The Large N Limit of Superconformal Field Theories and Supergravity

Authors: Juan M. Maldacena

Adv.Theor.Math.Phys.2:231-252,1998
20 pages, harvmac, v2: section on AdS_2 corrected, references added, v3: More references and a sign in eqns 2.8 and 2.9 corrected

Abstract: We show that the large $N$ limit of certain conformal field theories in various dimensions include in their Hilbert space a sector describing supergravity on the product of Anti-deSitter spacetimes, spheres and other compact manifolds. This is shown by taking some branes in the full M/string theory and then taking a low energy limit where the field theory on the brane decouples from the bulk. We observe that, in this limit, we can still trust the near horizon geometry for large $N$. The enhanced supersymmetries of the near horizon geometry correspond to the extra supersymmetry generators present in the superconformal group (as opposed to just the super-Poincare group). The 't Hooft limit of 4-d ${\cal N} =4$ super-Yang-Mills at the conformal point is shown to contain strings: they are IIB strings. We conjecture that compactifications of M/string theory on various Anti-deSitter spacetimes are dual to various conformal field theories. This leads to a new proposal for a definition of M-theory which could be extended to include five non-compact dimensions.

Submitted to arXiv on 27 Nov. 1997

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