We show that the conformal anomaly for N M5-branes grows like $N^3$. The method we employ relates Coulomb branch interactions in six dimensions to interactions in four dimensions using supersymmetry. This leads to a relation between the six-dimensional conformal anomaly and the conformal anomaly of N=4 Yang-Mills. Along the way, we determine the structure of the four derivative interactions for the toroidally compactified (2,0) theory, while encountering interesting novelties in the structure of the six derivative interactions.
String theories with branes can often be generalized by adding brane-antibrane pairs. We explore the cancellation of anomalies in this more general context, extending the familiar anomaly-cancelling mechanisms, both for ten-dimensional string theories with D-branes and for certain supersymmetric compactifications.
We re-interpret the anomaly cancellation conditions for the gauge symmetries and the baryonic flavor symmetries in quiver gauge theories realized by the brane tilings from the viewpoint of flux conservation on branes.
The aim of this note is to discuss, in a somewhat informal language, the cancellation of anomalies (in topologically trivial space-time) for 5-branes using as "building blocks": i) a generalization to p-branes of the Dirac strings of monopoles (Dirac branes) and a refinement of this idea involving a geometric regularization of Dirac branes, leading to the formalism of "characteristic currents" ii) the PST formalism . As an example of the potentiality of the developed framework we discuss in some detail the anomaly cancellation in the D=10 effective theory of heterotic string and 5-brane couple…
The problem of the M5 brane anomaly cancellation is addressed. We reformulate FHMM construction making explicit the relation with the M5 brane SUGRA solution. We suggest another solution to the magnetic coupling equation which doesn't need anomalous SO(5) variation of the 3-form potential and coincides with the SUGRA solution outside smoothed out core of the magnetic source. Chern-Simons term evaluated on this solution generates the same anomaly inflow as achieved by FHMM.
Using wall-crossing formulae and the theory of mock modular forms we derive a holomorphic anomaly equation for the modified elliptic genus of two M5-branes wrapping a rigid divisor inside a Calabi-Yau manifold. The anomaly originates from restoring modularity of an indefinite theta-function capturing the wall-crossing of BPS invariants associated to D4-D2-D0 brane systems. We show the compatibility of this equation with anomaly equations previously observed in the context of N=4 topological Yang-Mills theory on P^2 and E-strings obtained from wrapping M5-branes on a del Pezzo surface. The non-…
We calculate the holographic conformal anomaly and brane Newton potential when bulk is 5d AdS BH. It is shown that such anomaly is the same as in the case of pure AdS or (asymptotically) dS bulk spaces, i.e. it is (bulk) metric independent one. While Newton potential on the static brane in AdS BH is different from the one in pure AdS space, the gravity trapping still occurs for two branes system. This indicates to metric independence of gravity localization.
We investigate the ABJ anomaly in the framework of an effective field theory for a 3-brane scenario and show that the contribution from induced gravity on the brane depends on both the topological structure of the bulk space-time and the embedding of the brane in the bulk. This fact implies the existence of a non-trivial vacuum structure of bulk quantum gravity. Furthermore, we argue that this axial gravitational anomaly may not necessarily be cancelled by choosing the matter content on the brane since it could be considered as a possible effect from bulk quantum gravity.
We show that the gauge, gravitational (tangent-bundle) and their mixed anomalies arising from the localized modes near a 5-brane in the SO(32) heterotic string theory cancel with the anomaly inflow from the bulk with the use of the Green-Schwarz mechanism on the brane, similarly to the E_8 x E_8 5-brane case. We also compare our result with Mourad's analysis performed in the small-instanton limit.
We report our recent results concerning d5 gauged supergravity (dilatonic gravity) considered on AdS background. The finite action on such background as well as d4 holographic conformal anomaly (via AdS/CFT correspondence) are found. In such formalism the bulk potential is kept to be arbitrary, dilaton dependent function. Holographic RG in such theory is briefly discussed. d5 AdS brane-world Universe induced by quantum effects of brane CFT is constructed. Such brane is spherical, hyperbolic or flat one. Hence, the possibility of quantum creation of inflationary brane-world Universe is shown.
