Two universal results for Wilson loops at strong coupling

We compute the large N limit of Wilson loop expectation values for a broad class of N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories defined on a general class of background three-manifolds M_3, diffeomorphic to S^3. We find a simple closed formula which depends on the background geometry only through a certain supersymmetric Killing vector field. The supergravity dual of such a Wilson loop is an M2-brane wrapping the M-theory circle, together with a complex curve in a self-dual Einstein ma...

We review Wilson loops in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with emphasis on the exact results. The implications are discussed in the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence.

This paper studies in great detail a family of supersymmetric Wilson loop operators in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory we have recently found. For a generic curve on an S^3 in space-time the loops preserve two supercharges but we will also study special cases which preserve 4, 8 and 16 supercharges. For certain loops we find the string theory dual explicitly and for the general case we show that string solutions satisfy a first order differential equation. This equation ...

Quiver gauge theories with a large number of nodes host a wealth of Wilson loop operators. Expectation values are obtained, using supersymmetric localization, for Wilson loops in the antisymmetric representations associated with each individual gauge node, for a sample of 5d long quiver gauge theories whose UV fixed points have holographic duals in Type IIB. The sample includes the $T_N$ theories and the results are uniformly given in terms of Bloch-Wigner functions. The holo...

We study 1/2-BPS Wilson loop operators in maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory on $d$-dimensional spheres. Their vacuum expectation values can be computed at large $N$ through supersymmetric localisation. The holographic duals are given by back-reacted spherical D-branes. For $d\neq 4$, the resulting theories are non-conformal and correspondingly, the dual geometries do not possess an asymptotic AdS region. The main aim of this work is to compute the holographic Wilson ...

This is a compact review of recent results on supersymmetric Wilson loops in ABJ(M) and related theories. It aims to be a quick introduction to the state of the art in the field and a discussion of open problems. It is divided into short chapters devoted to different questions and techniques. Some new results, perspectives and speculations are also presented. We hope this might serve as a baseline for further studies of this topic.

We study an anisotropic scale transformation in the worldsheet description of D3-branes in Type IIB theory, and show that the transformation is really a symmetry in a region near D3-branes. AdS/CFT correspondence follows from this symmetry. We will explicitly show that Wilson loops in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory and minimal surfaces in AdS_5 are related by the symmetry. The functional form of a supersymmetric Wilson loop operator is naturally derived from our worldsh...

We study the behavior of the Wilson loop in the (5+1)-dimensional supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with the presence of the solitonic object. Using the dual string description of the Yang-Mills theory that is given by the D1/D5 system, we estimate the Wilson loops both in the temporal and spatial cases. For the case of the temporal loop, we obtain the velocity dependent potential. For the spatial loop, we find that the area law is emerged due to the effect of the D1-branes. F...

The AdS/CFT correspondence suggests that the Wilson loop of the large N gauge theory with N=4 supersymmetry in 4 dimensions is described by a minimal surface in AdS_5 x S^5. We examine various aspects of this proposal, comparing gauge theory expectations with computations of minimal surfaces. There is a distinguished class of loops, which we call BPS loops, whose expectation values are free from ultra-violet divergence. We formulate the loop equation for such loops. To the ex...

In these lectures we describe the attempt to extract the expectation values of Wilson loops from the string/gauge correspondence. We start with the original calculation in $AdS_5$. It is then extended to the non-conformal background of $D_p$ in the near horizon limit. We discuss the computation at finite temperature. Supergravity models that admit confinement in 3d and 4d are described. A theorem that determines the classical values of loops associated with a generalized back...