Minkowski-space correlators in AdS/CFT correspondence: recipe and applications

We formulate a prescription for computing Minkowski-space correlators from AdS/CFT correspondence. This prescription is shown to give the correct retarded propagators at zero temperature in four dimensions, as well as at finite temperature in the two-dimensional conformal field theory dual to the BTZ black hole. Using the prescription, we calculate the Chern-Simons diffusion constant of the finite-temperature N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in the strong coupling limit. We explain why the quasinormal frequencies of the asymptotically AdS background correspond to the poles of the retarded Green's function of the boundary conformal field theory.