensional cosmological constant. If the fine-tuning is imperfect, there are solutions in which the four-dimensional branes are de Sitter or anti-de Sitter spacetimes. Our second application is a construction of smooth domain wall solutions which in a well-defined limit approach any desired array of sharply localized positive-tension branes. As an offshoot of the analysis we suggest a construction of a supergravity c-function for non-supersymmetric four-dimensional renormalization group flows. The equations for fluctuations about an arbitrary scalar-gravity background are also studied. It is shown that all models in which the fifth dimension is effectively compactified contain a massless graviton. The graviton is the constant mode in the fifth dimension. The separated wave equation can be recast into the form of supersymmetric quantum mechanics. The graviton wave-function is then the supersymmetric ground state, and there are no tachyons.

hep-th↗

arXiv2000

Near-extremal correlators and vanishing supergravity couplings in AdS/CFT

We study near-extremal n-point correlation functions of chiral primary operators, in which the maximal scale dimension k is related to the others by k=\sum_i k_i-m with m equal to or smaller than n-3. Through order g^2 in field theory, we show that these correlators are simple sums of terms each of which factors into products of lower-point correlators. Terms which contain only factors of two- and three-point functions are not renormalized, but other terms have non-vanishing order g^2 corrections. We then show that the contributing AdS exchange diagrams neatly match this factored structure. In particular, for n=4,5 precise agreement in form and coefficient is established between supergravity and the non-renormalized factored terms from field theory. On the other hand, contact diagrams in supergravity would produce a non-factored structure. This leads us to conjecture that the corresponding bulk couplings vanish, so as to achieve full agreement between the structure of these correlators in supergravity and weak-coupling field theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv1999

Extremal Correlators in the AdS/CFT Correspondence

The non-renormalization of the 3-point functions $tr X^{k_1} tr X^{k_2} tr X^{k_3}$ of chiral primary operators in N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory is one of the most striking facts to emerge from the AdS/CFT correspondence. A two-fold puzzle appears in the extremal case, e.g. k_1 = k_2 + k_3. First, the supergravity calculation involves analytic continuation in the k_i variables to define the product of a vanishing bulk coupling and an infinite integral over AdS. Second, extremal correlators are uniquely sensitive to mixing of the single-trace operators $tr X^k$ with protected multi-trace operators in the same representation of SU(4). We show that the calculation of extremal correlators from supergravity is subject to the same subtlety of regularization known for the 2-point functions, and we present a careful method which justifies the analytic continuation and shows that supergravity fields couple to single traces without admixture. We also study extremal n-point functions of chiral primary operators, and argue that Type IIB supergravity requires that their space-time form is a product of n-1 two-point functions (as in the free field approximation) multiplied by a non-renormalized coefficient. This non-renormalization property of extremal n-point functions is a new prediction of the AdS/CFT correspondence. As a byproduct of this work we obtain the cubic couplings $t ϕϕ$ and $s ϕϕ$ of fields in the dilaton and 5-sphere graviton towers of Type IIB supergravity on $AdS_5 \times S^5$.

hep-th↗

arXiv1999

Renormalization Group Flows from Holography--Supersymmetry and a c-Theorem

We obtain first order equations that determine a supersymmetric kink solution in five-dimensional N=8 gauged supergravity. The kink interpolates between an exterior anti-de Sitter region with maximal supersymmetry and an interior anti-de Sitter region with one quarter of the maximal supersymmetry. One eighth of supersymmetry is preserved by the kink as a whole. We interpret it as describing the renormalization group flow in N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory broken to an N=1 theory by the addition of a mass term for one of the three adjoint chiral superfields. A detailed correspondence is obtained between fields of bulk supergravity in the interior anti-de Sitter region and composite operators of the infrared field theory. We also point out that the truncation used to find the reduced symmetry critical point can be extended to obtain a new N=4 gauged supergravity theory holographically dual to a sector of N=2 gauge theories based on quiver diagrams. We consider more general kink geometries and construct a c-function that is positive and monotonic if a weak energy condition holds in the bulk gravity theory. For even-dimensional boundaries, the c-function coincides with the trace anomaly coefficients of the holographically related field theory in limits where conformal invariance is recovered.

