We consider a 3-brane of positive cosmological constant (de Sitter) in D-dimensional Minkowski space. We show that the Poincare algebra in the bulk yields a SO(4,2) algebra when restricted to the brane. In the limit of zero cosmological constant (flat brane), this algebra turns into the conformal algebra on the brane. We derive a correspondence principle for Minkowski space analogous to the AdS/CFT correspondence. We discuss explicitly the cases of scalar and gravitational fields. For a 3-brane of finite thickness in the transverse directions, we obtain a spectrum for vector gravitational perturbations which correspond to vector mesons. The spectrum agrees with the one obtained in truncated AdS space by de Teramond and Brodsky provided D=10 and the bulk mass scale M is of order the geometric mean of the Planck mass ($\bar M$) on the brane and $\Lambda_{ QCD}$ ($M \sim (\bar M \Lambda_{ QCD})^{ 1/2} \sim 10^9$ GeV).
Categories: hep-th