Holographic RG flows and Janus solutions from matter-coupled $$N=4$$ N = 4 gauged supergravity

Abstract

Abstract We study an $$SO(2)\times SO(2)\times SO(2)\times SO(2)$$ S O ( 2 ) × S O ( 2 ) × S O ( 2 ) × S O ( 2 ) truncation of four-dimensional $$N=4$$ N = 4 gauged supergravity coupled to six vector multiplets with $$SO(4)\times SO(4)$$ S O ( 4 ) × S O ( 4 ) gauge group and find a new class of holographic RG flows and supersymmetric Janus solutions. In this truncation, there is a unique $$N=4$$ N = 4 supersymmetric $$AdS_4$$ A d S 4 vacuum dual to an $$N=4$$ N = 4 SCFT in three dimensions. In the presence of the axion, the RG flows generally preserve $$N=2$$ N = 2 supersymmetry while the supersymmetry is enhanced to $$N=4$$ N = 4 for vanishing axion. We find solutions interpolating between the $$AdS_4$$ A d S 4 vacuum and singular geometries with different residual symmetries. We also show that all the singularities are physically acceptable within the framework of four-dimensional gauged supergravity. Accordingly, the solutions are holographically dual to RG flows from the $$N=4$$ N = 4 SCFT to a number of non-conformal phases in the IR. We also find $$N=4$$ N = 4 and $$N=2$$ N = 2 Janus solutions with $$SO(4)\times SO(4)$$ S O ( 4 ) × S O ( 4 ) and $$SO(2)\times SO(2)\times SO(3)\times SO(2)$$ S O ( 2 ) × S O ( 2 ) × S O ( 3 ) × S O ( 2 ) symmetries, respectively. The former is obtained from a truncation of all scalars from vector multiplets and can be regarded as a solution of pure $$N=4$$ N = 4 gauged supergravity. On the other hand, the latter is a genuine solution of the full matter-coupled theory. These solutions describe conformal interfaces in the $$N=4$$ N = 4 SCFT with $$N=(4,0)$$ N = ( 4 , 0 ) and $$N=(2,0)$$ N = ( 2 , 0 ) supersymmetries.