Exact results for five-dimensional superconformal field theories with gravity duals

We apply the technique of supersymmetric localization to exactly compute the $S^5$ partition function of several large $N$ superconformal field theories in five dimensions that have $AdS_6$ duals in massive type IIA supergravity. The localization computations are performed in the non-renormalizable effective field theories obtained through relevant deformations of the UV superconformal field theories. We compare the $S^5$ free energy to a holographic computation of entanglement entropy in the $AdS_6$ duals and find perfect agreement. In particular, we reproduce the $N^{5/2}$ scaling of the $S^5$ free energy that was expected from supergravity.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figure; v2 refs added, typos fixe

Anomalous dimensions of monopole operators in three-dimensional quantum electrodynamics

The space of local operators in three-dimensional quantum electrodynamics contains monopole operators that create $n$ units of gauge flux emanating from the insertion point. This paper uses the state-operator correspondence to calculate the anomalous dimensions of these monopole operators perturbatively to next-to-leading order in the $1/N_f$ expansion, thus improving on the existing leading order results in the literature. Here, $N_f$ is the number of two-component complex fermion flavors. The scaling dimension of the $n=1$ monopole operator is $0.265 N_f - 0.0383 + O(1/N_f)$ at the infrared conformal fixed point.Comment: 33 pages, 2 figures; v2: refs added, typos fixe

Towards Bootstrapping QED3_3

We initiate the conformal bootstrap study of Quantum Electrodynamics in $2+1$ space-time dimensions (QED$_{3}$) with $N$ flavors of charged fermions by focusing on the 4-point function of four monopole operators with the lowest unit of topological charge. We obtain upper bounds on the scaling dimension of the doubly-charged monopole operator, with and without assuming other gaps in the operator spectrum. Intriguingly, we find a (gap-dependent) kink in these bounds that comes reasonably close to the large $N$ extrapolation of the scaling dimensions of the singly-charged and doubly-charged monopole operators down to $N=4$ and $N=6$.Comment: 29 pages plus an appendix, 5 figures, v2 minor improvements, refs adde

The Holography of F-maximization

We find new supersymmetric backgrounds of ${\cal N} = 8$ gauged supergravity in four Euclidean dimensions that are dual to deformations of ABJM theory on $S^3$. The deformations encode the most general choice of $U(1)_R$ symmetry used to define the theory on $S^3$. We work within an ${\cal N} = 2$ truncation of the ${\cal N} = 8$ supergravity theory obtained via a group theory argument. We find perfect agreement between the $S^3$ free energy computed from our supergravity backgrounds and the previous field theory computations of the same quantity based on supersymmetric localization and matrix model techniques.Comment: 48 pages; v2 minor improvement

A one-dimensional theory for Higgs branch operators

We use supersymmetric localization to calculate correlation functions of half-BPS local operators in 3d ${\cal N} = 4$ superconformal field theories whose Lagrangian descriptions consist of vectormultiplets coupled to hypermultiplets. The operators we primarily study are certain twisted linear combinations of Higgs branch operators that can be inserted anywhere along a given line. These operators are constructed from the hypermultiplet scalars. They form a one-dimensional non-commutative operator algebra with topological correlation functions. The 2- and 3-point functions of Higgs branch operators in the full 3d ${\cal N}=4$ theory can be simply inferred from the 1d topological algebra. After conformally mapping the 3d superconformal field theory from flat space to a round three-sphere, we preform supersymmetric localization using a supercharge that does not belong to any 3d ${\cal N} = 2$ subalgebra of the ${\cal N}=4$ algebra. The result is a simple model that can be used to calculate correlation functions in the 1d topological algebra mentioned above. This model is a 1d Gaussian theory coupled to a matrix model, and it can be viewed as a gauge-fixed version of a topological gauged quantum mechanics. Our results generalize to non-conformal theories on $S^3$ that contain real mass and Fayet-Iliopolous parameters. We also provide partial results in the 1d topological algebra associated with the Coulomb branch, where we calculate correlation functions of local operators built from the vectormultiplet scalars.Comment: 108 pages; v2: typos corrected, some statements clarifie

Sonic booms and diffusion wakes generated by a heavy quark in thermal AdS/CFT

We evaluate the Poynting vector generated by a heavy quark moving through a thermal state of N=4 gauge theory using AdS/CFT. A significant diffusion wake is observed as well as a Mach cone. We discuss the ratio of the energy going into sound modes to the energy coming in from the wake.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, revtex

Quantum critical superconductors in string theory and M-theory

We construct zero-temperature solutions of supergravity theories in five and four dimensions which interpolate between two copies of anti-de Sitter space, one of which preserves an abelian gauge symmetry while the other breaks it. These domain wall solutions can be lifted to solutions of type IIB string theory and eleven-dimensional supergravity. They describe quantum critical behavior and emergent relativistic conformal symmetry in a superfluid or superconducting state of a strongly coupled dual gauge theory. We include computations of frequency-dependent conductivities which exhibit power law scaling in the infrared, with exponents determined by irrelevant perturbations to the symmetry-breaking anti-de Sitter background.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. v2: References slightly improved, mentioned F^F constrain

Monopoles in 2 + 1-Dimensional Conformal Field Theories with Global U(1) Symmetry

In 2 + 1-dimensional conformal field theories with a global U(1) symmetry, monopoles can be introduced through a background gauge field that couples to the U(1) conserved current. We use the state-operator correspondence to calculate scaling dimensions of such monopole insertions. We obtain the next-to-leading term in the 1/Nb expansion of the Wilson-Fisher fixed point in the theory of Nb complex bosons.Physic