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A bstract We study the four-point function of the lowest-lying half-BPS operators in the $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 SU( N ) super-Yang-Mills theory and its relation to the flat-space four-graviton amplitude in type IIB superstring theory. We work in a large- N expansion in which the complexified Yang-Mills coupling τ is fixed. In this expansion, non-perturbative instanton contributions are present, and the SL(2 , ℤ) duality invariance of correlation functions is manifest. Our results are based on a detailed analysis of the sphere partition function of the mass-deformed SYM theory, which was previously computed using supersymmetric localization. This partition function determines a certain integrated correlator in the undeformed $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 SYM theory, which in turn constrains the four-point correlator at separated points. In a normalization where the two-point functions are proportional to N 2 − 1 and are independent of τ and $$ \overline{\tau} $$ τ ¯ , we find that the terms of order $$ \sqrt{N} $$ N and $$ 1/\sqrt{N} $$ 1 / N in the large N expansion of the four-point correlator are proportional to the non-holomorphic Eisenstein series $$ E\left(\frac{3}{2},\tau, \overline{\tau}\right) $$ E 3 2 τ τ ¯ and $$ E\left(\frac{5}{2},\tau, \overline{\tau}\right) $$ E 5 2 τ τ ¯ , respectively. In the flat space limit, these terms match the corresponding terms in the type IIB S-matrix arising from R 4 and D 4 R 4 contact inter-actions, which, for the R 4 case, represents a check of AdS/CFT at finite string coupling. Furthermore, we present striking evidence that these results generalize so that, at order $$ {N}^{\frac{1}{2}-m} $$ N 1 2 − m with integer m ≥ 0, the expansion of the integrated correlator we study is a linear sum of non-holomorphic Eisenstein series with half-integer index, which are manifestly SL(2 , ℤ) invariant.
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Duality and mock modularity
We derive a holomorphic anomaly equation for the Vafa-Wittenpartition function for twisted four-dimensional \mathcal{N} =4 𝒩 = 4 super Yang-Mills theory on \mathbb{CP}^{2} ℂ ℙ 2 for the gauge group SO(3) S O ( 3 ) from the path integral of the effective theory on the Coulomb branch.The holomorphic kernel of this equation, which receives contributionsonly from the instantons, is not modular but ‘mock modular’. Thepartition function has correct modular properties expected from S S -dualityonly after including the anomalous nonholomorphic boundary contributionsfrom anti-instantons. Using M-theory duality, we relate this phenomenonto the holomorphic anomaly of the elliptic genus of a two-dimensionalnoncompact sigma model and compute it independently in two dimensions.The anomaly both in four and in two dimensions can be traced to atopological term in the effective action of six-dimensional (2,0) ( 2 , 0 ) theory on the tensor branch. We consider generalizations to othermanifolds and other gauge groups to show that mock modularity is genericand essential for exhibiting duality when the relevant field space isnoncompact.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1911298
- PAR ID:
- 10233806
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- SciPost Physics
- Volume:
- 9
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 2542-4653
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.21468/SciPostPhys.9.5.072
