English

Defects in 4d SCFTs from supergravity and holographic renormalization

High Energy Physics - Theory 2025-07-11 v2

Abstract

Type IIB string theory admits Janus solutions connecting AdS5\text{AdS}_5 vacua. These geometries correspond to interface conformal field theories and are naturally described in five-dimensional supergravity as AdS4\text{AdS}_4 foliations over an interval. In this work, we introduce a novel type of Janus solution in AdS5\text{AdS}_5, featuring AdS2×S2\text{AdS}_2 \times S^2 foliations instead of AdS4\text{AdS}_4. We interpret these solutions as the supergravity duals of line defects in four-dimensional SCFTs and we discuss their D-brane engineering. Our primary tool is Romans supergravity in five dimensions, which provides a simple Type IIB truncation over S5S^5. Within this framework, under specific conditions, we construct regular solutions interpolating between AdS5\text{AdS}_5 and AdS2×R3\text{AdS}_2 \times \mathbb{R}^3. These geometries represent one-parameter deformations of AdS5\text{AdS}_5 vacua and are characterized by a running profile for two-form gauge potentials and a scalar field in the supergravity bulk. Finally, using holographic renormalization, we explicitly compute the on-shell action of the defect and we discuss the one-point functions in the holographic field theory.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2501.17923,
  title  = {Defects in 4d SCFTs from supergravity and holographic renormalization},
  author = {Federico Faedo and Nicolò Petri and Alessia Segati},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.17923},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

46 pages. v2: minor changes, references added, published version

R2 v1 2026-06-28T21:24:30.458Z