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  • Open Access

String Duals of Two-Dimensional Yang-Mills Theory and Symmetric Product Orbifolds

Shota Komatsu1,* and Pronobesh Maity2,†

  • 1Department of Theoretical Physics, CERN, 1211 Meyrin, Switzerland
  • 2Laboratory for Theoretical Fundamental Physics, EPFL, Rte de la Sorge, Lausanne, Switzerland

  • *Contact author: shota.komatsu@cern.ch
  • †Contact author: pronobesh.maity@epfl.ch
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 231603 – Published 3 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/zkm5-smzx

Abstract

We propose a bosonic string dual to large N chiral Yang-Mills theory in two dimensions at finite `t Hooft coupling. The worldsheet theory is a β−γ system deformed by a chiral Polchinski-Strominger term. We reproduce the partition function on a torus, cylinder three-point amplitudes, and the area law for Wilson loops. We also present candidate string duals to symmetric product orbifolds for general seed conformal field theories with c<24 and their TT¯, JT¯ deformations. The results hint at interrelations among confining, nonrelativistic, and matrix strings and AdS3/CFT2.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 231603– Published 3 December, 2025
  • Received 6 August 2025
  • Accepted 27 October 2025
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