Recently, Aharony, Bergman, Jafferis and Maldacena proposed that the N=6 Chern-Simons gauge theories are holographically dual to the M-theory backgrounds with multiple M2-branes on orbifolds C^4/Z_k. When k is large, they have the type IIA string description. In this paper we analyze the Penrose limit of this IIA background and express the string spectrum as the conformal dimensions of operators in the gauge theories. For BPS operators, we can confirm the agreements between the IIA string on plane waves and the gauge theories. We point out that there exist BMN-like operators in the gauge theories, though their holographic interpretation does not seem to be simple. Also we analyze the weak coupling limit of this theory and show that the Hagedorn/deconfinement transition occurs as expected.
In this paper we consider the non-Abelian T-dual geometry of the type $IIB$ supergravity theory on $AdS_3\times S^3\times T^4$ background along a convenient $SU(2)$ subgroup of the $SO(4)$ R-symmetry. We examine various null geodesics of the resulting massive type $IIA$ supergravity theory and investigate the Penrose limits along these geodesics. We find that one of the resulting backgrounds admits pp-wave geometry in the neighbourhood of a suitable null geodesic. We carry out the supersymmetry analysis of the resulting pp-wave geometry and observe that it preserves sixteen supercharges. Furth…
In this paper we construct generalised Penrose limits for the solutions of massive type IIA supergravity. We consider a Freund-Rubin type solution and apply these {\it massive} Penrose limits and obtain supersymmetric pp-wave which is a standard type IIA background. We point out that results in this paper are easily generalised for the cases of gauged supergravities.
We find explicit AdS4 solutions of massive type IIA with N=2 supersymmetry obtained deforming with a Roman mass the type IIA supersymmetric reduction of the M theory background AdS4 times M111. The family of solutions have SU(3) times SU(3) structure and isometry SU(3) times U(1)^2. They are conjectured to be dual to three-dimensional N=2 Chern-Simons theories with generic Chern-Simons couplings and gauge group ranks.
We investigate D2-branes and D4-branes parallel to D8-branes. The low energy world volume theory on the branes is non-supersymmetric Chern-Simons theory. We identify the fundamental strings as the anyons of the 2+1 Chern-Simons theory and the D0-branes as solitons. The Chern-Simons theory with a boundary is modeled using NS 5-branes with ending D6-branes. The brane set-up provides for a graphical description of anomaly inflow. We also model the 4+1 Chern-Simons theory using branes and conjecture that D4-branes with a boundary describes a supersymmetric version of Kaplan's theory of chiral ferm…
We discuss a Penrose limit of an elliptic brane configuration with $N_1$ NS5 and $N_2$ D4 branes. This background is T-dual to $N_1$ D3 branes at a fixed point of a $\mathbf{C}^3/\mathbf{Z}_{N_2}$ singularity and the T-duality survives the Penrose limit. The triple scaling limit of $N_1$ and $N_2$ gives rise to IIA pp-wave solution with a space-like compact direction. We identify the quiver gauge theory operators and argue that upon exchange of the momentum along the compact direction and the winding number these operators coincide with the operators derived in the dual type IIB description. W…
We compute the non-abelian couplings in the Chern-Simons action for a set of coinciding fundamental strings in both the type IIA and type IIB Matrix string theories. Starting from Matrix theory in a weakly curved background, we construct the linear couplings of closed string fields to type IIA Matrix strings. Further dualities give a type IIB Matrix string theory and a type IIA theory of Matrix strings with winding.
