I will describe a surprisingly simple representation of a class of integrated correlation functions of four superconformal primaries in the stress tensor multiplet of N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with arbitrary simple gauge group, G. I then present exact formulae for these integrated correlators which are manifestly invariant under GNO electro-magnetic duality. For classical gauge groups, G=SU(N), SO(N), USp(2N), In the large-N limit these correlators are interpreted via holography in terms of the low-energy expansion of type IIB superstring amplitudes in AdS_5XS^5 or an orientifold thereof. In this way I recover the SL(2,Z)-invariant BPS interactions, arising in type IIB superstring amplitudes in the flat-space limit. From the asymptotic nature of the 1/N expansion I furthermore reconstruct non-perturbative contributions which holographically correspond to (p,q)-string world-sheet instantons.

Zoom link: Please email Silvia Nagy (s.nagyATqmul.ac.uk) or Jungwook Kim (jung-wook.kimATqmul.ac.uk) for the zoom link. Abstract:In string theory SL(2,Z) invariant functions, such as modular graph functions or coefficient functions of higher derivative corrections, are ubiquitous. Using a representation in terms of Poincaré series we can combine different methods for asymptotic expansions and obtain the complete perturbative and non-perturbative expansion. In the case of the higher derivative corrections, these terms have an interpretation in terms of perturbative string loop effects and pairs of instantons/anti-instantons. There will also be a pre-seminar for the students which will begin at 2:30 pm.

I will review the concept of Borel transform and resurgence behavior for the perturbative expansion of generic physical observables presenting particular examples coming from quantum mechanics and supersymmetric localized QFT. I will then discuss more in details the physical role of non-perturbative saddle points of path integrals in theories without instantons, using the example of the asymptotically free two-dimensional principal chiral model (PCM). Standard topological arguments based on homotopy considerations suggest no role for non-perturbative saddles in such theories. However, resurgence theory, unifying perturbative and non-perturbative physics, predicts the existence of several types of non-perturbative saddles associated with features of the large-order structure of perturbation theory. These points are illustrated in the PCM, where we found new non-perturbative fractionalized saddle point field configurations, and give a quantum interpretation of previously discovered `uniton’ unstable classical solutions.