Probing the Higgs branch of 5d fixed point theories with dual giant gravitons in AdS(6)

TL;DR

This work analyzes dual giant gravitons in warped $AdS_6\times S^4/\mathbb{Z}_n$ backgrounds dual to 5d quiver fixed-point theories and shows that the geometric Higgs-branch sector is captured by the quantization of their phase space. By reducing to a phase-space problem and performing symplectic quantization, the authors map the giant-giant system to holomorphic functions on $\mathbb{C}^2/\mathbb{Z}_n$, aligning with the Higgs-branch moduli space as instanton moduli on $\mathbb{C}^2/\mathbb{Z}_n$. Field-theory analysis in a 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ language reproduces the same operator counting via Hilbert series, confirming a one-to-one correspondence between giant-graviton states and holomorphic Higgs-branch operators. The results provide a concrete AdS/CFT realization of Higgs-branch geometry in 5d fixed points and point to future directions for extending the correspondence to the full Higgs branch and for understanding backreaction effects and maximal giant configurations.

Abstract

We consider the warped AdS(6)xS^4/Z_n backgrounds dual to certain 5d quiver gauge theories. By studying dual giant gravitons in the AdS(6) geometry we are able to partially probe the Higgs branch of these theories. We show how the quantization of the phase space of such dual giants coincides with the counting of holomorphic functions on C^2/Z_n, which is the geometric part of the Higgs branch for these theories.

Figures (3)

• Figure 1: Quiver diagram for the $\mathbb{Z}_{2\,k+1}$ case.
• Figure 2: Quiver diagram for the $\mathbb{Z}_{2\,k}$ no vector structure case.
• Figure 3: Quiver diagram for the $\mathbb{Z}_{2\,k}$ vector structure case.