We investigate a class of hierarchical multiple layers of fractional quantum Hall soliton (FQHS) systems from Chern-Simons quivers embedded in M-theory on the cotangent on a 2-dimensional complex toric variety \bf V^2, which is dual to type IIA superstring on a 3-dimensional complex manifold \bf {CP}^1\times V^2 fibered over a real line \mathbb{R}. Based on M-theory/Type IIA duality, FQHS systems can be derived from wrapped D4-branes on 2-cycles in \bf {CP}^1\times V^2 type IIA geometry. In this realization, the magnetic source can be identified with gauge fields obtained from the decompositio…
We clarify the higher-dimensional origin of a class of dyonic gaugings of $D=4$ ${\cal N}=8$ supergravity recently discovered, when the gauge group is chosen to be ISO(7). This dyonically-gauged maximal supergravity arises from consistent truncation of massive IIA supergravity on $S^6$, and its magnetic coupling constant descends directly from the Romans mass. The critical points of the supergravity uplift to new AdS$_4$ massive type IIA vacua. We identify the corresponding CFT$_3$ duals as super-Chern-Simons-matter theories with simple gauge group SU$(N)$, with level $k$ given by the Romans m…
We show that string duality relates M-theory on a local Calabi-Yau fourfold singularity X4 to type IIA string theory on a Calabi-Yau threefold X3 fibered over a real line, with RR 2-form fluxes turned on. The RR flux encodes how the M-theory circle is fibered over the IIA geometry. The theories on N D2 branes probing X3 are the well-known quiver theories with N=2 supersymmetry in three dimensions. We show that turning on fluxes, and fibering the X3 over a direction transverse to the branes, corresponds to turning on N=2 Chern-Simons couplings. String duality implies that, in the strong couplin…
We investigate Penrose limits of two classes of non-local theories, little string theories and non-commutative gauge theories. Penrose limits of the near-horizon geometry of NS5-branes help to shed some light on the high energy spectrum of little string theories. We attempt to understand renormalization group flow in these theories by considering Penrose limits wherein the null geodesic also has a radial component. In particular, we demonstrate that it is possible to construct a pp-wave spacetime which interpolates between the linear dilaton and the AdS regions for the Type IIA NS5-brane. Simi…
Chern-Simons quivers for M2-branes at Calabi-Yau singularities are best understood as the low energy theory of D2-branes on a dual type IIA background. We show how the D2-brane point of view naturally leads to three dimensional Seiberg dualities for Chern-Simons quivers with chiral matter content: They arise from a change of brane basis (or mutation), in complete analogy with the better known Seiberg dualities for D3-brane quivers. This perspective reproduces the known rules for Seiberg dualities in Chern-Simons-Yang-Mills theories with unitary gauge groups. We provide explicit examples of dua…
This paper continues the discussion of hep-th/0605038, applying the holographic formulation of self-dual theory to the Ramond-Ramond fields of type II supergravity. We formulate the RR partition function, in the presence of nontrivial H-fields, in terms of the wavefunction of an 11-dimensional Chern-Simons theory. Using the methods of hep-th/0605038 we show how to formulate an action principle for the RR fields of both type IIA and type IIB supergravity, in the presence of RR current. We find a new topological restriction on consistent backgrounds of type IIA supergravity, namely the fourth Wu…
We investigate the $S^3$ free energy of $\mathcal N=3$ Chern-Simons-matter quiver gauge theories with gauge group $U(N)^r~(r\geq2)$ where the sum of Chern-Simons levels does not vanish, beyond the leading order in the large-$N$ expansion. We take two different approaches to explore the sub-leading structures of the free energy. First we evaluate the matrix integral for the partition function in the 't~Hooft limit using a saddle point approximation. Second we use an ideal Fermi-gas model to compute the same partition function, but in the limit of fixed Chern-Simons levels. The resulting express…
We describe brane configurations that interpolate between the N=6 AdS4xCP3 background of Type IIA supergravity and the N=0 AdS4xCP3 background of massive Type IIA supergravity. Using the T-dual Type IIB configurations we prove that this leads to unequal Chern-Simons levels in the dual gauge theory, and find the precise relation between the parameters of the gauge theory and the RR fluxes of the background. This provides further evidence for the conjecture of Gaiotto and Tomasiello about the CFT dual of the massive Type IIA background.
