Stampedes II: Null Polygons in Conformal Gauge Theory

Abstract

We consider correlation functions of single trace operators approaching the cusps of null polygons in a double-scaling limit where so-called $\textit{cusp times}$ $t_i^2 = g^2 \log x_{i-1,i}^2\log x_{i,i+1}^2$ are held fixed and the t'Hooft coupling is small. With the help of stampedes, symbols and educated guesses, we find that any such correlator can be uniquely fixed through a set of coupled lattice PDEs of Toda type with several intriguing novel features. These results hold for most conformal gauge theories with a large number of colours, including planar $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM.