D-instantons and multiparticle production in N=4 SYM

Understand

N=4 Super-symmetric Yang-Mills theory (N=4 SYM) in the strong coupling regime has been successfully applied (through the AdS/CFT correspondence) to the description of strongly coupled plasma which is a multiparticle state.

• Yet, the high-energy scattering in the strong coupling limit of N=4 SYM is purely elastic, so this multiparticle final state can never be produced: this is because in this limit the theory is dual to weak supergravity, and the dominant interaction is the elastic graviton exchange.
• Here we propose a resolution of this dilemma by considering the contribution of D-instantons in $AdS_5$ bulk space to the scattering amplitude.
• We argue that D-instantons coupled to dilatons and axions are responsible for multiparticle production in strongly coupled N=4 SYM, and the corresponding cross section increases with energy.