hep-th↗

arXiv1998

Constructing a c-function for SUSY Gauge Theories

Recently a non-perturbative formula for the RG flow between UV and IR fixed points of the coefficient in the trace of the energy momentum tensor of the Euler density has been obtained for N=1 SUSY gauge theories by relating the trace and R-current anomalies. This result is compared here with an earlier perturbation theory analysis based on a naturally defined metric on the space of couplings for general renormalisable quantum field theories. This approach is specialised to N=1 supersymmetric theories and extended, using consistency arguments, to obtain the Euler coefficient at fixed points to 4-loops. The result agrees completely, to this order, with the exact formula.

hep-th↗

arXiv1997

Positivity Constraints on Anomalies in Supersymmetric Gauge Theories

The relation between the trace and R-current anomalies in supersymmetric theories implies that the U$(1)_RF^2$, U$(1)_R$ and U$(1)_R^3$ anomalies which are matched in studies of N=1 Seiberg duality satisfy positivity constraints. Some constraints are rigorous and others conjectured as four-dimensional generalizations of the Zamolodchikov $c$-theorem. These constraints are tested in a large number of N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories in the non-Abelian Coulomb phase, and they are satisfied in all renormalizable models with unique anomaly-free R-current, including those with accidental symmetry. Most striking is the fact that the flow of the Euler anomaly coefficient, $a_{UV}-a_{IR}$, is always positive, as conjectured by Cardy.

hep-th↗

arXiv1997

Nonperturbative Formulas for Central Functions of Supersymmetric Gauge Theories

For quantum field theories that flow between ultraviolet and infrared fixed points, central functions, defined from two-point correlators of the stress tensor and conserved currents, interpolate between central charges of the UV and IR critical theories. We develop techniques that allow one to calculate the flows of the central charges and that of the Euler trace anomaly coefficient in a general N=1 supersymmetric gauge theory. Exact, explicit formulas for $SU(N_c)$ gauge theories in the conformal window are given and analysed. The Euler anomaly coefficient always satisfies the inequality $% a_{UV}-a_{IR}>0$. This is new evidence in strongly coupled theories that this quantity satisfies a four-dimensional analogue of the $c$-theorem, supporting the idea of irreversibility of the RG flow. Various other implications are discussed.

hep-th↗

arXiv1997

Universality of the Operator Product Expansions of SCFT_4

We study the operator product algebra of the supercurrent J and Konishi superfield K in four-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories. The Konishi superfield appears in the JJ OPE and the algebra is characterized by two central charges c and c' and an anomalous dimension h for K. In free field (one-loop) approximation, c~3N_v+N_χand c'~N_χ, where N_v and N_χare, respectively, the number of vector and chiral multiplets in the theory. In higher order c, c' and h depend on the gauge and Yukawa couplings and we obtain the two-loop contributions by combining earlier work on c with our own calculations of c'. The major result is that the radiative corrections to the central charges cancel when the one-loop beta-functions vanish, suggesting that c and c' (but not h) are invariant under continuous deformations of superconformal theories. The behavior of c and c' along renormalization group flows is studied from the viewpoint of a c-theorem.

hep-th↗

arXiv1994

Bosonic physical states in N=1 supergravity?