Axial and gravitational anomaly of field theories, when embedded in string theory, must be accompanied by canceling inflow. We give a self-contained overview for various world-volume theories, and clarify the role of smeared magnetic sources in I-brane/D-brane cases. The proper anomaly descent of the source, as demanded by regularity of RR field strengths H's, turns out to be an essential ingredient. We show how this allows correct inflow to be generated for all such theories, including self-dual cases, and also that the mechanism is now insensitive to the choice between the two related but in…
If an M2-brane intersects an M5-brane the canonical Wess-Zumino action is plagued by a Dirac-anomaly, i.e. a non-integer change of the action under a change of Dirac-brane. We show that this anomaly can be eliminated at the expense of a gravitational anomaly supported on the intersection manifold. Eventually we check that the last one is cancelled by the anomaly produced by the fermions present. This provides a quantum consistency check of these intersecting configurations.
A simple derivation of the low-energy effective action for brane worlds is given, highlighting the role of conformal invariance. We show how to improve the effective action for a positive- and negative-tension brane pair using the AdS/CFT correspondence.
We derive the anomaly polynomials of 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ theories that are obtained by wrapping M5-branes on a Riemann surface with arbitrary regular punctures, using anomaly inflow in the corresponding M-theory setup. Our results match the known anomaly polynomials for the 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ class $\mathcal{S}$ SCFTs. In our approach, the contributions to the 't Hooft anomalies due to boundary conditions at the punctures are determined entirely by $G_4$-flux in the 11d geometry. This computation provides a top-down derivation of these contributions that utilizes the geometric definition of the…
The quantization of the tensionless p-brane is discussed. Inspection of the constraint algebra reveals that the central extensions for the p-branes have a simple form. Using a Hamiltonian BRST scheme we find that the quantization is consistent in any space-time dimension while the quantization of the conformal tensionless p-brane gives a critical dimension $d=2$.
We construct an effective action describing an elementary M5-brane interacting with dynamical eleven-dimensional supergravity, which is free from gravitational anomalies. The current associated to the elementary brane is taken as a distribution valued delta-function on the support of the 5-brane itself. Crucial ingredients of the construction are the consistent inclusion of the dynamics of the chiral two-form on the 5-brane, and the use of an invariant Chern-kernel allowing to introduce a D=11 three-form potential which is well defined on the worldvolume of the 5-brane.
We give a general definition of the conformal anomaly for theories that are not classically Weyl invariant and show that this definition yields a quantity that is both finite and local. As an example we study the conformal anomaly for a non-minimally coupled massless scalar and show that our definition coincides with results obtained using the heat kernel method.
An introduction to the construction of D-branes using conformal field theory methods is given. A number of examples are discussed in detail, in particular the construction of all conformal D-branes for the theory of a single free boson on a circle.
We apply Wilczek and his collaborators' anomaly cancellation approach to the 3-dimensional Schwarzschild- and BTZ-like brane world black holes induced by the generalized C metrics in the Randall-Sundrum scenario. Based on the fact that the horizon of brane world black hole will extend into the bulk spacetime, we do the calculation from the bulk generalized C metrics side and show that this approach also reproduces the correct Hawking radiation for these brane world black holes. Besides, since this approach does not involve the dynamical equation, it also shows that the Hawking radiation is onl…
We use fractional and wrapped branes to describe perturbative and nonperturbative properties of the gauge theories living on their worldvolume. (Talk given at the 35th International Symposium Ahrenshoop on the Theory of Elementary Particles, Wernsdorf, August 26-30, 2002.)
