Person:

Yin, Xi

We consider the one-loop partition function of free quantum field theory in locally Anti-de Sitter space-times. In three dimensions, the one loop determinants for scalar, gauge and graviton excitations are computed explicitly using heat kernel techniques. We obtain precisely the result anticipated by Brown and Henneaux: the partition function includes a sum over "boundary excitations" of AdS3, which are the Virasoro descendants of empty Anti-de Sitter space. This result also allows us to compute the one-loop corrections to the Euclidean action of the BTZ black hole as well its higher genus generalizations.

In this note we study spin chain operators in the (\mathcal{N})=6 Chern-Simons-matter theory recently proposed by Aharony, Bergman, Jafferis and Maldacena to be dual to type IIA string theory in (AdS_4) x (\mathbb{CP}^3). We study the two-loop dilatation operator in the gauge theory, and compare to the Penrose limit on the string theory side.

In this paper we simplify and extend previous work on three-point functions in Vasiliev's higher spin gauge theory in (AdS_4). We work in a gauge in which the space-time dependence of Vasiliev's master fields is gauged away completely, leaving only the internal twistor-like variables. The correlation functions of boundary operators can be easily computed in this gauge. We find complete agreement of the tree level three point functions of higher spin currents in Vasiliev's theory with the conjectured dual free O(N) vector theory.