It is argued that states in $N=1$ supergravity that solve all of the constraint equations cannot be bosonic in the sense of being independent of the fermionic degrees of freedom. (Based on a talk given by Miguel Ortiz at the 7th Marcel Grossmann Meeting.)

gr-qc↗

arXiv1994

Spatial Geometry of the Electric Field Representation of Non-Abelian Gauge Theories

A unitary transformation $\Ps [E]=\exp (iØ[E]/g) F[E]$ is used to simplify the Gauss law constraint of non-abelian gauge theories in the electric field representation. This leads to an unexpected geometrization because $ø^a_i\equiv -\dØ[E]/\d E^{ai}$ transforms as a (composite) connection. The geometric information in $ø^a_i$ is transferred to a gauge invariant spatial connection $\G^i_{jk}$ and torsion by a suitable choice of basis vectors for the adjoint representation which are constructed from the electric field $E^{ai}$. A metric is also constructed from $E^{ai}$. For gauge group $SU(2)$, the spatial geometry is the standard Riemannian geometry of a 3-manifold, and for $SU(3)$ it is a metric preserving geometry with both conventional and unconventional torsion. The transformed Hamiltonian is local. For a broad class of physical states, it can be expressed entirely in terms of spatial geometric, gauge invariant variables.

hep-th↗

arXiv1993

The Hidden Spatial Geometry of Non-Abelian Gauge Theories

The Gauss law constraint in the Hamiltonian form of the $SU(2)$ gauge theory of gluons is satisfied by any functional of the gauge invariant tensor variable $ϕ^{ij} = B^{ia} B^{ja}$. Arguments are given that the tensor $G_{ij} = (ϕ^{-1})_{ij}\,\det B$ is a more appropriate variable. When the Hamiltonian is expressed in terms of $ϕ$ or $G$, the quantity $Γ^i_{jk}$ appears. The gauge field Bianchi and Ricci identities yield a set of partial differential equations for $Γ$ in terms of $G$. One can show that $Γ$ is a metric-compatible connection for $G$ with torsion, and that the curvature tensor of $Γ$ is that of an Einstein space. A curious 3-dimensional spatial geometry thus underlies the gauge-invariant configuration space of the theory, although the Hamiltonian is not invariant under spatial coordinate transformations. Spatial derivative terms in the energy density are singular when $\det G=\det B=0$. These singularities are the analogue of the centrifugal barrier of quantum mechanics, and physical wave-functionals are forced to vanish in a certain manner near $\det B=0$. It is argued that such barriers are an inevitable result of the projection on the gauge-invariant subspace of the Hilbert space, and that the barriers are a conspicuous way in which non-abelian gauge theories differ from scalar field theories.

hep-th↗

arXiv1993

Differential Regularization of a Non-relativistic Anyon Model

Differential regularization is applied to a field theory of a non-relativistic charged boson field $ϕ$ with $λ(ϕ{}^{*} ϕ)^2$ self-interaction and coupling to a statistics-changing $U(1)$ Chern-Simons gauge field. Renormalized configuration-space amplitudes for all diagrams contributing to the $ϕ{}^{*} ϕ{}^{*} ϕϕ$ 4-point function, which is the only primitively divergent Green's function, are obtained up to 3-loop order. The renormalization group equations are explicitly checked, and the scheme dependence of the $β$-function is investigated. If the renormalization scheme is fixed to agree with a previous 1-loop calculation, the 2- and 3-loop contributions to $β(λ,e)$ vanish, and $β(λ,e)$ itself vanishes when the ``self-dual'' condition relating $λ$ to the gauge coupling $e$ is imposed.

hep-th↗

arXiv1992

A Cutoff Procedure and Counterterms for Differential Renormalization

Explicit divergences and counterterms do not appear in the differential renormalization method, but they are concealed in the neglected surface terms in the formal partial integration procedure used. A systematic real space cutoff procedure for massless $ϕ^4$ theory is therefore studied in order to test the method and its compatibility with unitarity. Through 3-loop order, it is found that cutoff bare amplitudes are equal to the renormalized amplitudes previously obtained using the formal procedure plus singular terms which can be consistently cancelled by adding conventional counterterms to the Lagrangian. Renormalization group functions $β(g)$ and $γ(g)$ obtained in the cutoff theory also agree with previous results.

hep-th↗