Integrable open spin chain in super Yang-Mills and the plane-wave/SYM duality

We investigate the integrable structures in an N = 2 superconformal Sp(N) Yang-Mills theory with matter, which is dual to an open+closed string system. We restrict ourselves to the BMN operators that correspond to free string states. In the closed string sector, an integrable structure is inherited from its parent theory, N = 4 SYM. For the open string sector, the planar one-loop mixing matrix for gauge invariant holomorphic scalar operators is identified with the hamiltonian of an integrable SU(3) open spin chain. Using the K-matrix formalism we identify the integrable open-chain boundary conditions that correspond to string boundary conditions. The solutions to the algebraic Bethe ansatz equations (ABAE) with a few impurities are shown to recover the anomalous dimensions that exactly match the spectrum of free open string in the plane-wave background. We also discuss the properties of the solutions of ABAE beyond the BMN regime.