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.''.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 031 |
Journal | Journal of High Energy Physics |
Volume | 2007 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 1 2007 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Bosonic strings
- Gauge-gravity correspondence
- M-theory
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Nuclear and High Energy Physics