Two-loop partition function in the planar plane-wave matrix model

We perform two independent calculations of the two-loop partition function for the 't Hooft large N limit of the plane-wave matrix model, conjectured to be dual to the decoupled little string theory of a single spherical type IIA NS5-brane. The first is via a direct two-loop path-integral calculation in the matrix model, while the second employs the one-loop dilatation operator of four-dimensional N = 4 Yang-Mills theory truncated to the SU(2\4) subsector. We find precise agreement between the results of the two calculations. Various polynomials appearing in the result have rather special properties, possibly related to the large symmetry algebra of the theory or to integrability. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.