SPECTRUM OF LARGE-N GAUGE-THEORY FROM SUPERGRAVITY

Recently, Maldacena proposed that the large N limit of the N = 4 super symmetric gauge theory in four dimensions with U(N) gauge group is dua l to the type IIB superstring theory on AdS(5) x S-5. We use this prop osal to study the spectrum of the large N gauge theory on IR x S-3 in a low energy regime. We find that the spectrum is discrete and evenly spaced, and the number of states at each energy level is smaller than the one predicted by the naive extrapolation of the Bekenstein-Hawking formula to the low energy regime. We also show that the gauge theory describes a region of spacetime behind the horizon as well as the regi on in front.