Related papers: Continuous symmetry defects and brane/anti-brane s…
We study the holographic duals of four-dimensional field theories with 1-form global symmetries, both discrete and continuous. Such higher-form global symmetries are associated with antisymmetric tensor gauge fields in the bulk. Various…
Holographic renormalization is a systematic procedure for regulating divergences in observables in asymptotically locally AdS spacetimes. For dual boundary field theories which are supersymmetric it is natural to ask whether this defines a…
It is well known that continuous symmetries of quantum fields can be realized non-linearly, e.g. in the context of sigma models, and can also be spontaneously broken on non-compact spacetimes. In this note we study how these effects are…
We discuss recent results in the study of the evolution of strongly coupled field theories in the presence of time dependent couplings using the holographic correspondence. The aim is to understand (i) thermalization and (ii) universal…
We consider a holographic dual model for defect conformal field theories (DCFT) in which we include the backreaction of the defect on the dual geometry. In particular, we consider a dual gravity system in which a two-dimensional…
Two dimensional string theory is known to have an infinite dimensional symmetry, both in the continuum formalism as well as in the matrix model formalism. We develop a systematic procedure for computing the conserved charges associated with…
Dijkgraaf-Witten theories are extended three-dimensional topological field theories of Turaev-Viro type. They can be constructed geometrically from categories of bundles via linearization. Boundaries and surface defects or interfaces in…
We study defects in symmetry breaking phases, such as domain walls, vortices, and hedgehogs. In particular, we focus on the localized gapless excitations which sometimes occur at the cores of these objects. These are topologically protected…
We study correlators of R-symmetry currents in the Coulomb branch of N = 4 supersymmetric gauge theory in the large-N limit, using the AdS/CFT correspondence. In particular, we consider gauge fields in the presence of gravity and scalar…
Topological field theories of Schwarz-type generally admit symmetries whose algebra does not close off-shell, e.g. the basic symmetries of BF models or vector supersymmetry of the gauge-fixed action for Chern-Simons theory (this symmetry…
Anomalous chiral conductivities in theories with global anomalies are independent of whether they are computed in a weakly coupled quantum (or thermal) field theory, hydrodynamics, or at infinite coupling from holography. While the presence…
In previous work we proposed a field theory model for multiple M2-branes based on an algebra with a totally antisymmetric triple product. In this paper we gauge a symmetry that arises from the algebra's triple product. We then construct a…
We examine the defect gauge theory on two perpendicular D3-branes with a 1+1 dimensional intersection, consisting of $U(1)$ fields on the D3-branes and charged hypermultiplets on the intersection. We argue that this gauge theory must have a…
Gauging a symmetry can be thought of as the insertion of a spacetime-filling defect. Accordingly, we regard each gaugeable symmetry in a theory as defining a $-1$-form symmetry via condensation. The resulting operators, called gauge…
We explore the phase structure for defect theories in full generality using the gauge/gravity correspondence. On the gravity side, the systems are constructed by introducing M (probe) D(p+4-2k)-branes in a background generated by N…
We conjecture a geometric criterion for determining whether supersymmetry is spontaneously broken in certain string backgrounds. These backgrounds contain wrapped branes at Calabi-Yau singularites with obstructions to deformation of the…
We present warped metrics which solve Einstein equations with arbitrary cosmological constants in both in upper and lower dimensions. When the lower-dimensional metric is the maximally symmetric one compatible with the chosen value of the…
This article is based on my PhD thesis and covers the following topics: Holographic meson spectra in a dilaton flow background, the mixed Coulomb-Higgs branch in terms of instantons on D7 branes, and a dual description of heavy-light…
The interaction between Chern-Simons (CS) theories and localized external sources (2p-branes) is analyzed. This interaction generalizes the minimal coupling between a point charge (0-brane) and a gauge connection. The external currents that…
We study symmetry-breaking line defects in the Wilson-Fisher theory with $O(2N+1)$ global symmetry near four dimensions and symmetry-preserving surface defects in a cubic model with $O(2N)$ global symmetry near six dimensions. We introduce…