English

Superstrings on AdS_4 x CP^3 as a Coset Sigma-model

High Energy Physics - Theory 2010-04-06 v2

Abstract

According to the recent proposal by Aharony, Bergman, Jafferis and Maldacena the N=6 supersymmetric Chern-Simons theory in three dimensions has a 't Hooft limit whose holographic dual is described by type IIA superstings on AdS_4 x CP^3 background. We argue that the Green-Schwarz action for type IIA string theory on AdS_4 x CP^3 with kappa-symmetry partially fixed can be understood as a coset sigma-model on the same space supplied with a proper Wess-Zumino term. We construct the corresponding sigma-model Lagrangian and show that it is invariant under a local fermionic symmetry which for generic bosonic string configurations allows one to remove 8 out of 24 fermionic degrees of freedom. The remaining 16 fermions together with their bosonic partners should describe the physical content of AdS_4 x CP^3 superstring. As further evidence, we demonstrate that in the plane-wave limit the quadratic action arising from our model reproduces the one emerging from the type IIA superstring. The coset sigma-model is classically integrable which opens up the possibility to investigate its dynamics in a way very similar to the case of AdS_5 x S^5 superstrings.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0806.4940,
  title  = {Superstrings on AdS_4 x CP^3 as a Coset Sigma-model},
  author = {Gleb Arutyunov and Sergey Frolov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0806.4940},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

29 pages; v2: typos corrected, refs added

R2 v1 2026-06-21T10:55:59.943Z