Related papers: BMN-like sectors in 4d $\mathcal N=4$ SYM with bou…

Recently, Aharony, Bergman, Jafferis and Maldacena proposed that the N=6 Chern-Simons gauge theories are holographically dual to the M-theory backgrounds with multiple M2-branes on orbifolds C^4/Z_k. When k is large, they have the type IIA…

In this dissertation we explore various aspects of the AdS/CFT correspondence. As string quantization on general backgrounds with fluxes is very difficult, one often uses the duality at the level of canonical fields of supergravity and the…

Many observables in 4d $\mathcal N=4$ SYM with Gaiotto-Witten boundary conditions can be described exactly by matrix models via supersymmetric localization. The boundaries typically introduce new degrees of freedom, through a reduction of…

We find a new Penrose limit of AdS_5 x S^5 giving the maximally supersymmetric pp-wave background with two explicit space-like isometries. This is an important missing piece in studying the AdS/CFT correspondence in certain subsectors. In…

We study the holographic description of string theory in a plane wave spacetime by taking the Penrose limit of the usual AdS/CFT correspondence. We consider three-point functions with two BMN operators and one non-BMN operator; the latter…

The Penrose limits of a D5-brane wrapped on the sphere of AdS_5 x S^5 and connected to the boundary by M fundamental strings, which is dual to the baryon vertex of the N=4 SU(M) super Yang-Mills theory, are investigated. It is shown that,…

We study a rich set of four-dimensional superconformal field theories (SCFTs) with both central charges identical: $a = c$. These are constructed via the diagonal $\mathcal{N}=2$ or $\mathcal{N}=1$ gauging of the flavor symmetry $G$ of a…

Superconformal field theories (SCFT) are known to possess solvable yet nontrivial sectors in their full operator algebras. Two prime examples are the chiral algebra sector on a two dimensional plane in four dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$…

Six-dimensional superconformal field theories (SCFTs) give rise to four-dimensional (4d) ones when compactified on Riemann surfaces. In the $\mathcal{N}=(2,0)$ case, this yields the famous class S family. For $\mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ theories…

We explore 3d $ \mathcal{N}=4 $ theories arising from twisted compactification of 4d $ \mathcal{N}=2 $ $ (G, G') $ Argyres-Douglas superconformal field theories (SCFTs), together with the 2d vertex operator algebras (VOAs) supported on the…

We study the AdS/CFT correspondence for string states which flow into plane wave states in the Penrose limit. Leading finite radius corrections to the string spectrum are compared with scaling dimensions of finite R-charge BMN-like…

A general framework for applying the pp-wave approximation to holographic calculations in the AdS/CFT correspondence is proposed. By assuming the existence and some properties of string field theory (SFT) on $AdS_5 \times S^5$ background,…

We extend the analysis of arXiv:0801.4457 [hep-th] to charged black hole solutions of four-dimensional $U(1)^4$ gauged supergravity which carry three charges. There are two decoupling near-horizon limits, one over the near-BPS black hole…

We study a class of near-BPS operators for a complex 2-parameter family of N=1 superconformal Yang-Mills theories that can be obtained by a Leigh-Strassler deformation of N=4 SYM theory. We identify these operators in the large N and large…

We study two-dimensional (4,4) superconformal field theories of central charge c=6, corresponding to nonlinear sigma models on K3 surfaces, using the superconformal bootstrap. This is made possible through a surprising relation between the…

We investigate the correspondence between superstring theory on pp-wave background with NSNS-flux and superconformal field theory on a symmetric orbifold. This correspondence can be regarded as the ``Penrose limit'' of AdS_3/CFT_2…

BMN operators are characterized by the fact that they have infinite R-charge and finite anomalous dimension in the BMN double scaling limit. Using this fact, we show that the BMN operators close under operator product expansion and form a…

We engineer a large new set of four-dimensional N=1 superconformal field theories by wrapping M5-branes on complex curves. We present new supersymmetric AdS_5 M-theory backgrounds which describe these fixed points at large N, and then…

We present a self-contained review of the Plane-wave/super-Yang-Mills duality, which states that strings on a plane-wave background are dual to a particular large R-charge sector of N=4, D=4 superconformal U(N) gauge theory. This duality is…

We investigate the holographic correspondence between (p+1)-dimensional ($0\le p\le 4$) SYM theories with 16 supercharges and superstring theories on the near-horizon limit of Dp-brane backgrounds. Following an approach based on the…