Holographic Coulomb Branch Flows with N=1 Supersymmetry

We obtain a large, new class of N=1 supersymmetric holographic flow backgrounds with U(1)^3 symmetry. These solutions correspond to flows toward the Coulomb branch of the non-trivial N=1 supersymmetric fixed point. The massless (complex) chiral fields are allowed to develop vevs that are independent of their two phase angles, and this corresponds to allowing the brane to spread with arbitrary, U(1)^2 invariant, radial distributions in each of these directions. Our solutions are "almost Calabi-Yau:" The metric is hermitian with respect to an integrable complex structure, but is not Kahler. The "modulus squared" of the holomorphic (3,0)-form is the volume form, and the complete solution is characterized by a function that must satisfy a single partial differential equation that is closely related to the Calabi-Yau condition. The deformation from a standard Calabi-Yau background is driven by a non-trivial, non-normalizable 3-form flux dual to a fermion mass that reduces the supersymmetry to N=1. This flux also induces dielectric polarization of the D3-branes into D5-branes.Comment: 22 pages; harvmac. Typos corrected;small improvements in presentatio

The complex geometry of holographic flows of quiver gauge theories

We argue that the complete Klebanov-Witten flow solution must be described by a Calabi-Yau metric on the conifold, interpolating between the orbifold at infinity and the cone over T^(1,1) in the interior. We show that the complete flow solution is characterized completely by a single, simple, quasi-linear, second order PDE, or "master equation," in two variables. We show that the Pilch-Warner flow solution is almost Calabi-Yau: It has a complex structure, a hermitian metric, and a holomorphic (3,0)-form that is a square root of the volume form. It is, however, not Kahler. We discuss the relationship between the master equation derived here for Calabi-Yau geometries and such equations encountered elsewhere and that govern supersymmetric backgrounds with multiple, independent fluxes.Comment: 26 pages, harvmac + amssy

A harmonic family of dielectric flow solutions with maximal supersymmetry

We construct a new harmonic family: dielectric flow solutions with maximal supersymmetry in eleven-dimensional supergravity. These solutions are asymptotically AdS_4 x S^7, while in the infra-red the M2 branes are dielectrically polarized into M5 branes. These solutions are holographically dual to vacua of the mass deformed theory on M2 branes. They also provide an interesting insight on the supergravity solutions sourced by giant gravitons, allowing one to see how supergravity solves the giant graviton puzzle.Comment: 21 pages, LaTeX. reference adde

Flowing with Eight Supersymmetries in M-Theory and F-theory

We consider holographic RG flow solutions with eight supersymmetries and study the geometry transverse to the brane. For both M2-branes and for D3-branes in F-theory this leads to an eight-manifold with only a four-form flux. In both settings there is a natural four-dimensional hyper-Kahler slice that appears on the Coulomb branch. In the IIB theory this hyper-Kahler manifold encodes the Seiberg-Witten coupling over the Coulomb branch of a U(1) probe theory. We focus primarily upon a new flow solution in M-theory. This solution is first obtained using gauged supergravity and then lifted to eleven dimensions. In this new solution, the brane probes have an Eguchi-Hanson moduli space with the M2-branes spread over the non-trivial 2-sphere. It is also shown that the new solution is valid for a class of orbifold theories. We discuss how the hyper-Kahler structure on the slice extends to some form of G-structure in the eight-manifold, and describe how this can be computed.Comment: 29 pages, 1 figure, harvma

Deformations of Holographic Duals to Non-Relativistic CFTs

We construct the non-relativistic counterparts of some well-known supergravity solutions dual to relevant and marginal deformations of N=4 super Yang-Mills. The main tool we use is the null Melvin twist and we apply it to the N=1 and N=2* Pilch-Warner RG flow solutions as well as the Lunin-Maldacena solution dual to beta-deformations of N=4 super Yang-Mills. We also obtain a family of supergravity solutions with Schrodinger symmetry interpolating between the non-relativistic version of the N=1 Pilch-Warner and Klebanov-Witten fixed points. A generic feature of these non-relativistic backgrounds is the presence of non-vanishing internal fluxes. We also find the most general, three-parameter, null Melvin twist of the AdS_5xS^5 black hole. We briefly comment on the field theories dual to these supergravity solutions.Comment: 34 pages, 1 figure, LaTe

Microscopic Description of Black Rings in AdS/CFT

We discuss some aspects of the recently discovered BPS black ring solutions in terms of the AdS/CFT correspondence. In the type IIB frame in which the black ring carries the charges of the D1-D5-P system, we propose a microscopic description of the rings in the orbifold CFT governing this system. In our proposal, the CFT effectively splits into two parts: one part captures the supertube-like properties of the ring, and the other captures the entropy. We can also understand the black ring entropy by relating the geometry near the ring to BPS black holes in four dimensions, although this latter approach does not directly lead to an identification of black rings in terms of the D1-D5-P CFT.Comment: 18 pages, harvmac. v2 - minor typo

The Geometry of D=11 Null Killing Spinors

We determine the necessary and sufficient conditions on the metric and the four-form for the most general bosonic supersymmetric configurations of D=11 supergravity which admit a null Killing spinor i.e. a Killing spinor which can be used to construct a null Killing vector. This class covers all supersymmetric time-dependent configurations and completes the classification of the most general supersymmetric configurations initiated in hep-th/0212008.Comment: 30 pages, typos corrected, reference added, new solution included in section 5.1; uses JHEP3.cl

Gravity duals to deformed SYM theories and Generalized Complex Geometry

We analyze the supersymmetry conditions for a class of SU(2) structure backgrounds of Type IIB supergravity, corresponding to a specific ansatz for the supersymmetry parameters. These backgrounds are relevant for the AdS/CFT correspondence since they are suitable to describe mass deformations or beta-deformations of four-dimensional superconformal gauge theories. Using Generalized Complex Geometry we show that these geometries are characterized by a closed nowhere-vanishing vector field and a modified fundamental form which is also closed. The vector field encodes the information about the superpotential and the type of deformation - mass or beta respectively. We also show that the Pilch-Warner solution dual to a mass-deformation of N =4 Super Yang-Mills and the Lunin-Maldacena beta-deformation of the same background fall in our class of solutions.Comment: LaTex, 29 page