We study intersecting D-brane models, that describe at low energies a two dimensional chiral fermion theory localized at the intersection. The fermions are coupled to gauge fields in the bulk. The resulting low energy theory is equivalent to the Gross-Neveu model with dynamical chiral symmetry breaking. No Nambu-Goldstone boson associated with spontaneously broken symmetries appears in two dimensional field theories. In the present work we discuss solvable models with the same basic dynamics of the dual Gross-Neveu model. The disappearance of the Nambu-Goldstone boson is obtained from D-brane …
The general structure of the conformal anomaly and the dilaton's effect to it are analysed. First we give a new formal proof of the statement that the conformal anomaly, in the theory which is conformal invariant at the classical level, is conformal invariant. The heat-kernel regularization and Fujikawa's method are taken for the analysis. We present a new explicit result of the conformal anomaly in 4 dimensional photon-dilaton gravity. This result is examined from the point of the general structure.
Trace anomaly for dilaton coupled conformal theories on curved background with non-zero dilaton is found from supergravity side as an IR effect using AdS/CFT correspondence. For $d=2$ it coincides with the conformal anomaly for dilaton coupled scalar (up to total derivative term which is known to be ambiguous). In four-dimensional case we get conformal anomaly for ${\cal N}=4$ super YM theory interacting with conformal supergravity. In the same way the calculation of dilaton dependent conformal anomaly in higher dimensions seems to be much easier than using standard QFT methods.
We outline the structure of boundary conditions in conformal field theory. A boundary condition is specified by a consistent collection of reflection coefficients for bulk fields on the disk together with a choice of an automorphism ωof the fusion rules that preserves conformal weights. Non-trivial automorphisms ωcorrespond to D-brane configurations for arbitrary conformal field theories.
We compute the anomaly of the axial U(1) current in the A-model on a Calabi-Yau manifold, in the presence of coisotropic branes discovered by Kapustin and Orlov. Our results relate the anomaly-free condition to a recently proposed definition of graded coisotropic branes in Calabi-Yau manifolds. More specifically, we find that a coisotropic brane is anomaly-free if and only if it is gradable. We also comment on a different grading for coisotropic submanifolds introduced recently by Oh.
We make some comments on the derivation of N=2 super-conformal field theories with smooth gauge group from M2-branes placed at conifold singularities, giving a detailed prescription for two specific examples: the singular cones over the Q^{111} and M^{110} manifolds.
The effects of conformal anomaly on the thermodynamics of black holes are investigated in this Letter from the perspective of $P-V$ criticality of AdS black holes. Treating the cosmological constant as thermodynamic pressure, we extend the recent research to the extended phase space. Firstly, we study the $P$-$V$ criticality of the uncharged AdS black holes with conformal anomaly and find that conformal anomaly does not influence whether there exists Van der Waals like critical behavior. Secondly, we investigate the $P$-$V$ criticality of the charged cases and find that conformal anomaly influ…
Turning on a NS-NS three-form flux in a compact space drives some D-branes to be either Freed-Witten anomalous or unstable to decay into fluxes by the appearance of instantonic branes. By applying T-duality on a toroidal compactification, the NS-flux is transformed into metric fluxes. We propose a T-dual version of the Atiyah-Hirzebruch Spectral Sequence upon which we describe the Freed-Witten anomaly and the brane-flux transition driven by NS and metric fluxes in a twisted torus. The required conditions to cancel the anomaly and the appearance of new instantonic branes are also described. In …
We examine the hydrodynamic limit of non-conformal branes using the recently developed precise holographic dictionary. We first streamline the discussion of holography for backgrounds that asymptote locally to non-conformal brane solutions by showing that all such solutions can be obtained from higher dimensional asymptotically locally AdS solutions by suitable dimensional reduction and continuation in the dimension. As a consequence, many holographic results for such backgrounds follow from the corresponding results of the Asymptotically AdS case. In particular, the hydrodynamics of non-confo…
We study in detail the extension of the generalized conformal symmetry proposed previously for D-particles to the case of supersymmetric Yang-Mills matrix models of Dp-branes for arbitrary p. It is demonstrated that such a symmetry indeed exists both in the Yang-Mills theory and in the corresponding supergravity backgrounds produced by Dp-branes. On the Yang-Mills side, we derive the field-dependent special conformal transformations for the collective coordinates of Dp-branes in the one-loop approximation, and show that they coincide with the transformations on the supergravity side. These tra…
