We propose a nonperturbative framework to study general correlation functions of single-trace operators in N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory at large N . The basic strategy is to decompose them into fundamental building blocks called the hexagon form factors, which were introduced earlier to study structure constants using integrability. The decomposition is akin to a triangulation of a Riemann surface, and we thus call it hexagonalization. We propose a set of rules to glue the hexagons together based on symmetry, which naturally incorporate the dependence on the conformal and the R-symmetry cross ratios. Our method is conceptually different from the conventional operator product expansion and automatically takes into account multi-trace operators exchanged in OPE channels. To illustrate the idea in simple set-ups, we compute four-point functions of BPS operators of arbitrary lengths and correlation functions of one Konishi operator and three short BPS operators, all at one loop. In all cases, the results are in perfect agreement with the perturbative data. We also suggest that our method can be a useful tool to study conformal integrals, and show it explicitly for the case of ladder integrals.

We compute a set of correlation functions of operator insertions on the 1/8 BPS Wilson loop in $$ \mathcal{N}=4 $$ N = 4 SYM by employing supersymmetric localization, OPE and the Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization. These correlators exhibit a simple determinant structure, are position-independent and form a topological subsector, but depend nontrivially on the ’t Hooft coupling and the rank of the gauge group. When applied to the 1/2 BPS circular (or straight) Wilson loop, our results provide an infinite family of exact defect CFT data, including the structure constants of protected defect primaries of arbitrary length inserted on the loop. At strong coupling, we show precise agreement with a direct calculation using perturbation theory around the AdS2 string worldsheet. We also explain the connection of our results to the “generalized Bremsstrahlung functions” previously computed from integrability techniques, reproducing the known results in the planar limit as well as obtaining their finite N generalization. Furthermore, we show that the correlators at large N can be recast as simple integrals of products of polynomials (known as Q-functions) that appear in the Quantum Spectral Curve approach. This suggests an interesting interplay between localization, defect CFT and integrability.

We study the O(N ) and Gross-Neveu models at large N on AdS d+1 background.Thanks to the isometries of AdS, the observables in these theories are constrained by the SO(d, 2) conformal group even in the presence of mass deformations, as was discussed by Callan and Wilczek [1], and provide an interesting two-parameter family of quantities which interpolate between the S-matrices in flat space and the correlators in CFT with a boundary. For the actual computation, we judiciously use the spectral representation to resum loop diagrams in the bulk. After the resummation, the AdS 4-particle scattering amplitude is given in terms of a single unknown function of the spectral parameter. We then "bootstrap" the unknown function by requiring the absence of double-trace operators in the boundary OPE. Our results are at leading nontrivial order in 1 N , and include the full dependence on the quartic coupling, the mass parameters, and the AdS radius. In the bosonic O(N ) model we study both the massive phase and the symmetry-breaking phase, which exists even in AdS 2 evading Coleman's theorem, and identify the AdS analogue of a resonance in flat space. We then propose that symmetry breaking in AdS implies the existence of a conformal manifold in the boundary conformal theory. We also provide evidence for the existence of a critical point with bulk conformal symmetry, matching existing results and finding new ones for the conformal boundary conditions of the critical theories. For the Gross-Neveu model we find a bound state, which interpolates between the familiar bound state in flat space and the displacement operator at the critical point.

We develop a novel nonperturbative approach to a class of three-point functions in planar N = 4 SYM based on Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz (TBA). More specifically, we study three-point functions of a non-BPS single-trace operator and two determinant operators dual to maximal Giant Graviton D-branes in AdS 5 ×S 5. They correspond to disk one-point functions on the worldsheet and admit a simpler and more powerful integrability description than the standard single-trace three-point functions. We first introduce two new methods to efficiently compute such correlators at weak coupling; one based on large N collective fields, which provides an example of open-closed-open duality discussed by Gopakumar, and the other based on combinatorics. The results so obtained exhibit a simple determinant structure and indicate that the correlator can be interpreted as a generalization of g-functions in 2d QFT; an overlap between an integrable boundary state and a state corresponding to the single-trace operator. We then determine the boundary state at finite coupling using the symmetry, the crossing equation and the boundary Yang-Baxter equation. With the resulting boundary state, we derive the ground-state g-function based on TBA and conjecture its generalization to other states. This is the first fully nonperturbative proposal for the structure constants of operators of finite length. The results are tested extensively at weak and strong couplings. Finally, we point out that determinant operators can provide better probes of sub-AdS locality than single-trace operators and discuss possible applications.

We perform extensive three-loop tests of the hexagon bootstrap approach for structure constants in planar N = 4 SYM theory. We focus on correlators involving two BPS operators and one non-BPS operator in the so-called SL(2) sector. At three loops, such correlators receive wrapping corrections from mirror excitations flowing in either the adjacent or the opposing channel. Amusingly, we find that the first type of correction coincides exactly with the leading wrapping correction for the spectrum (divided by the one-loop anomalous dimension). We develop an efficient method for computing the second type of correction for operators with any spin. The results are in perfect agreement with the recently obtained three-loop perturbative data by Chicherin, Drummond, Heslop, Sokatchev [2] and by Eden [3]. We also derive the integrand for general multi-particle wrapping corrections, which turns out to take a remarkably simple form. As an application we estimate the loop order at which various new physical effects are expected to kick-in.