Branes in Anti de Sitter Space-Time

Abstract

An intense study of the relationship between certain quantum theories of gravity realized on curved backgrounds and suitable gauge theories, has been originated by a remarkable conjecture put forward by Maldacena almost one year ago. Among the possible curved vacua of superstring or M-theory, spaces having the form of an Anti-de Sitter space-time times a compact Einstein manifold, have been playing a special role in this correspondence, since the quantum theory realized on them, in the original formulation of the conjecture, was identified with the effective superconformal theory on the world volume of parallel p-branes set on the boundary of such a space (holography). An important step in order to verify such a conjecture and eventually generalize it, consists in a precise definition of the objects entering both sides of the holographic correspondence. In the most general case indeed it turns out that important features of the field theory on the boundary of the curved background, identified with the quantum theory of gravity in the bulk, are encoded in the dynamics of the coinciding parallel p-branes set on the boundary of the same space. The study of p-brane dynamics in curved space-times which are vacua of superstring of M-theory, turns out therefore to be a relevant issue in order to verify the existence of the holographic correspondence. In the present paper, besides providing a hopefully elementary introduction to Maldacena's duality, I shall deal in a tentatively self contained way with a particular aspect of the problem of p-brane dynamics in Anti-de Sitter space-time, discussing some recent results.