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A bstract We initiate a study of the holographic duals of a class of four-dimensional $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 superconformal field theories that are engineered by wrapping M5-branes on a sphere with an irregular puncture. These notably include the strongly-coupled field theories of Argyres-Douglas type. Our solutions are obtained in 7d gauged supergravity, where they take the form of a warped product of AdS 5 and a “half-spindle.” The irregular puncture is modeled by a localized M5-brane source in the internal space of the gravity duals. Our solutions feature a realization of supersymmetry that is distinct from the usual topological twist, as well as an interesting Stückelberg mechanism involving the gauge field associated to a generator of the isometry algebra of the internal space. We check the proposed duality by computing the holographic central charge, the flavor symmetry central charge, and the dimensions of various supersymmetric probe M2-branes, and matching these with the dual Argyres-Douglas field theories. Furthermore, we compute the large- N ’t Hooft anomalies of the field theories using anomaly inflow methods in M-theory, and find perfect agreement with the proposed duality. 

A bstract We construct a family of smooth charged bubbling solitons in $$ \mathbbm{M} $$ M 4 ×T 2 , four-dimensional Minkowski with a two-torus. The solitons are characterized by a degeneration pattern of the torus along a line in $$ \mathbbm{M} $$ M 4 defining a chain of topological cycles. They live in the same parameter regime as non-BPS non-extremal four-dimensional black holes, and are ultracompact with sizes ranging from miscroscopic to macroscopic scales. The six-dimensional framework can be embedded in type IIB supergravity where the solitons are identified with geometric transitions of non-BPS D1-D5-KKm bound states. Interestingly, the geometries admit a minimal surface that smoothly opens up to a bubbly end of space. Away from the solitons, the solutions are indistinguishable from a new class of singular geometries. By taking a limit of large number of bubbles, the soliton geometries can be matched arbitrarily close to the singular spacetimes. This provides the first classical resolution of a curvature singularity beyond the framework of supersymmetry and supergravity by blowing up topological cycles wrapped by fluxes at the vicinity of the singularity. 

A bstract We construct a family of non-supersymmetric extremal black holes and their horizonless microstate geometries in four dimensions. The black holes can have finite angular momentum and an arbitrary charge-to-mass ratio, unlike their supersymmetric cousins. These features make them and their microstate geometries astrophysically relevant. Thus, they provide interesting prototypes to study deviations from Kerr solutions caused by new horizon-scale physics. In this paper, we compute the gravitational multipole structure of these solutions and compare them to Kerr black holes. The multipoles of the black hole differ significantly from Kerr as they depend non-trivially on the charge-to-mass ratio. The horizonless microstate geometries (that are comparable in size to a black hole) have a similar multipole structure as their corresponding black hole, with deviations to the black hole multipole values set by the scale of their microstructure. 

A bstract We construct smooth static bubble solutions, denoted as topological stars, in five-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell theories which are asymptotic to ℝ 1 , 3 ×S 1 . The bubbles are supported by allowing electromagnetic fluxes to wrap smooth topological cycles. The solutions live in the same regime as non-extremal static charged black strings, that reduce to black holes in four dimensions. We generalize to multi-body configurations on a line by constructing closed-form generalized charged Weyl solutions in the same theory. Generic solutions consist of topological stars and black strings stacked on a line, that are wrapped by electromagnetic fluxes. We embed the solutions in type IIB String Theory on S 1 ×T 4 . In this framework, the charged Weyl solutions provide a novel class in String Theory of multiple charged objects in the non-supersymmetric and non-extremal black hole regime. 

A bstract We construct the first smooth bubbling geometries using the Weyl formalism. The solutions are obtained from Einstein theory coupled to a two-form gauge field in six dimensions with two compact directions. We classify the charged Weyl solutions in this framework. Smooth solutions consist of a chain of Kaluza-Klein bubbles that can be neutral or wrapped by electromagnetic fluxes, and are free of curvature and conical singularities. We discuss how such topological structures are prevented from gravitational collapse without struts. When embedded in type IIB, the class of solutions describes D1-D5-KKm solutions in the non-BPS regime, and the smooth bubbling solutions have the same conserved charges as a static four-dimensional non-extremal Cvetic-Youm black hole. 

A bstract We analyze topological mass terms of BF type arising in supersymmetric M-theory compactifications to AdS 5 . These describe spontaneously broken higher-form gauge symmetries in the bulk. Different choices of boundary conditions for the BF terms yield dual field theories with distinct global discrete symmetries. We discuss in detail these symmetries and their ’t Hooft anomalies for 4d $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 SCFTs arising from M5-branes wrapped on a Riemann surface without punctures, including theories from M5-branes at a ℤ 2 orbifold singularity. The anomaly polynomial is computed via inflow and contains background fields for discrete global 0-, 1-, and 2-form symmetries and continuous 0-form symmetries, as well as axionic background fields. The latter are properly interpreted in the context of anomalies in the space of coupling constants. 

A bstract We extend the anomaly inflow methods developed in M-theory to SCFTs engineered via D3-branes in type IIB. We show that the ’t Hooft anomalies of such SCFTs can be computed systematically from their geometric definition. Our procedure is tested in several 4d examples and applied to 2d theories obtained by wrapping D3-branes on a Riemann surface. In particular, we show how to analyze half-BPS regular punctures for 4d $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 SYM on a Riemann surface. We discuss generalizations of this formalism to type IIB configurations with F 3 , H 3 fluxes, as well as to F-theory setups.