AdS$_3$ solutions in massive IIA, defect CFTs and T-duality

TL;DR

The paper constructs a precise map between AdS3×S2 solutions in massive IIA and AdS7 backgrounds, enabling interpretation of AdS3 as D2–D4 defects within 6d (1,0) CFTs compactified on CY2. It identifies a NATD-generated AdS3×S2 solution as a defect sector of the AdS7 brane system and provides explicit global completions yielding well-defined 2d (0,4) CFTs described by two infinite families of quiver gauge theories, with careful accounting of anomaly cancellation and central charges. The authors also analyze Abelian and non-Abelian T-dual limits, relate the defect story to 6d linear quivers, and examine flows touching DP AdS7 and AdS3×T4 geometries, finding that certain proposed flows do not interpolate within the studied class. Overall, the work clarifies how defect degrees of freedom arise holographically from wrapped D6–NS5–D8 branes intersecting D2–D4 defects and provides concrete tools to study their global completions and central charges. The results have implications for constructing and understanding holographic defect CFTs in higher-dimensional AdS/CFT setups and for testing NATD-based holography in explicit, globally well-defined backgrounds.

Abstract

We establish a map between AdS$_3 \times$S$^2$ and AdS$_7$ solutions to massive IIA supergravity that allows one to interpret the former as holographic duals to D2-D4 defects inside 6d (1,0) CFTs. This relation singles out in a particular manner the AdS$_3\times$S$^2$ solution constructed from AdS$_3\times$S$^3\times $CY$_2$ through non-Abelian T-duality, with respect to a freely acting SU(2). We find explicit global completions to this solution and provide well-defined (0,4) 2d dual CFTs associated to them. These completions consist of linear quivers with colour groups coming from D2 and D6 branes and flavour groups coming from D8 and D4 branes. Finally, we discuss the relation with flows interpolating between AdS$_3\times$S$^2\times$T$^4$ geometries and AdS$_7$ solutions found in the literature.

Figures (7)

• Figure 1: Generic quiver field theory whose IR is holographic dual to the solutions discussed in this section. The solid black line represents a (4,4) hypermultiplet, the grey line a (0,4) hypermultiplet and the dashed line a (0,2) Fermi multiplet. (4,4) vector multiplets are the degrees of freedom at each node.
• Figure 2: D6-NS5-D8 brane set-up associated to a linear quiver with increasing ranks terminated by a flavour group. NS5 branes are denoted by circles, D6 branes by horizontal lines and D8 branes by vertical lines.
• Figure 3: Infinite quiver associated to the NATD solution.
• Figure 4: Completed quiver with a finite number of gauge groups.
• Figure 5: Symmetric quiver associated to the NATD solution glued to itself.