Confinement/deconfinement transition in the D0-brane matrix model -- A signature of M-theory?

Speaker: Manasori Hanada
Date: October 28, 2021
Affiliation: University of Surrey
Title: Confinement/deconfinement transition in the D0-brane matrix model -- A signature of M-theory?
Abstract: In the past, numerical simulations provided us with quantitative evidence that the D0-brane matrix model (BFSS matrix model, or Matrix Model of M-theory) can describe type IIA superstring theory via gauge/gravity duality, near the 't Hooft large-N limit. In this talk, we give numerical evidence that a hitherto unknown phase -- confined phase -- exists in the D0-brane matrix model, and argue that such a phase is a natural consequence of the dual M-theory picture, modulo a few assumptions. To understand why confinement and M-theory are related, we have to understand how the small black hole, which plays a key role in the confinement/deconfinement transition, is described in terms of the matrix degrees of freedom. We do it first for a better-understood example (i.e., 4d SYM and dual type IIB superstring theory), and point out a striking similarity to the proposal for the matrix model description of the small black hole by Banks, Fischler, Klebanov, and Susskind. Along the way, we show that the intuitive geometric picture appeared in the BFSS proposal is (likely to be) applicable to gauge/gravity duality a la Maldacena. (In fact, there is a famous no-go argument by Polchinski. We show this no-go argument is wrong, by clarifying the precise meaning of "matrix" and "eigenvalue" in the matrix model and Yang-Mills theory, which is not as obvious as one might think.)