Undulating strings and gauge theory waves

We study some dynamical aspects of the correspondence between strings in AdS space and external heavy quarks in N = 4 SYM, Specifically, by examining waves propagating on such strings, we make some plausible (and some surprising) inferences about the time-dependent fields produced by oscillating quarks in the strongly coupled gauge theory, We point out a puzzle regarding energy conservation in the SYM theory. In addition, we perform a similar analysis of the gauge fields produced by a baryon (represented as a D5-brane with string-like extension in AdS space) and compare and contrast with the gauge fields produced by a quark-antiquark pair (represented as a string looping through AdS space). (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.