We consider the backgrounds obtained by Abelian and non-Abelian T-duality applied on $AdS_5\times S^5$. We study geodesics, calculate Penrose limits and find the associated plane-wave geometries. We quantise the weakly coupled type-IIA string theory on these backgrounds. We study the BMN sector, finding operators that wrap the original quiver CFT. For the non-Abelian plane wave, we find a 'flow' in the frequencies. We report some progress to understand this, in terms of deconstruction of a higher dimensional field theory. We explore a relation with the plane-wave limit of the Janus solution, w…
We obtain a new-type of ${\cal N}=3$ Yang-Mills Chern-Simons theory from the Mukhi-Papageorgakis Higgsing of the ${\cal N}=3$ Gaiotto-Tomasiello theory. This theory has ${\cal N}=1$ BPS fuzzy funnel solution which is expressed in terms of the seven generators of SU(3), excluding $T_8$. We propose that this is an effective theory of multiple D2-branes with D6- and D8-branes background in massive IIA string theory.
In this note we study spin chain operators in the N=6 Chern-Simons-matter theory recently proposed by Aharony, Bergman, Jafferis and Maldacena to be dual to type IIA string theory in AdS4xCP3. We study the two-loop dilatation operator in the gauge theory, and compare to the Penrose limit on the string theory side.
We investigate various aspects of the plane wave geometries obtained from D1/D5-brane system. We study the effect of Hopf-duality on the supersymmetries preserved by the Penrose limit of $AdS_3\times S^3\times T^4$ geometry. In type-IIB case, we first show that the Penrose limit makes the size of the `would-be' internal torus comparable to that of the other directions. Based on this observation, we consider, in taking the Penrose limit, the generalization of the null geodesic to incorporate the tilted direction between the equator of $S^3$ and one of the torus directions. For generic values of…
We obtain explicit realizations of holographic renormalization group (RG) flows from M-theory, from E^{2,1} \times Spin(7) at UV to AdS_4 \times \tilde{S^7} (squashed S^7) at IR, from E^{2,1} \times CY4 at UV to AdS_4 \times Q^{1,1,1} at IR, and from E^{2,1} \times HK (hyperKahler) at UV to AdS_4 \times N^{0,1,0} at IR. The dual type IIA string theory configurations correspond to D2-D6 brane systems where D6 branes wrap supersymmetric four-cycles. We also study the Penrose limits and obtain the pp-wave backgrounds for the above configurations. Besides, we study some examples of non-supersymmet…
In the vicinity of points in Calabi-Yau moduli space where there are degenerating three-cycles the low energy effective action of type IIA string theory will contain significant contributions arising from membrane instantons that wrap around these three-cycles. We show that the world-volume description of these instantons is Chern-Simons theory.
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…
We find the entire form of the amplitude of two fermion strings (with different chirality), a massless scalar field and one closed string Ramond-Ramond (RR) in IIA superstring theory which is different from its IIB one. We make use of a very particular gauge fixing and explore several new couplings in IIA. All infinite $u$- channel scalar poles and $t,s$- channel fermion poles are also constructed. We find new form of higher derivative corrections to two fermion two scalar couplings and show that the first simple $(s+t+u)-$ channel scalar pole for $p+2=n$ case can be obtained by having new hig…
We study the self-duality of Born-Infeld-Chern-Simons theory which can be interpreted as a massive D2 brane in IIA string theory and exhibit the self-dual formulation in terms of the gauge invariant master Lagrangian. The proposed master Lagrangian contains the nonlocal auxiliary field and approaches self-dual formulation of Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory in a point-particle limit with the weak string-coupling limit. The consistent canonical brackets of dual system are derived.
