Absorption by double-centered D3-branes and the Coulomb branch of N=4 SYM theory

We calculate the classical cross-section for absorption of a minimally coup led scalar in the double-centered D3-brane geometry. The dual field theory has gauge symmetry broken to S(U(N-1) x U(N-2)) and is on the Coulomb branc h of N = 4 Super Yang-Mills theory. Our analysis is valid at energy scales much smaller than the W particles mass, giving logarithmic corrections to t he cross-section calculated at the IR conformal fixed points. These correct ions are associated with deformations of the N = 4 Super Yang-Mills theory by irrelevant operators that break conformal invariance and correspond to p rocesses where a virtual pair of gauge particles or a virtual pair of W bos ons interact with the incident wave to create a pair of gauge particles.