We investigate the Hawking radiation of black $p$-branes of superstring theories using the method of anomaly cancelation, specially, we use the method of [S. Iso, H. Umetsu and F. Wilczek, {\sl Phys. Rev. Lett.} {\bf 96}, 151302 (2006); {\sl Phys. Rev. D} {\bf 74}, 044017 (2006)]. The metrics of black $p$-branes are spherically symmetric, but not the Schwarzschild type. In order to simplify the calculation, we first make a coordinate transformation to transform the metric to the Schwarzschild type. Then we calculate its energy-momentum flux from the method of anomaly cancelation of the above m…
The conformal anomaly for 4D gravity-matter theories, which are non-minimally coupled with the dilaton, is systematically studied. Special care is taken for: rescaling of fields, treatment of total derivatives, hermiticity of the system operator and choice of measure. Scalar, spinor and vector fields are taken as the matter quantum fields and their explicit conformal anomalies in the gravity-dilaton background are found. The cohomology analysis is done and some new conformal invariants and trivial terms, involving the dilaton, are obtained. The symmetry of the constant shift of the dilaton fie…
We analyze the conformal invariance of submanifold observables associated with $k$-branes in the AdS/CFT correspondence. For odd $k$, the resulting observables are conformally invariant, and for even $k$, they transform with a conformal anomaly that is given by a local expression which we analyze in detail for $k=2$
We consider in the Randall-Sundrum scenario the dynamics of a spherically symmetric 3-brane world when matter fields exist in the bulk. We determine exact 5-dimensional solutions which localize gravity near the brane and describe the dynamics of homogeneous polytropic matter on the brane. We show that these geometries are associated with a well defined conformal class of bulk matter fields. We analyze the effective polytropic dynamics on the brane identifying conditions which define it as singular or as globally regular.
We study the conformal properties of pseudo-scalar (parity-odd) operators in four-dimensional field theory. Such operators include the topological term in a gauge theory and the Yukawa coupling. We show that a single operator of this type cannot be a conformal primary on its own. This is only possible for certain mixtures of pseudo-scalar operators like the chiral Lagrangian of ${\cal N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills theory. We examine the detailed mechanism of conformal symmetry breakdown and derive an anomalous conformal Ward identity. We explore a possible link between this conformal anomaly and the …
The compactness of the closed string in the classical Type II string theory reveals the duality, whereas the compactness of the open string reveals that the end of the string is on the hypersurface which satisfies the Dirichlet boundary condition.
We make an exact field theoretical computation of the conformal anomaly for two-dimensional submanifold observables. By including a scalar field in the definition for the Wilson surface, as appropriate for a spontaneously broken A_1 theory, we get a conformal anomaly which is such that N times it is equal to the anomaly that was computed in hep-th/9901021 in the large N limit and which relied on the AdS-CFT correspondence. We also show how the spherical surface observable can be expressed as a conformal anomaly.
The defect conformal field theory describing intersecting D3-branes at a C^2/Z_k orbifold is used to (de)construct the theory of intersecting M5-branes, as well as M5-branes wrapping the holomorphic curve xy=c. The possibility of a 't Hooft anomaly due to tensionless strings at the intersection is discussed. This note is based on a talk given by Zachary Guralnik at the 35th International Symposium Ahrenshoop on the Theory of Elementary Particles.
The backreaction of D-branes on closed string moduli is studied in perturbed conformal field theory. To this end we analyse the divergences in the modular integral of the annulus diagram. By the Fischler-Susskind mechanism, these divergences lead to additional terms in the bulk renormalisation group equations. We derive explicit expressions for these backreaction terms, and follow the resulting renormalisation group flow in several examples, finding agreement with geometric expectations.
We compute the conformal anomaly of a nonabelian M5 brane on $S^1_q\times H^5$ in the large $N$ limit by using the gravity dual of a black hole. We also obtain a general formula for this conformal anomaly for any gauge group by combining various results already present in the literature. From the conformal anomaly we extract the Casimir energy on $\mathbb{R} \times S^5$. We find agreement with the proposal in arXiv:1507.08553.
