Fermionic impurities in the unquenched ABJM

We study, in a holographic setup, the effect of adding localized fermionic impurities to the three-dimensional Chern-Simons-matter theories with unquenched fields in the fundamental representation of the gauge group. The impurities are introduced as probe D6-branes extending along the radial direction and wrapping a five-dimensional submanifold inside a squashed CP^3. We analyze the straight flux tube embeddings and study the corresponding fluctuation modes of the D6-branes. The conformal dimensions of the operators dual to such fluctuations depend non-trivially on the ratio of the flavor number to the Chern-Simon level of the unquenched ABJM.Comment: 26 pages. v3: further corrections to match published version in JHE

The classical Yang-Baxter equation and the associated Yangian symmetry of gauged WZW-type theories

We construct the Lax-pair, the classical monodromy matrix and the corresponding solution of the Yang--Baxter equation, for a two-parameter deformation of the Principal chiral model for a simple group. This deformation includes as a one-parameter subset, a class of integrable gauged WZW-type theories interpolating between the WZW model and the non-Abelian T-dual of the principal chiral model. We derive in full detail the Yangian algebra using two independent methods: by computing the algebra of the non-local charges and alternatively through an expansion of the Maillet brackets for the monodromy matrix. As a byproduct, we also provide a detailed general proof of the Serre relations for the Yangian symmetry.Comment: 1+32 pages, Latex, v2: few minor changes, NPB version, v3: A factor of two corrected in (A.22

Penrose limits and spin chains in the GJV/CS-SYM duality

We examine Penrose limits of the duality proposed by Guarino, Jafferis and Varela between a type IIA massive background of the type of a warped, squashed $AdS_4\times S^6$, and a 2+1 dimensional IR fixed point of ${\cal N}=8$ super Yang-Mills deformed by Chern-Simons terms to ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetry. One type of Penrose limit for closed strings corresponds to a large charge closed spin chain, and another, for open strings on giant graviton D-branes, corresponds to an open spin chain on sub-determinant operators. For the first limit, we find that like in the ABJM case, there are functions $f_a(\lambda)$ that interpolate between the perturbative and nonperturbative (string) regions for the magnon energy. For the second, we are unable to match the gravity result with the expected field theory result, making this model more interesting than ones with more supersymmetry.Comment: 48 pages, 1 figure; typos corrected, references adde

On Non-Abelian T-Duality and new N=1 backgrounds

We study the action of non-Abelian T-duality in the context of N=1 geometries with well understood field theory duals. In the conformal case this gives rise to a new solution that contains an AdS_5 X S^2 piece. In the case of non-conformal geometries we obtain a new background in massive IIA supergravity that presents similar behaviour to the cascade of Seiberg dualities. Some physical observables are discussed.Comment: 13 pages, Latex. Version to appear in Physics Letters B (v2

Supersymmetric solutions of type-II supergravity from λ\lambda-deformations and zoom-in limits

We construct the embedding of the $\lambda$-model on $SL(2, \mathbb{R}) \times SU(2) \times SU(2)$ in type-II supergravity. In the absence of deformation, the ten-dimensional background corresponds to the near-horizon limit of the NS1-NS5-NS5 brane intersection. We show that when the deformation is turned on, supersymmetry breaks by half, and the solution preserves 8 supercharges. The Penrose limits along two null geodesics of the deformed geometry are also considered. It turns out that none of the associated plane-wave backgrounds exhibit supernumerary supercharges.Comment: 30 pages, 1 figur

Cold holographic matter in the Higgs branch

We study collective excitations of cold (2 + 1)-dimensional fundamental matter living on a defect of the four-dimensional N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory in the Higgs branch. This system is realized holographically as a D3-D5 brane intersection, in which the D5-brane is treated as a probe with a non-zero gauge flux across the internal part of its worldvolume. We study the holographic zero sound mode in the collisionless regime at low temperature and find a simple analytic result for its dispersion relation. We also find the diffusion constant of the system in the hydrodynamic regime at higher temperature. In both cases we study the dependence on the flux parameter which determines the amount of Higgs symmetry breaking. We also discuss the anyonization of this construction. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license.Peer reviewe

Supersymmetric backgrounds from λ\lambda-deformations

We provide the first supersymmetric embedding of an integrable $\lambda$-deformation to type-II supergravity. Specifically, that of the near horizon of the NS1-NS5 brane intersection, geometrically corresponding to $AdS_3 \times S^3 \times T^4$. We show that the deformed background preserves 1/4 of the maximal supersymmetry. In the Penrose limit we show that it preserves no-more than one half of the maximal supersymmetry.Comment: 24 pages, 1 figur