On co-dimension 2 defect anomalies in N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 4 SYM and (2,0) theory via brane probes in AdS/CFT

Abstract

Abstract We consider a 1 2 $$ \frac{1}{2} $$ -BPS solution for a D3 brane probe in AdS5 × S 5 that has world-volume geometry of AdS3 × S 1. It intersects the boundary over a surface that represents a dimension 2 defect in the boundary N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 4 SYM theory. The effective action of the probe brane is proportional to the logarithmically divergent volume of AdS3 and may thus be interpreted as computing conformal anomaly of supersymmetric S 2 defect. The classical action scales as N. We compute the 1-loop correction to it due to quantum fluctuations of the D3 brane world-volume fields and compare the result to an earlier suggested expression for the defect anomaly. We also perform a similar analysis of a 1 2 $$ \frac{1}{2} $$ -BPS M5 brane probe solution in AdS7 × S 4 with the world-volume geometry of AdS5 × S 1 that represents a dimension 4 defect in the boundary (2,0) 6d theory. Here the classical M5 brane action computes the leading order N 2 term in a-anomaly of the supersymmetric S 4 defect. We perform a detailed computation of the 1-loop correction to the M5 brane effective action and thus provide a prediction for the subleading constant in the S 4 defect a-anomaly coefficient.

Keywords

• AdS-CFT Correspondence
• Anomalies in Field and String Theories
• Brane Dynamics in Gauge Theories
• Supersymmetric Gauge Theory