N = 2 super Yang-Mills in AdS 4 and F AdS -maximization

Journal article

We investigate the dynamics of four-dimensional N=2 SU(2) super Yang-Mills theory on an AdS background. We propose that the boundary conditions that preserve the AdS super-isometries are determined by maximizing the real part of the AdS partition function FAdS = −log ZAdS. At weak coupling ΛL ≪ 1 the maximization singles out the Dirichlet boundary condition with an SU(2) boundary global symmetry, corresponding to the classical vacuum at the origin of the Coulomb branch with fully un-higgsed gauge group. We find that for ΛL ~ 𝒪(1) new boundary conditions are favored, with gauge-group higgsed down to U(1), matching the expectation from the flat space limit. We use supersymmetric localization to compute ZAdS nonperturbatively. We further provide evidence for a relation between FAdS and the N=2 prepotential in AdS background.

Authors: Bason, D; Copetti, C; Di Pietro, L; Ji, Z

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Springer
• Journal: Journal of High Energy Physics
• Volume: 2026
• Issue: 3
• Article number: 254
• Publication date: 2026-03-27
• Acceptance date: 2026-02-12
• DOI: 10.1007/jhep03(2026)254
• EISSN: 1029-8479
• ISSN: 1126-6708
• Language: English
• Keywords: Scale and Conformal Symmetries; Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking; Solitons Monopoles and Instantons; Supersymmetric Gauge Theory