A dissertation submitted to the University of the Witwatersrand in ful lment of the requirements for candidacy for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 2016 / Restricted Schur polynomials can be used to describe large N, non-planar limits of N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory. The R-symmetry generators commute with the dilatation operator. For small deformations of 1 2-BPS operators, the matrix elements of these generators have been computed and a set of recursion relations for the matrix elements of the dilatation operator are obtained from this commutation relation. Together with the knowledge that the smallest eigenvalues of the dilatation operator (corresponding to BPS operators) vanish, these recursion relations can be used to determine the matrix elements of the dilatation operator. Studies up to now have computed the matrix elements of the su(2) generators in the displaced corners approximation. Our first novel result is the computation of the exact su(2) generators. We obtain the matrix elements for the su(3) generators in the displaced corners approximation and exactly, for the first time. This is the first step to computing exact matrix elements of the dilatation operator. / TG2016

A dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. August 2016. / The six scalar fields in N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory enjoy a global SO(6) symmetry, and large N but non-planar limits of this theory are well-described by adopting a group representation approach. Studies have shown that the one-loop dilatation operator is highly determined by the action of the su(2)=su(3) subalgebras on restricted Schur polynomials. These actions involve the traces of products of projection operators. In this dissertation, exact analytical formulae for these traces are found which in turn are used to find the exact action of these algebras on restricted Schur polynomials. The potential of the su(2) algebra to determine the one-loop dilatation operator is also explored. This is done by exploiting necessary symmetry conditions and moving to a continuum limit in order to derive a number of partial differential equations which determine the dilatation operator. The ultimate goal of this work is to provide tools to find the exact one-loop dilatation operator in the non-planar limit. / LG2017

A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. 14 May 2013 / We study the action of the dilatation operator on restricted Schur polynomials labeled by Young diagrams with p long columns or p long rows. A new version of Schur-Weyl duality provides a powerful approach to the computation and manipulation of the symmetric group operators appearing in the restricted Schur polynomials. Using this new technology, we are able to evaluate the action of the one loop dilatation operator. The result has a direct and natural connection to the Gauss Law constraint for branes with a compact world volume. Generalzing previous results, we find considerable evidence that the dilatation operator reduces to a decoupled set of harmonic oscillators. This strongly suggests that integrability in N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory is not just a feature of the planar limit, but extends to other large N but non-planar limits.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 2016. / The AdS/CFT correspondence is a conjectured exact duality between type IIB string theory on the AdS5 S5 background and N = 4 Super Yang-Mills theory, a conformal eld theory (CFT), on the boundary of the AdS space. A speci c observable of the CFT, which can be read from the two point correlation function, is the anomalous dimension. In this dissertation we will compute spectra of anomalous dimensions of excited giant gravitons up to two loops in a speci c limit. We are interested in the anomalous dimensions because the AdS/CFT correspondence associates them with energies of states in quantum gravity. We study operators constructed using n Z elds and m Y elds with n << m: In this case m n is a small parameter. At the leading order in m n and at large N, the problem of determining the anomalous dimensions can be mapped into the dynamics of m non-interacting magnons. The subleading terms at two loops, computed for the rst time in this dissertation, induce interactions between the magnons. Even after including this new correction, we nd the BPS operators remain BPS. / MT2016