Massive type IIA supergravity admits a warped AdS_6 x S^4 vacuum solution, which is expected to be dual to an N=2, D=5 super-conformal Yang-Mills theory. We study solutions for strings rotating or spinning in this background. The warp factor plays no essential role when the string spins in the AdS_6, implying a commonality in the leading Regge trajectories between the D=4 and D=5 super-conformal field theories. The warp factor does, however, become important when the string rotates in the S^4, in particular for long strings, which have the the relation E- 3J/2=c_1 + c_2/J^5+..., where the angu…
We give a master formula for the spin-2 spectrum of a class of three-dimensional Chern-Simons theories at large $N$, with flavour group containing SU(3), that arise as infrared fixed points of the D2-brane worldvolume field theory and have AdS$_4$ duals in massive type IIA supergravity. We use this formula to compute the spin-2 spectrum of the individual theories, discuss its supermultiplet structure and, for an ${\cal N}=2$ theory in this class, the spectrum of protected operators with spin 2. We also show that the trace of the Kaluza-Klein graviton mass matrix on the dual AdS$_4$ solutions e…
Membrane/fivebrane duality in D=11 implies Type IIA string/Type IIA fivebrane duality in D=10, which in turn implies Type IIA string/heterotic string duality in D=6. To test the conjecture, we reproduce the corrections to the 3-form field equations of the D=10 Type IIA string (a mixture of tree-level and one-loop effects) starting from the Chern-Simons corrections to the 7-form Bianchi identities of the D=11 fivebrane (a purely tree-level effect). K3 compactification of the latter then yields the familiar gauge and Lorentz Chern-Simons corrections to 3-form Bianchi identities of the heterotic …
Exceptional Field Theory has been recently shown to be very powerful to compute Kaluza-Klein spectra. Using these techniques, the mass matrix of Kaluza-Klein vector perturbations about a specific class of AdS$_4$ solutions of $D=11$ and massive type IIA supergravity is determined. These results are then employed to characterise the complete supersymmetric spectrum about some notable ${\cal N}=2$ and ${\cal N}=3$ AdS$_4$ solutions in this class, which are dual to specific three-dimensional superconformal Chern-Simons field theories.
A new dynamic SU(3)-structure solution in type-IIA is found by T-dualising a deformation of the Maldacena-Nastase solution along an SU(2) isometry. It is argued that this is dual to a quiver gauge theory with multiple Chern-Simons levels. A clear way of defining Chern-Simons levels in terms of Page charges is presented, which is also used to define a Chern-Simons term for the G2-structure analogue of Klebanov-Strassler, providing evidence of a cascade in both the ranks and levels of the dual quiver.
Using gravity description, we compute various static length scales of N=6 Chern Simons plasma in a strongly coupled regime. For this, we consider the CP3 compactification of the type IIA supergravity down to four dimensions, and identify all the low-lying bosonic modes up to masses corresponding to the operator dimension 3 together with all the remaining CP3 invariant modes. We find the true mass gap, the Debye screening mass and the corresponding dual operators to be probed in the field theory side.
We study the one-loop effective action of certain classical type IIA string configurations in $AdS_4\times \mathbb{CP}^3$. These configurations are dual to Wilson loops in the $\mathcal{N}= 6\:$ $U(N)_k \times U(N)_{-k}$ Chern-Simons theory coupled to matter whose expectation values are known via supersymmetric localization. We compute the one-loop effective actions using two methods: perturbative heat kernel techniques and full $ζ$-function regularization. We find that the result of the perturbative heat kernel method matches the field theory prediction at the appropriate order while the $ζ$-…
We derive the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy for a class of BPS black holes in the massive type IIA supergravity background AdS$_4 \times S^6$ from a microscopic counting of supersymmetric ground states in a holographically dual field theory. The counting is performed by evaluating the topologically twisted index of three-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ Chern-Simons-matter gauge theories in the large $N$ limit. The $\mathcal{I}$-extremization principle is shown to match the attractor mechanism for the near-horizon geometries constructed in the four-dimensional dyonic $\mathcal{N}=2$ gauged supergravit…
We study supersymmetric pp-waves in M-theory, their dimensional reduction to D0-branes or pp-waves in type IIA, and their T-dualisation to solutions in the type IIB theory. The general class of pp-waves that we consider encompass the Penrose limits of AdS_p\times S^q with (p,q)=(4,7), (7,4), (3,3), (3,2), (2,3), (2,2), but includes also many other examples that can again lead to exactly-solvable massive strings, but which do not arise from Penrose limits. All the pp-waves in D=11 have 16 ``standard'' Killing spinors, but in certain cases one finds additional, or ``supernumerary,'' Killing spin…
We present an elegant method to prove the invariance of the Chern-Simons part of the non-Abelian action for N coinciding D-branes under the R-R and NS-NS gauge transformations, by carefully defining what is meant by a background gauge transformation in the non-Abelian world volume action. We study as well the invariance under massive gauge transformations of the massive Type IIA supergravity and show that no massive dielectric couplings are necessary to achieve this invariance.