We review holographic renormalization for non-conformal branes using the Hamilton-Jacobi formalism. We provide the tools required for the computation of the holographic dictionary, while we present some marginally new technical results regarding holographic renormalization for $Dp$-branes, $p<5$, for Einstein-Maxwell theory coupled to a dilaton. The computations are based on a recursive algorithm by Papadimitriou, that solves the radial Hamilton-Jacobi equation in the asymptotic boundary of the bulk. This paper is a short version of the Master thesis of the author written in 2014 at the Instit…
In frames of dS/CFT correspondence suggested by Strominger we calculate holographic conformal anomaly for dual euclidean CFT. The holographic renormalization group method is used for this purpose. It is explicitly demonstrated that two-dimensional and four-dimensional conformal anomalies (or corresponding central charges) have the same form as those obtained in AdS/CFT duality.
We compute the one-loop effective action and the conformal anomaly associated with the product $\bigotimes_p{\cal L}_p$ of the Laplace type operators ${\cal L}_p, p=1,2$, acting in irreducible rank 1 symmetric spaces of non-compact type. The explicit form of the zeta functions and the conformal anomaly of the stress-energy momentum tensor is derived.
d3 and d5 maximally SUSY gauged supergravity is considered in the parametrization (flow) of full scalar coset where the kinetic term for scalars takes the standard field theory form and the bulk potential is an arbitrary one subject to consistent parametrization. From such SG duals we calculate d2 and d4 holographic conformal anomaly which depends on bulk scalars potential. AdS/CFT correspondence suggests that such SG side conformal anomaly should be identified with (non-perturbative) QFT conformal anomaly (taking account of radiative corrections) for the theory living on the boundary of AdS s…
We apply the Kerr/CFT correspondence to the rotating black p-brane solutions. These solutions give the simplest examples from string theory point of view. Their near horizon geometries have structures of AdS, even though black p-brane solutions do not have AdS-like structures in the non-rotating case. The microscopic entropy which can be calculated via the Cardy formula exactly agrees with Bekenstein-Hawking entropy.
We provide two derivations of the one-loop dual conformal anomaly of generic n-point superamplitudes in maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. Our proofs are based on simple applications of unitarity, and the known analytic properties of the amplitudes.
Conformal invariant new forms of $p$-brane and D$p$-brane actions are proposed. The field content of these actions are: an induced metric, gauge fields, an auxiliary metric and an auxiliary scalar field that implements the Weyl invariance. This scalar field transforms with a conformal weight that depends on the brane dimension. The proposed actions are Weyl invariant in any dimension and the elimination of the auxiliary metric and the scalar field reproduces the Nambu-Goto action for $p$-branes and the Born-Infeld action for D$p$-branes. As a consequence of the fact that in the $p$-brane case,…
Considering the conformal anomaly in an effective action, the critical dimension of string theory can be decided in the harmonic gauge, in which it had been reported before to be indefinite. In this gauge, there is no anomaly for the ghost number symmetry. This can be naturally understood in terms of Faddeev-Popov conjugation in the theory.
A family of conformal boundary states for a free boson on a circle is constructed. The family contains superpositions of conventional U(1)-preserving Neumann and Dirichlet branes, but for general parameter values the boundary states are fundamental and preserve only the conformal symmetry. The relative overlaps satisfy Cardy's condition, and each boundary state obeys the factorisation constraint. It is also argued that, together with the conventional Neumann and Dirichlet branes, these boundary states already account for all fundamental conformal D-branes of the free boson theory. The results …
Decoupling limits of physical interest occur in regions of space--time where the string coupling diverges. This is illustrated in the celebrated example of five-branes. There are several ways to overcome this strong-coupling problem. We review those which are somehow related to two-dimensional conformal field theories. One method consists of distributing the branes over transverse space, either on a circle or over a sphere. Those distributions are connected to conformal field theories by T-dualities or lead to a new kind of sigma model where the target space is a patchwork of pieces of exact c…
We obtain the complete superconformal symmetry transformations on the worldvolume of a D3-brane in an $AdS_5\times S^5$ background by using a coset superspace approach. We show that in the large $R$-limit we recover all supersymmetries present on the worldvolume of a D3-brane in a Minkowski background, in particular the Volkov-Akulov supersymmetry. We conclude with a proposal for a scheme to construct higher derivative invariants in $D=4$, $\mathcal{N}=4$ settings.
