This dissertation splits into two distinct halves. The first half is devoted to the study of the holography of higher spin gauge theory in AdS_3. We present a conjecture that the holographic dual of W_N minimal model in a 't Hooft-like large N limit is an unusual ``semi-local" higher spin gauge theory on AdS_3×S^1. At each point on the S^1 lives a copy of three-dimensional Vasiliev theory, that contains an infinite tower of higher spin gauge fields coupled to a single massive complex scalar propagating in AdS_3. The Vasiliev theories at different points on the S^1 are correlated only through the AdS_3 boundary conditions on the massive scalars. All but one single tower of higher spin symmetries are broken by the boundary conditions. This conjecture is checked by comparing tree-level two- and three-point functions, and also one-loop partition functions on both side of the duality. The second half focuses on the holography of higher spin gauge theory in AdS_4. We demonstrate that a supersymmetric and parity violating version of Vasiliev's higher spin gauge theory in AdS_4 admits boundary conditions that preserve N=0,1,2,3,4 or 6 supersymmetries. In particular, we argue that the Vasiliev theory with U(M) Chan-Paton and N=6 boundary condition is holographically dual to the 2+1 dimensional U(N)_k×U(M)_{−k} ABJ theory in the limit of large N,k and finite M. In this system all bulk higher spin fields transform in the adjoint of the U(M) gauge group, whose bulk t'Hooft coupling is M/N. Our picture suggests that the supersymmetric Vasiliev theory can be obtained as a limit of type IIA string theory in AdS_4×CP^3, and that the non-Abelian Vasiliev theory at strong bulk 't Hooft coupling smoothly turn into a string field theory. The fundamental string is a singlet bound state of Vasiliev's higher spin particles held together by U(M) gauge interactions.

We conjecture that the level k U(N) Chern-Simons theory coupled to free anticommuting scalar matter in the fundamental is dual to non-minmal higher-spin Vasiliev gravity in dS4 with parity-violating phase \theta0 = \pi N/2k and Neumann boundary conditions for the scalar. Related conjectures are made for fundamental commuting spinor matter and critical theories. This generalizes a recent conjecture relating the minimal Type A Vasiliev theory in dS4 to the Sp(N) model with fundamental real anti-commuting scalars.

We investigate the problem of counting 1/16 Bogomol’nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) operators in N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory at weak coupling. We present the complete set of 1/16 BPS operators in the infinite-N limit, which agrees with the counting of free BPS multigraviton states in the gravity dual AdS_5×S^5. Further, we conjecture that all 1/16 BPS operators in N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory are of the multigraviton form, and give numerical evidence for this conjecture. We discuss the implication of our conjecture and the seeming failure in reproducing the entropy of large 1/16 BPS black holes in AdS_5.

We present a conjecture on the complete spectrum of single-trace operators in the infinite N limit of W_N minimal model and evidence for the conjecture. We further propose that the holographic dual of W_N minimal model in the ’t Hooft limit is an unusual “semilocal” higher spin gauge theory on AdS_3×S^1. At each point on the S^1 lives a copy of three-dimensional Vasiliev theory, that contains an infinite tower of higher spin gauge fields coupled to a single massive complex scalar propagating in AdS_3. The Vasiliev theories at different points on the S^1 are correlated only through the AdS_3 boundary conditions on the massive scalars. All but one single tower of higher spin symmetries are broken by the boundary conditions.

We demonstrate that a supersymmetric and parity violating version of Vasiliev's higher spin gauge theory in AdS4 admits boundary conditions that preserve $\mathcal{N}=0,1,2,3,4$ or 6 supersymmetries. In particular, we argue that the Vasiliev theory with U(M) Chan–Paton and $\mathcal{N}=6$ boundary condition is holographically dual to the 2+1 dimensional U(N)_k × U(M)_{−k} ABJ theory in the limit of large N, k and finite M. In this system all bulk higher spin fields transform in the adjoint of the U(M) gauge group, whose bulk t'Hooft coupling is M/N. Analysis of boundary conditions in Vasiliev theory allows us to determine exact relations between the parity breaking phase of Vasiliev theory and the coefficients of two and three point functions in Chern–Simons vector models at large N. Our picture suggests that the supersymmetric Vasiliev theory can be obtained as a limit of type IIA string theory in AdS_4\times \mathbb {CP}^3, and that the non-Abelian Vasiliev theory at strong bulk 't Hooft coupling smoothly turn into a string field theory. The fundamental string is a singlet bound state of Vasiliev's higher spin particles held together by U(M) gauge interactions. This is illustrated by the thermal partition function of free ABJ theory on a two sphere at large M and N even in the analytically tractable free limit. In this system the traces or strings of the low temperature phase break up into their Vasiliev particulate constituents at a U(M) deconfinement phase transition of order unity. At a higher temperature of order $T=\sqrt{\frac{N}{M}}$ Vasiliev's higher spin fields themselves break up into more elementary constituents at a U(N) deconfinement temperature, in a process described in the bulk as black hole nucleation. This article is part of a special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical devoted to 'Higher spin theories and holography'.