Abstract
The AdS/CFT conjecture relates quantum gravity on Anti-de Sitter (AdS) space
to a conformal field theory (CFT) defined on the spacetime boundary. We
interpret the CFT in terms of natural analogues of the bulk S-matrix. Our first
approach finds the bulk S-matrix as a limit of scattering from an AdS bubble
immersed in a space admitting asymptotic states. Next, we show how the
periodicity of geodesics obstructs a standard LSZ prescription for scattering
within global AdS. To avoid this subtlety we partition global AdS into patches
within which CFT correlators reconstruct transition amplitudes of AdS states.
Finally, we use the AdS/CFT duality to propose a large N collective field
theory that describes local, perturbative supergravity. Failure of locality in
quantum gravity should be related to the difference between the collective 1/N
expansion and genuine finite N dynamics.