arXiv subjects

Marco S. Bianchi

Publications and source records attributed to Marco S. Bianchi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Birth and Death in Two-color ABJM

We solve exactly the leading quantum deformation of the two-point metric of half-BPS operators in $U(2)\times U(2)$ ABJM theory at finite rank. In the natural coupling-independent Schur frame, its tree-normalized two-loop correction is a Jacobi operator on the chain of two-row Young diagrams. A ground-state transform maps it to a reversible birth--death process whose stationary distribution is the Plancherel measure conditioned on diagrams with at most two rows. Its eigenmodes are Racah polynomials, its large-$n$ limit approaches radial Ornstein--Uhlenbeck dynamics, and an equivalent two-spin description identifies the Jacobi operator with a restricted $SU(2)$ Casimir.

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arXiv2026

Uniformly transcendental bases for protected two-point functions

The perturbative expansion of two-point functions of lowest dimension supersymmetric operators in $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM and ABJM theory exhibits uniform transcendental weight. Inspired by this, we construct an explicit basis of uniformly transcendental master integrals for these correlators, through four loops in four and three loops in three dimensions. In terms of these bases, the two-point functions simplify to rational linear combinations. Conversely, such explicit bases of uniformly transcendental integrals can be useful for other applications.

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arXiv2026

Universal and Transcendental Structures in Protected ABJM Two-Point Functions

We consider two-loop corrections to two-point functions of protected scalar operators in ABJM theory. We infer a compact finite-rank formula valid for operators of arbitrary dimension and multi-trace structure. The result is governed by the exact tree-level metric and a simple kernel on the Young lattice, while the planar limit reduces to a simple partition-theoretic rule. The required integrals organize into uniformly transcendental combinations, providing evidence for uniform transcendentality of these protected two-point functions.

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arXiv2026

Strong coupling dynamics of defect RG flows in ABJM

Wilson loop operators in ABJM theory provide a rich arena for studying defect conformal field theories (dCFTs) and the renormalization group (RG) flows connecting them. While these are well understood at weak coupling, a complete strong-coupling picture remains an open problem. In this paper, we present a systematic strong-coupling analysis of the fixed points and operator spectrum underlying defect RG flows in ABJM, via holography. By examining fluctuations of fundamental strings in the AdS$_4 \times \mathbb{CP}^3$ background around classical AdS$_2$ solutions, we map worldsheet excitations to the operators in the dual dCFT which are responsible for the flows and determine their scaling dimensions, including subleading corrections from one-loop worldsheet effects. We show how different boundary conditions on string coordinates correspond to distinct operators and provide a geometric realization of the RG flows through interpolating boundary conditions. We apply this framework to fermionic 1/2 BPS, bosonic 1/6 BPS, and non-supersymmetric Wilson loops, establishing a coherent strong-coupling picture in which the 1/2 BPS loop is IR stable, the 1/6 BPS loop acts as a saddle point, and the non-supersymmetric configuration emerges as a natural UV fixed point. We also advance a proposal for the holographic dual of a second non-supersymmetric loop, in terms of averaging over Dirichlet boundary conditions.

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arXiv2026

Tracing Transcendentality in Protected Correlators of N=4 SYM

We study two-point functions of protected scalar operators in N=4 SYM, focusing on their transcendentality properties in dimensional reduction, where quantum corrections are subleading in the regulator. We compute the correlators explicitly through two loops and operators up to classical dimension 10, for all trace structures. The one-loop correction is universal. At two loops, we find a controlled partial breaking of uniform transcendentality for higher-dimensional operators, which can be cancelled by suitable combinations of correlators in a fully predictable way. A main result is a complete planar extrapolation for two-loop correlators at arbitrary dimension and trace structure, whose dependence is entirely controlled by the number of stress-tensor multiplet factors in the operator. The perturbative results agree with localization predictions in all cases where comparisons are possible.

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arXiv2026

Framed defects in ABJ(M)

We investigate the role of framing in a family of 1/24 BPS Wilson loops in ABJ(M) theory, which define flows between 1/6 BPS and the 1/2 BPS superconformal fixed points. We analyze in perturbation theory how framing affects both the expectation values of these operators and the correlation functions of local insertions on the defect, as well as its interplay with RG flow and the g-theorem. We obtain a non-trivial identity between the one-point function of the defect stress tensor and a Q-exact correlator, which establishes a direct link between scale invariance, superconformal invariance and framing, and clarifies the deep connection between scale and cohomological anomalies. Finally, we propose a holographic interpretation of framing at strong coupling, identifying it with a coupling to the background B-field in the dual string theory.

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arXiv2024

Transcendentality of ABJM two-point functions

We compute the two-point function of protected dimension-1 operators in ABJM up to two loops in dimensional regularization. The result exhibits uniform transcendentality empirically, which we conjecture to hold at all orders. We leverage this property to streamline the reconstruction of the dimensional regularization expansion of master integrals in terms of bases of Euler sums of uniform transcendental weight.

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arXiv2024

Framing fermionic Wilson loops in ABJ(M)

Framing plays a central role in the evaluation of Wilson loops in theories with Chern-Simons actions. In pure Chern-Simons theory, it guarantees topological invariance, while in theories with matter like ABJ(M), our theory of interest, it is essential to enforce the cohomological equivalence of different BPS Wilson loops. This is the case for the 1/6 BPS bosonic and the 1/2 BPS fermionic Wilson loops, which have the same expectation value when computed as matrix model averages from localization. This equivalence holds at framing $\mathfrak{f}=1$, which has so far been a challenge to implement in perturbative evaluations. In this paper, we compute the expectation value of the 1/2 BPS fermionic circle of ABJ(M) theory up to two loops in perturbation theory at generic framing. This is achieved by a careful analysis of fermionic Feynman diagrams, isolating their framing dependent contributions and evaluating them in point-splitting regularization using framed contours. Specializing our result to $\mathfrak{f}=1$ we recover exactly the matrix model prediction, thus realizing for the first time a direct perturbative check of localization for this operator. We also generalize our computation to the case of a multiply wound circle, again matching the corresponding matrix model prediction.