We discuss general multidimensional axion-dilatonic AdS gravity which may correspond to bosonic sector of Gibbons-Green-Perry (compactified) IIB supergravity with RR-scalar (axion). Using AdS/CFT correspondence the 4d conformal anomaly on axion-dilaton-gravitational background is found from SG side. It is shown that for IIB SG with axion such conformal anomaly coincides with the one obtained from QFT calculation in ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory conformally coupled with ${\cal N}=4$ conformal SG. Brief discussion on possibility to apply these results for gauged SGs is also presented.
Bosonic sector of d5 gauged supergravity with specific parametrization of full scalar coset is considered (multi-dilaton gravity). Using holographic RG in the form suggested by de Boer-Verlinde-Verlinde the holographic d4 conformal anomaly (in the sector of curvature invariants) is found when bulk potential is not constant. Its comparison with the earlier calculation done in the scheme where expansion of metric and dilaton over radial coordinate of AdS space is used demonstrates scheme dependence of holographic conformal anomaly. In AdS/CFT correspondence where dilatons play role of coupling c…
The discrepancy between the anomaly found by Bousso and Hawking (hep-th/9705236) and that of other workers is explained by the omission of a zero mode contribution to the effective action.
We study the 't Hooft anomalies of four-dimensional superconformal field theories that arise from M5-branes wrapped on a punctured Riemann surface. In general there are two independent contributions to the anomalies. There is a bulk term obtained by integrating the anomaly polynomial of the world-volume theory on the M5-branes over the Riemann surface; this contribution knows about the punctures only through its dependence on the Euler characteristic of the surface. The second set of contributions comes from local data at the punctures; these terms are independent from the bulk data of the sur…
We show how the linear special conformal transformation in four-dimensional N=4 super Yang-Mills theory is metamorphosed into the nonlinear and field-dependent transformation for the collective coordinates of Dirichlet 3-branes, which agrees with the transformation law for the space-time coordinates in the anti-de Sitter (AdS) space-time. Our result provides a new and strong support for the conjectured relation between AdS supergravity and super conformal Yang-Mills theory (SYM). Furthermore, our work sheds elucidating light on the nature of the AdS/SYM correspondence.
We discuss a model of a conformal p-brane interacting with the world volume metric and connection. The purpose of the model is to suggest a mechanism by which gravity coupled to p-branes leads to the formation of structure rather than homogeneity in spacetime. Furthermore, we show that the formation of structure is accompanied by the appearance of a multivalued cosmological constant, i.e., one which may take on different values in different domains, or cells, of spacetime. The above results apply to a broad class of non linear gravitational lagrangians as long as metric and connection on the p…
In the Randall-Sundrum scenario we analyze the dynamics of a spherically symmetric 3-brane when the bulk is filled with matter fields. Considering a global conformal transformation whose factor is the $Z_2$ symmetric warp we find a new set of exact dynamical solutions for which gravity is bound to the brane. The set corresponds to a certain class of conformal bulk fields. We discuss the geometries which describe the dynamics on the brane of polytropic dark energy.
We investigate the dynamics of dilatonic D-dimensional 0-branes in the near-horizon regime. The theory is given in a twofold form: two-dimensional dilaton gravity and nonlinear sigma model. Using asymptotic symmetries, duality relations, and sigma model techniques we find that the theory has three conformal points which correspond to (a) the asymptotic (Anti-de Sitter) region of the two-dimensional spacetime, (b) the horizon of the black hole, and (c) the infinite limit of the coupling parameter. We show that the conformal symmetry is perturbatively preserved at one-loop, identify the correspo…
