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arxiv 2505.21633 v1 pith:JB3DCJBD submitted 2025-05-27 hep-th

Ensembles in M-theory and Holography

classification hep-th
keywords ensembleobservablestheoryfieldfixedholographym-theorym2-ensemble
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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We discuss that the string/M-theory partition function requires a choice of ensembles, depending on which background fields are held fixed. The background fields correspond to worldvolume couplings in the effective action approach to the superstring, which we extrapolate to the M2-brane. One natural ensemble in this context, which we call the M2-ensemble, corresponds to fixing the value of the M-theory three-form potential. In holographic setups the choice of ensemble is important when comparing to observables in the dual field theory. Indeed, in AdS$_4$ holography the M2-ensemble does not map gravitational observables directly to field theory observables at a fixed rank $N$, but rather to observables in the grand canonical ensemble. We remark that many M2-brane partition functions take a simple form in this ensemble hinting at one-loop exactness. We also discuss how in AdS$_7$ holography, the M2-ensemble does correspond to the canonical ensemble in the field theory, i.e. the (2,0) theory at fixed rank $N$.

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Cited by 6 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

  1. Holographic Tests of the $\mu$ Ensemble

    hep-th 2026-07 conditional novelty 7.0

    Fixed-μ ensemble computations in 11d supergravity reproduce ABJM partition functions (squashed S³, SCI, TTI) as Airy functions via a Laplace transform whose measure is fixed by bulk zero-mode counting.

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    hep-th 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 7.0

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  4. Towards OSV in AdS

    hep-th 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    Derives Z_{S^1×S^2} ∼ |Z_{S^3_b}|^2 for 3d N=2 SCFTs and links it holographically to supersymmetric AdS4 black hole partition functions, akin to OSV.

  5. Membrane instantons and non-perturbative effects in $\mathrm{AdS}_{4}/\mathrm{CFT}_{3}$

    hep-th 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 5.0

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    hep-th 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 4.0

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