In this paper we study the effects of the coupling constant of the Chern-Simons modified gravity on some physical properties of black holes. The Hawking mass is one of the proposed definitions of quasilocal mass. We find that, for slowly rotating Chern-Simons black holes, the Hawking mass is independent of the coupling constant. Next, we show the dependence on the centre of mass energy, for two neutral colliding particles, of coupling constant and the rotation parameter. We also investigate energy extraction through Penrose process and find that the energy gain and efficiency of the Penrose pr…
Recently it has been conjectured that N=6, U(N)_{k} \times U(N)_{-k} Chern-Simons theory is dual to M-theory on AdS_4\times S^7/Z_{k}. By studying one-loop correction to the M-theory effective action, we calculate the correction to the entropy of thermal field theory at strong coupling. For large k level, we have also found the alpha' correction to the entropy from the string correction of the type IIA effective action. The structure of these two corrections at strong t'Hooft coupling are different.
A geometrical formulation of the T-duality rules for type II superstring Ramond--Ramond fields is presented. This is used to derive the Wess-Zumino terms in superstring D-brane actions, including terms proportional to the mass parameter of the IIA theory, thereby completing partial results in the literature. For non-abelian world-volume gauge groups the massive type IIA D-brane actions contain non-abelian Chern--Simons terms for the Born--Infeld gauge potential, implying a quantization of the IIA cosmological constant.
We consider the small deformation of the point-like Wilson loop in the 3-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=6$ superconformal Chern-Simons theory. By Taylor expansion of the point-like Wilson loop in powers of the loop variables, we obtain the BPS operators that correspond to the excited string states of the dual IIA string theory on the pp wave background. The BPS conditions of the Wilson loop constrain both the loop variables and the forms of the operators obtained in the Taylor expansion.
We derive the spacetime superalgebras explicitly from ``test'' p-brane actions in a D-8-brane (i.e. a massive IIA) background to the lowest order in $θ$ via canonical formalism, and show that the forms of the superalgebras are the same as those in all the other D-brane (i.e. massless IIA) backgrounds, that is, they are indifferent to the presence of the Chern-Simons terms which are proportional to the mass and added to the D-brane actions in the case of massive IIA backgrounds. Thus, we can say that all the D-brane background solutions including a D-8-brane are on equal footing from the viewpo…
We consider finite-size effects for the dyonic giant magnon of the type IIA string theory on AdS_4 x CP^3 by applying Luscher mu-term formula which is derived from a recently proposed S-matrix for the N=6 super Chern-Simons theory. We compute explicitly the effect for the case of a symmetric configuration where the two external bound states, each of A and B particles, have the same momentum p and spin J_2. We compare this with the classical string theory result which we computed by reducing it to the Neumann-Rosochatius system. The two results match perfectly.
Using the duality conjecture between N=6 supersymmetric U(N)_k \times U(N)_{-k} Chern-Simons theory and M-theory on AdS_4 \times S^7/Z_{k}, we calculate the corrections to the shear viscosity of the field theory at temperature T. At strong 't Hooft coupling and at small k level, we have considered one-loop correction to the M-theory effective action. At large k level, we have considered the alpha' correction to the type IIA effective action. In both cases the correction to the ratio of shear viscosity to the entropy density is positive.
