Abstract
Recently it has been proposed that the coefficient of the three-point function of the BMN operators in N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory is related to the three-string interactions in the pp-wave background. We calculate three-point functions of these operators to the first order in the effective Yang-Mills coupling λ′ = g YM 2 N/J 2 in planar perturbation theory. On the string theory side, we derive the explicit expressions of the Neumann matrices to all orders in 1/(μp + α′) 2 . This allows us to compute the corresponding three-string scattering amplitudes. This provides an all orders prediction for the field theory three-point functions. We compare our field theory results with the string theory results to the subleading order in 1/(μp + α′) 2 and find perfect agreement. © SISSA/ISAS 2002.