Quantum Effects in Supersymmetric Galilean Yang-Mills

Abstract

We study the quantum dynamics of supersymmetric Galilean Yang-Mills (SGYM), with a focus on three dimensions where there is a classical scale symmetry. This is believed to be the worldvolume theory describing D2-branes within type IIA non-relativistic string theory and arises as a non-relativistic limit of maximally supersymmetric (relativistic) Yang-Mills. Unlike the relativistic case, we find that SGYM only admits perturbative dynamical excitations on the Coulomb branch. We show that in three dimensions the classical scale symmetry is broken at one-loop due to logarithmic divergences. These cannot be regulated without introducing additional marginal deformations, and we present evidence that the theory is asymptotically free once these are included. In particular our analysis suggests that three-dimensional SGYM flows to a strongly coupled non-relativistic M2-brane theory.