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AdS/CFT correspondence

physics
Also known as: anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory

Quick Summary

The AdS/CFT correspondence is a theoretical framework in physics that proposes an equivalence between two seemingly different types of theories: string theory in a specific type of curved spacetime called anti-de Sitter (AdS) space, and a quantum field theory (CFT) living in one fewer spatial dimension. This correspondence, discovered by Juan Maldacena, suggests that a problem in one theory can be translated into a simpler problem in the other.1

This concept is a profound development in string theory, offering an exact mathematical formulation in certain scenarios and linking string theory to more conventional quantum field theory methods. It has spurred extensive research and provides a powerful tool for understanding complex quantum systems.1

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3 Britannica Sources
  1. supergravity
  2. string theory
  3. gauge theory

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