High energy scattering and the AdS/CFT correspondence Original Research Article

We consider small angle and large impact parameter high energy scattering of colourless states in SYM using the AdS/CFT correspondence. The gauge theory scattering amplitude is linked with a correlation function of tilted Wilson loops, which can be calculated by the exchange of bulk supergravity fields between the two corresponding string world-sheets. We identify the dominant contributions, which all correspond to real phase shifts. In particular, we find a contribution of the bulk graviton which gives an unexpected `gravity-likeʹ s1 behaviour of the gauge theory phase shift in a specific range of energies and (large) impact parameters.