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arXiv2023

Two spinning Konishi operators at three loops

We present the three-point function of two spin-two and one scalar twist-two operators in N=4 SYM up to three perturbative orders at weak coupling, obtained via a direct Feynman diagrammatic calculation.

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arXiv2023

Protected and uniformly transcendental

We show that the two-point function of protected bi-scalar operators in ${\cal N}=4$ SYM evaluated in dimensional regularization exhibits a uniform degree of transcendentality up to three-loop order. We conjecture that this property holds for the whole perturbative series and leverage the explicit results to postulate a prediction for the leading, order $ε$, correction to all loop orders. We also consider the soft limit of three-point functions of such operators in momentum space and point out a simple and surprising perturbative relation to two-point functions, which we also extrapolate to all loop orders.

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arXiv2021

Three twist-two, two spins, two loops

I consider three-point functions of twist-two operators in N=4 SYM, two of which endowed with spin. I supply perturbative data up to twelve units of spins and second perturbative order at weak coupling.

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arXiv2020

On three-point functions in ABJM and the latitude Wilson loop

I consider three-point functions of twist-one operators in ABJM at weak coupling. I compute the structure constant of correlators involving one twist-one un-protected operator and two protected ones for a few finite values of the spin, up to two-loop order. As an application I enforce a limit on the gauge group ranks, in which I relate the structure constant for three chiral primary operators to the expectation value of a supersymmetric Wilson loop. Such a relation is then used to perform a successful five-loop test on the matrix model conjectured to describe the supersymmetric Wilson loop.

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arXiv2019

Roadmap on Wilson loops in 3d Chern-Simons-matter theories

This is a compact review of recent results on supersymmetric Wilson loops in ABJ(M) and related theories. It aims to be a quick introduction to the state of the art in the field and a discussion of open problems. It is divided into short chapters devoted to different questions and techniques. Some new results, perspectives and speculations are also presented. We hope this might serve as a baseline for further studies of this topic.

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arXiv2019

On structure constants with two spinning twist-two operators

I consider three-point functions of one protected and two unprotected twist-two operators with spin in N=4 SYM at weak coupling. At one loop I formulate an empiric conjecture for the dependence of the corresponding structure constants on the spins of the operators. Using such an ansatz and some input from explicit perturbative results, I fix completely various infinite sets of one-loop structure constants of these three-point functions. Finally, I determine the two-loop corrections to the structure constants for a few fixed values of the spins of the operators.

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arXiv2018

A note on three-point functions of unprotected operators

Given the recent progress in computing three-point functions in N=4 SYM via integrability, I provide here a novel direct calculation of some structure constants at weak coupling. The main focus is on correlators involving more than one unprotected operator, at two-loop order in the perturbative expansion.

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arXiv2018

A matrix model for the latitude Wilson loop in ABJM theory

In ABJ(M) theory, we propose a matrix model for the exact evaluation of BPS Wilson loops on a latitude circular contour, so providing a new weak-strong interpolation tool. Intriguingly, the matrix model turns out to be a particular case of that computing torus knot invariants in $U(N_1|N_2)$ Chern-Simons theory. At weak coupling we check our proposal against a three-loop computation, performed for generic framing, winding number and representation. The matrix model is amenable of a Fermi gas formulation, which we use to systematically compute the strong coupling and genus expansions. For the fermionic Wilson loop the leading planar behavior agrees with a previous string theory prediction. For the bosonic operator our result provides a clue for finding the corresponding string dual configuration. Our matrix model is consistent with recent proposals for computing Bremsstrahlung functions exactly in terms of latitude Wilson loops. As a by-product, we extend the conjecture for the exact $B^θ_{1/6}$ Bremsstrahlung function to generic representations and test it with a four-loop perturbative computation. Finally, we propose an exact prediction for $B_{1/2}$ at unequal gauge group ranks.

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arXiv2017

ABJM $θ$-Bremsstrahlung at four loops and beyond

In ABJ(M) theory a generalized cusp can be constructed out of the 1/6 BPS Wilson line by introducing an angle $φ$ in the spacial contour and/or an angle $θ$ in the internal R-symmetry space. The small angles limits of its anomalous dimension are controlled by corresponding Bremsstrahlung functions. In this note we compute the internal space $θ$-Bremsstrahlung function to four loops at weak coupling in the planar limit. Based on this result, we propose an all order conjecture for the $θ$-Bremsstrahlung function.

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arXiv2017

ABJM $θ$-Bremsstrahlung at four loops and beyond: non-planar corrections

We consider the Bremsstrahlung function associated to a 1/6-BPS Wilson loop in ABJM theory, with a cusp in the couplings to scalar fields. We non-trivially extend its recent four-loop computation at weak coupling to include non-planar corrections. We have recently proposed a conjecture relating this object to supersymmetric circular Wilson loops with multiple windings, which can be computed via localization. We find agreement between this proposal and the perturbative computation of the Bremsstrahlung function, including color sub-leading corrections. This supports the conjecture and hints at its validity beyond the planar approximation.

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