Giant gravitons in conformal field theory

Giant gravitons in AdS5xS5, and its orbifolds, have a dual field theory representation as states created by chiral primary operators. We argue that these operators are not single-trace operators in the conformal field theory, but rather are determinants and subdeterminants of scalar fields; the stringy exclusion principle applies to these operators. Evidence for this identification comes from three sources: (a) topological considerations in orbifolds, (b) computation of protected correlators using free field theory and (c) a Matrix model argument. The last argument applies to AdS7xS4 and the dual (2,0) theory, where we use algebraic aspects of the fuzzy 4-sphere to compute the expectation value of a giant graviton operator along the Coulomb branch of the theory. (author)