Worldsheet fluctuations and the heavy quark potential in the AdS/CFT approach

We consider contributions to the heavy quark potential, in the AdS/CFT appr oach to SU(N) gauge theory, which arise from first order fluctuations of th e associated worldsheet in anti-deSitter space. The gaussian fluctuations o ccur around a classical worldsheet configuration resembling an infinite squ are well, with the bottom of the well lying at the AdS horizon. The eigenva lues of the corresponding laplacean operators can be shown numerically to b e very close to those in at space. We find that two of the transverse world sheet fields become massive, which may have implications for the existence of a Luscher term in the heavy quark potential. It is also suggested that these massive degrees of freedom may relate to extrinsic curvature in an ef fective D = 4 string theory.