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1. Modular invariance in superstring theory from $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 4 super-Yang-Mills

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP11(2020)016  

   Chester, Shai M. ; Green, Michael B. ; Pufu, Silviu S. ; Wang, Yifan ; Wen, Congkao ( November 2020 , Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A bstract We study the four-point function of the lowest-lying half-BPS operators in the $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 SU( N ) super-Yang-Mills theory and its relation to the flat-space four-graviton amplitude in type IIB superstring theory. We work in a large- N expansion in which the complexified Yang-Mills coupling τ is fixed. In this expansion, non-perturbative instanton contributions are present, and the SL(2 , ℤ) duality invariance of correlation functions is manifest. Our results are based on a detailed analysis of the sphere partition function of the mass-deformed SYM theory, which was previously computed using supersymmetric localization. This partition function determines a certain integrated correlator in the undeformed $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 SYM theory, which in turn constrains the four-point correlator at separated points. In a normalization where the two-point functions are proportional to N 2 − 1 and are independent of τ and $$ \overline{\tau} $$ τ ¯ , we find that the terms of order $$ \sqrt{N} $$ N and $$ 1/\sqrt{N} $$ 1 / N in the large N expansion of the four-point correlator are proportional to the non-holomorphic Eisenstein series $$ E\left(\frac{3}{2},\tau, \overline{\tau}\right) $$ E 3 2 τ τ ¯ and $$ E\left(\frac{5}{2},\tau, \overline{\tau}\right) $$ E 5 2 τ τ ¯ , respectively. In the flat space limit, these terms match the corresponding terms in the type IIB S-matrix arising from R 4 and D 4 R 4 contact inter-actions, which, for the R 4 case, represents a check of AdS/CFT at finite string coupling. Furthermore, we present striking evidence that these results generalize so that, at order $$ {N}^{\frac{1}{2}-m} $$ N 1 2 − m with integer m ≥ 0, the expansion of the integrated correlator we study is a linear sum of non-holomorphic Eisenstein series with half-integer index, which are manifestly SL(2 , ℤ) invariant. 

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2. Non-BPS bubbling geometries in AdS3

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2023)133  

   Bah, Ibrahima ; Heidmann, Pierre ( February 2023 , Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A bstract We construct large classes of non-BPS smooth horizonless geometries that are asymptotic to AdS 3 × S 3 × T 4 in type IIB supergravity. These geometries are supported by electromagnetic flux corresponding to D1-D5 charges. We show that Einstein equations for systems with eight commuting Killing vectors decompose into a set of Ernst equations, thereby admitting an integrable structure. This feature, which can a priori be applied to other $$ {\textrm{AdS}}_D\times \mathcal{C} $$ AdS D × C settings in supergravity, allows us to use solution-generating techniques associated with the Ernst formalism. We explicitly derive solutions by applying the charged Weyl formalism that we have previously developed. These are sourced internally by a chain of bolts that correspond to regions where the orbits of the commuting Killing vectors collapse smoothly. We show that these geometries can be interpreted as non-BPS T 4 and S 3 deformations on global AdS 3 × S 3 × T 4 that are located at the center of AdS 3 . These non-BPS deformations can be made arbitrarily small and should therefore correspond to non-supersymmetric operators in the D1-D5 CFT. Finally, we also construct interesting bound states of non-extremal BTZ black holes connected by regular bolts. 

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3. Janus on the brane

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP07(2020)243  

   Gutperle, Michael ; Uhlemann, Christoph F. ( July 2020 , Journal of High Energy Physics)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract We present a non-supersymmetric deformation of probe branes describing conformal defects of codimension two in AdS/CFT. The worldvolume of the probe branes is deformed from AdS p × S 1 embedded in an AdS p +2 × ℳ D  −  p  − 2 background to an embedding of Janus form, which uses an AdS p− 1 slicing of AdS p and in which the brane bends along the slicing coordinate. In field theory terms this realizes conformal interfaces on codimension- two defects. We discuss these “Janus on the brane” solutions for AdS 3 × S 1 D3-branes in the AdS 5 × S 5 solution of Type IIB, realizing interfaces on surface defects in $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 SYM, and show that similar solutions exist for probe branes in AdS p +2 × S 9 −p vacua of M-theory and in the AdS 6 × S 4 solution of massive Type IIA. 

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4. Chern-Simons theory from M5-branes and calibrated M2-branes

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP08(2019)165  

   Mezei, Márk ; Pufu, Silviu S. ; Wang, Yifan ( August 2019 , Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A bstract We study a sector of the 5d maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory on S 5 consisting of 1 / 8-BPS Wilson loop operators contained within a great S 3 inside S 5 . We conjecture that these observables are described by a 3d Chern Simons theory on S 3 , analytically continued to a pure imaginary Chern-Simons level. Therefore, the expectation values of these 5d Wilson loops compute knot invariants. We verify this conjecture in the weakly-coupled regime from explicit Feynman diagram computations. At strong coupling, these Wilson loop operators lift to 1 / 8-BPS surface operators in the 6d (2 , 0) theory on S 1 × S 5 . Using AdS/CFT, we show that these surface operators are dual to M2-branes subject to certain calibration conditions required in order to preserve supersymmetry. We compute the renormalized action of a large class of calibrated M2-branes and obtain a perfect match with the field theory prediction. Finally, we present a derivation of the 3d Chern-Simons theory from 5d super-Yang-Mills theory using supersymmetric localization, modulo a subtle issue that we discuss. 

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5. Monodromy defects from hyperbolic space

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2022)041  

   Giombi, Simone ; Helfenberger, Elizabeth ; Ji, Ziming ; Khanchandani, Himanshu ( February 2022 , Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A bstract We study monodromy defects in O ( N ) symmetric scalar field theories in d dimensions. After a Weyl transformation, a monodromy defect may be described by placing the theory on S 1 × H d− 1 , where H d− 1 is the hyperbolic space, and imposing on the fundamental fields a twisted periodicity condition along S 1 . In this description, the codimension two defect lies at the boundary of H d− 1 . We first study the general monodromy defect in the free field theory, and then develop the large N expansion of the defect in the interacting theory, focusing for simplicity on the case of N complex fields with a one-parameter monodromy condition. We also use the ϵ -expansion in d = 4 − ϵ , providing a check on the large N approach. When the defect has spherical geometry, its expectation value is a meaningful quantity, and it may be obtained by computing the free energy of the twisted theory on S 1 × H d− 1 . It was conjectured that the logarithm of the defect expectation value, suitably multiplied by a dimension dependent sine factor, should decrease under a defect RG flow. We check this conjecture in our examples, both in the free and interacting case, by considering a defect RG flow that corresponds to imposing alternate boundary conditions on one of the low-lying Kaluza-Klein modes on H d− 1 . We also show that, adapting standard techniques from the AdS/CFT literature, the S 1 × H d− 1 setup is well suited to the calculation of the defect CFT data, and we discuss various examples, including one-point functions of bulk operators, scaling dimensions of defect operators, and four-point functions of operator insertions on the defect. 

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