Intersecting surface defects and two-dimensional CFT

Journal article

We initiate the study of intersecting surface operators/defects in 4D quantum field theories (QFTs). We characterize these defects by coupled 4D/2D/0D theories constructed by coupling the degrees of freedom localized at a point and on intersecting surfaces in spacetime to each other and to the 4D QFT. We construct supersymmetric intersecting surface defects preserving just two supercharges in N=2 gauge theories. These defects are amenable to exact analysis by localization of the partition function of the underlying 4D/2D/0D QFT. We identify the 4D/2D/0D QFTs that describe intersecting surface operators in N=2 gauge theories realized by intersecting M2 branes ending on N M5 branes wrapping a Riemann surface. We conjecture and provide evidence for an explicit equivalence between the squashed four-sphere partition function of these intersecting defects and correlation functions in Liouville/Toda CFT with the insertion of arbitrary degenerate vertex operators, which are labeled by two representations of SU(N).

Authors: Gomis, J; Le Floch, B; Pan, Y; Peelaers, W

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Journal: Physical Review D
• Volume: 96
• Issue: 4
• Article number: 045003
• Publication date: 2017-08-02
• Acceptance date: 2017-05-08
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.96.045003
• EISSN: 2470-0029
• ISSN: 2470-0010