Abstract
BFSS proposed that asymptotically flat M-theory is dual to a large N limit of the matrix quantum mechanics describing N nonrelativistic D0-branes. Recent insights on the soft symmetries of any quantum theory of gravity in asymptotically flat space are applied to the BFSS matrix model. It is shown that soft gravitons are realized by submatrices whose rank is held fixed in the large N M-theory limit, rather than the usual linear scaling with N for hard gravitons. The soft expansion is identified with the large N expansion and the soft theorem becomes a universal formula for the quantum mechanical scattering of such submatrix excitations. This formula is shown to be the Ward identity of large type IIA U(1)RR asymptotic gauge symmetry in the matrix model, whose asymptotic boundaries are at future and past timelike infinity.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Alek Bedroya, Alfredo Guevara, Elizabeth Himwich, Patrick Jefferson, Daniel Kapec, Hong Liu, Juan Maldacena, Shu-Heng Shao, and Nicolas Valdes for stimulating discussions. This work was supported by the Department of Energy under grant DE-SC0007870. AT and NM gratefully acknowledge support from NSF GRFP grant DGE1745303.
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Miller, N., Strominger, A., Tropper, A. et al. Soft gravitons in the BFSS matrix model. J. High Energ. Phys. 2023, 174 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP11(2023)174
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP11(2023)174