Giant graviton expansion from eigenvalue instantons

Abstract: Recently, S. Murthy has proposed a convergent expansion of free partition functions and superconformal indices of finite-$N$ purely adjoint gauge theories based on a Fredholm determinant expansion. This expansion has been dubbed the giant graviton expansion and takes the form of an infinite series of corrections to the $N=\infty$ result, with the $m^\text{th}$ correction being of order $e^{-mN}$. We show that this expansion can be reproduced using eigenvalue instantons in unitary matrix integrals. This perspective allows us to get the giant graviton expansion proposed by S. Murthy without the intermediate step of the Hubbard Stratonovich transformation.