A defect framework unlocks difficult calculations in N = 4 super Yang-Mills

Ripples (Courtesy: iStock/Auris)

N = 4 super Yang-Mills is a highly symmetric quantum field theory that physicists use as a model system for exploring ideas in quantum gravity and string theory. The researchers study interactions between small and large excitations of the theory. The small, or light, excitations are super gravitons, which can be thought of as particle-like ripples of spacetime. The large, or heavy, excitations are giant gravitons: extended brane-like objects that arise when a graviton carries a very large amount of angular momentum. The goal is to understand how the light excitations behave in the presence of these heavy objects.

To study this, the authors analyse a four-point correlation function containing two light (L) and two heavy (H) operators, known as an LLHH correlator.…