Fortuity in ABJM theory

by Alexandre Belin (Universita & INFN, Milano-Bicocca (IT))

Tuesday Jan 27, 2026, 2:00 PM → 4:00 PM Europe/Zurich

4/3-006 - TH Conference Room (CERN)

The fortuitous mechanism is a way to distinguish different type of microstates in quantum gravity. For BPS states, the question can be made sharp: fortuitous operators are the true black hole microstates and display an erratic N-dependence. A given operator built out of the fundamental fields of the theory can be BPS at some value of N, while at higher N the same operator fails to be BPS due to a trace relation disappearing. On the other hand, monotone operators correspond to excitations of the (BPS) bulk perturbative fields, and a given monotone operator built out of the fundamental fields remains BPS at all N. In this talk, I explore this mechanism in ABJM theory, which has several features absent in the canonical example of N=4 SYM: a non-continuous coupling, and non-perturbative sectors coming from monopole operators. I will perform a systematic analysis of the operators of the theory at low quantum numbers in ABJM at N=2, finding the first fortuitous operators. I will work both at large k, in direct comparison to what is done in N=4 SYM, but also at small k where monopole operators become important. Finally, I will speculate on a microscopic origin of the N^(3/2) scaling of the BH entropy and its connection to fortuity.