We study Wilson loop operators in three-dimensional, N=6 superconformal Chern-Simons theory dual to IIA superstring theory on AdS4 x CP3. Novelty of Wilson loop operators in this theory is that, for a given contour, there are two linear combinations of Wilson loop transforming oppositely under time-reversal transformation. We show that one combination is holographically dual to IIA fundamental string, while orthogonal combination is set to zero. We gather supporting evidences from detailed comparative study of generalized time-reversal transformations in both D2-brane worldvolume and ABJM theo…
Freed, Harvey, Minasian and Moore have proposed a mechanism to cancel the gravitational anomaly of the M-theory fivebrane coming from diffeomorphisms acting on the normal bundle. This procedure is based on a modification of the conventional M-theory Chern-Simons term. We compactify this space-time interaction to the ten-dimensional type IIA theory. We then analyze the relation to the anomaly cancellation mechanism for the type IIA fivebrane proposed by Witten.
We consider the exact solutions of the supergravity theories in various dimensions in which the space-time has the form M_{d} x S^{D-d} where M_{d} is an Einstein space admitting a conformal Killing vector and S^{D-d} is a sphere of an appropriate dimension. We show that, if the cosmological constant of M_{d} is negative and the conformal Killing vector is space-like, then such solutions will have a conformal Penrose limit: M^{(0)}_{d} x S^{D-d} where M^{(0)}_{d} is a generalized d-dimensional AdS plane wave. We study the properties of the limiting solutions and find that M^{(0)}_{d} has 1/4 s…
Using mirror symmetry, we show that Chern-Simons theory on certain manifolds such as lens spaces reduces to a novel class of Hermitian matrix models, where the measure is that of unitary matrix models. We show that this agrees with the more conventional canonical quantization of Chern-Simons theory. Moreover, large N dualities in this context lead to computation of all genus A-model topological amplitudes on toric Calabi-Yau manifolds in terms of matrix integrals. In the context of type IIA superstring compactifications on these Calabi-Yau manifolds with wrapped D6 branes (which are dual to M-…
We study the topologically twisted index of a certain Chern-Simons matter theory with $SU(N)$ level $k$ gauge group on a genus $g$ Riemann surface times a circle. For this theory it is known that the logarithm of the topologically twisted index grows as $N^{5/3}$ and that it matches the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of certain magnetically charged asymptotically $AdS_4\times S^6$ black holes in massive type IIA supergravity. Through a combination of numerical and analytical techniques we study the subleading in $N$ structure. We demonstrate precise analytic cancellation of terms of orders $N\log\…
We add fundamental flavors to N=2 Chern-Simons-matter theories living on M2 branes probing a Calabi-Yau four-fold singularity. This is dual, in the 't Hooft limit described by IIA string theory, to the introduction of supersymmetric D6 branes wrapping AdS4 and a 3-cycle of the internal manifold. The resulting Chern-Simons theories remain conformally invariant, corresponding to the fact that the D6 branes lift to pure geometry in M-theory. The determination of the moduli space relies crucially on the 1-loop contributions to charges and OPE's of monopole operators in these field theories. The ge…
We study the addition of quantum fermionic impurities to the N=6 supersymmetric Chern-Simons-matter theories in 2+1 spacetime dimensions. The impurities are introduced by means of Wilson loops in the antisymmetric representation of the gauge group. In a holographic setup, the system is represented by considering D6-branes probing the AdS_4 x CP^3 background of type IIA supergravity. We study the thermodynamic properties of the system and show how a Kondo lattice model with holographic dimers can be constructed. By computing the Kaluza-Klein fluctuation modes of the probe brane we determine the…
We present an elegant method to prove the invariance of the Chern-Simons part of the non-Abelian action for N coinciding D-branes under the R-R and NS-NS gauge transformations, by carefully defining what is meant by a background gauge transformation in the non-Abelian world volume action. We study as well the invariance under massive gauge transformations of the massive Type IIA supergravity and show that no massive dielectric couplings are necessary to achieve this invariance. We show that this result is consistent with (massive) T-duality from the non-Abelian action for N D9-branes.
