AdS/CFT correspondence

About: AdS/CFT correspondence is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 6660 publications have been published within this topic receiving 355520 citations.

The shear viscosity to entropy ratio: a status report

Abstract: This review highlights some of the lessons that the holographic gauge/gravity duality has taught us regarding the behavior of the shear viscosity to entropy density in strongly coupled field theories. The viscosity to entropy ratio has been shown to take on a very simple universal value in all gauge theories with an Einstein gravity dual. Here we describe the origin of this universal ratio, and focus on how it is modified by generic higher derivative corrections corresponding to curvature corrections on the gravity side of the duality. In particular, certain curvature corrections are known to push the viscosity to entropy ratio below its universal value. This disproves a longstanding conjecture that such a universal value represents a strict lower bound for any fluid in nature. We discuss the main developments that have led to insight into the violation of this bound, and consider whether the consistency of the theory is responsible for setting a fundamental lower bound on the viscosity to entropy ratio.

Bounding the Space of Holographic CFTs with Chaos

Abstract: Thermal states of quantum systems with many degrees of freedom are subject to a bound on the rate of onset of chaos, including a bound on the Lyapunov exponent, λ L ≤ 2π/β. We harness this bound to constrain the space of putative holographic CFTs and their would-be dual theories of AdS gravity. First, by studying out-of-time-order four-point functions, we discuss how λ L = 2π/β in ordinary two-dimensional holographic CFTs is related to properties of the OPE at strong coupling. We then rule out the existence of unitary, sparse two-dimensional CFTs with large central charge and a set of higher spin currents of bounded spin; this implies the inconsistency of weakly coupled AdS3 higher spin gravities without infinite towers of gauge fields, such as the SL(N) theories. This fits naturally with the structure of higher-dimensional gravity, where finite towers of higher spin fields lead to acausality. On the other hand, unitary CFTs with classical W ∞ [λ] symmetry, dual to 3D Vasiliev or hs[λ] higher spin gravities, do not violate the chaos bound, instead exhibiting no chaos: λ L = 0. Independently, we show that such theories violate unitarity for |λ| > 2. These results encourage a tensionless string theory interpretation of the 3D Vasiliev theory.

All point correlation functions in SYK

Abstract: Large N melonic theories are characterized by two-point function Feynman diagrams built exclusively out of melons. This leads to conformal invariance at strong coupling, four-point function diagrams that are exclusively ladders, and higher-point functions that are built out of four-point functions joined together. We uncover an incredibly useful property of these theories: the six-point function, or equivalently, the three-point function of the primary O(N ) invariant bilinears, regarded as an analytic function of the operator dimensions, fully determines all correlation functions, to leading nontrivial order in 1/N , through simple Feynman-like rules. The result is applicable to any theory, not necessarily melonic, in which higher-point correlators are built out of four-point functions. We explicitly calculate the bilinear three-point function for q-body SYK, at any q. This leads to the bilinear four-point function, as well as all higher-point functions, expressed in terms of higher-point conformal blocks, which we discuss. We find universality of correlators of operators of large dimension, which we simplify through a saddle point analysis. We comment on the implications for the AdS dual of SYK.

Partition functions and double-trace deformations in AdS/CFT

Abstract: We study the effect of a relevant double-trace deformation on the partition function (and conformal anomaly) of a CFTd at large N and its dual picture in AdSd+1 Three complementary previous results are brought into full agreement with each other: bulk [1] and boundary [2] computations, as well as their formal identity [3] We show the exact equality between the dimensionally regularized partition functions or, equivalently, fluctuation determinants involved A series of results then follows: (i) equality between the renormalized partition functions for all d; (ii) for all even d, correction to the conformal anomaly; (iii) for even d, the mapping entails a mixing of UV and IR effects on the same side (bulk) of the duality, with no precedent in the leading order computations; and finally, (iv) a subtle relation between overall coefficients, volume renormalization and IR-UV connection All in all, we get a clean test of the AdS/CFT correspondence beyond the classical SUGRA approximation in the bulk and at subleading O(1) order in the large-N expansion on the boundary

Viscous hydrodynamics relaxation time from AdS/CFT correspondence

Abstract: We consider an expanding boost-invariant plasma at strong coupling using the AdS/CFT correspondence for $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory. We determine the relaxation time in second order viscous hydrodynamics and find that it is around 30 times shorter than weak coupling expectations. We find that the nonsingularity of the dual geometry in the string frame necessitates turning on the dilaton which leads to a nonvanishing expectation value for $\mathrm{tr}{F}^{2}$ behaving like ${\ensuremath{\tau}}^{\ensuremath{-}10/3}$.