The BFSS model on the lattice

Abstract

Abstract: We study the maximally supersymmetric BFSS model at finite temperature and its bosonic relative. For the bosonic model in p+1 dimensions, we find that it effectively reduces to a system of gauged Gaussian matrix models. The effective model captures the low temperature regime of the model including one of its two phase transitions. The mass becomes p1/3λ1/3 for large p, with λ the ’t Hooft coupling. Simulations of the bosonic-BFSS model with p = 9 give m = (1.965±.007)λ1/3, which is also the mass gap of the Hamiltonian. We argue that there is no ‘sign’ problem in the maximally supersymmetric BFSS model and perform detailed simulations of several observables finding excellent agreement with AdS/CFT predictions when 1/α′ corrections are included.