Giant gravitons and the emergence of geometric limits in β-deformations of $ \mathcal{N}=4 $ SYM
We study a one parameter family of supersymmetric marginal deformations of N = 4 SYM with U(1) 3 symmetry, known as β-deformations, to understand their dual AdS × X geometry, where X is a large classical geometry in the g YM 2 N → ∞ limit. We argue that we can determine whether or not X is geometric by studying the spectrum of open strings between giant gravitons states, as represented by operators in the field theory, as we take N → ∞ in certain double scaling limits. We study the conditions under which these open strings can give rise to a large number of states with energy far below the string scale. The number-theoretic properties of β are very important. When exp(iβ) is a root of unity, the space X is an orbifold. When exp(iβ) close to a root of unity in a double scaling limit sense, X corresponds to a finite deformation of the orbifold. Lastly, if β is irrational, sporadic light states can be present.