We show that fractional flux from Wilson lines can stabilize the moduli of heterotic string compactifications on Calabi-Yau threefolds. We observe that the Wilson lines used in GUT symmetry breaking naturally induce a fractional flux. When combined with a hidden-sector gaugino condensate, this generates a potential for the complex structure moduli, Kahler moduli, and dilaton. This potential has a supersymmetric AdS minimum at moderately weak coupling and large volume. Notably, the necessary ingredients for this construction are often present in realistic models. We explore the type IIA dual ph…
We review the duality and integrability of N=6 superconformal Chern-Simons theory in three dimensions and IIA superstring theory on the background AdS4xCP3. We introduce both of these models and describe how their degrees of freedom are mapped to excitations of a long-range integrable spin-chain. Finally, we discuss the properties of the Bethe equations, the S-matrix and the algebraic curve that are special to this correspondence and differ from the case of N=4 SYM theory and strings on AdS5xS5.
We consider the nondynamical Chern-Simons (nCS) modified gravity, which is regarded as a parity-odd theory of massive gravity in four dimensions. We first find polarization modes of gravitational waves for $θ=x/μ$ in nCS modified gravity by using the Newman-Penrose formalism where the null complex tetrad is necessary to specify gravitational waves. We show that in the Newman-Penrose formalism, the number of polarization modes is one in addition to an unspecified $Ψ_4$, implying three degrees of freedom for $θ=x/μ$. This compares with two for a canonical embedding of $θ=t/μ$. Also, if one intro…
We deform the recently proposed holographic duality between the ABJM N=6 Chern-Simons-matter theory and type IIA string theory in AdS4xCP3. We add a non-zero Romans mass F_0, whose dual we identify as the sum of the Chern-Simons levels for the two gauge groups. One can naturally identify four different theories, with different amounts of supersymmetry and of flavor symmetry.
We study Wilson loops in the three-dimensional N=6 supersymmetric Chern-Simons theory recently constructed by Aharony, Bergman, Jafferis and Maldacena, that is conjectured to be dual to type IIA string theory on AdS_4 x CP^3. We construct loop operators in the Chern-Simons theory which preserve 1/6 of the supercharges and calculate their expectation value up to 2-loop order at weak coupling. The expectation value at strong coupling is found by constructing the string theory duals of these operators. For low dimensional representations these are fundamental strings, for high dimensional represe…
We study little string theory on R^1 x S^5, defined by a theory which lives on type IIA N NS5 branes wrapped on S^5, using its supergravity dual. In particular we study semiclassical rotating closed strings in this background. We also consider Penrose limit of this background that leads to a plane wave on which string theory is exactly solvable.
Recently, O. Aharony, O. Bergman, D. L. Jafferis and J. Maldacena (ABJM) proposed three-dimensional super Chern-Simons-matter theory, which at level k is supposed to describe the low energy limit of N M2-branes. For large N and k, but fixed 't Hooft coupling λ=N/k, it is dual to type IIA string theory on AdS_4 x CP^3. For large N but finite k, it is dual to M theory on AdS_4 x S^7/Z_k. In this paper, relying on the second duality, we find exact giant magnon and single spike solutions of membrane configurations on AdS_4 x S^7/Z_k by reducing the system to the Neumann-Rosochatius integrable mode…
We study the quantum moduli space of N=2 Chern-Simons quivers with generic ranks and CS levels, proving along the way exact formulas for the charges of bare monopole operators. We then derive N=2 Chern-Simons quiver theories dual to AdS_4 x Y^{p,q}(CP2) M-theory backgrounds, for the whole family of Sasaki-Einstein seven-manifolds and for any value of the torsion G_4 flux. The derivation of the gauge theories relies on the reduction to type IIA string theory, in which M2-branes become D2-branes while the conical geometry maps to RR flux and D6-branes wrapped on compact four-cycles. M5-branes on…
Understanding the strong coupling limit of massive type IIA string theory is a longstanding problem. We argue that perhaps this problem does not exist; namely, there may be no strongly coupled solutions of the massive theory. We show explicitly that massive type IIA string theory can never be strongly coupled in a weakly curved region of space-time. We illustrate our general claim with two classes of massive solutions in AdS4xCP3: one, previously known, with N = 1 supersymmetry, and a new one with N = 2 supersymmetry. Both solutions are dual to d = 3 Chern-Simons-matter theories. In both these…
