Strings on AdS2 and the high-energy limit of noncritical M-theory
Abstract
Noncritical M-theory in 2+1 dimensions has been defined as a double-scaling limit of a nonrelativistic Fermi liquid on a flat two-dimensional plane. Here we study this noncritical M-theory in the limit of high energies, analogous to the α' → ∞ limit of string theory. In the related case of two-dimensional Type 0A strings, it has been argued that the conformal α' → ∞ limit leads to AdS2 with a propagating fermion whose mass is set by the value of the RR flux. Here we provide evidence that in the high-energy limit, the natural ground state of noncritical M-theory similarly describes the AdS2 × S1 spacetime, with a massless propagating fermion. We argue that the spacetime effective theory in this background is captured by a topological higher-spin extension of conformal Chern-Simons gravity in 2+1 dimensions, consistently coupled to a massless Dirac field. Intriguingly, the two-dimensional plane populated by the original nonrelativistic fermions is essentially the twistor space associated with the symmetry group of the AdS2 × S1 spacetime; thus, at least in the high-energy limit, noncritical M-theory can be nonperturbatively described as a ``Fermi liquid on twistor space.''
- Publication:
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Journal of High Energy Physics
- Pub Date:
- June 2007
- DOI:
- 10.1088/1126-6708/2007/06/031
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0704.2230
- Bibcode:
- 2007JHEP...06..031H
- Keywords:
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- High Energy Physics - Theory
- E-Print:
- 31 pages