Searching for surface defect CFTs within AdS3

Abstract

Abstract We study AdS3$$ \times {S}^3/{\mathrm{\mathbb{Z}}}_k\times {\tilde{S}}^3/{\mathrm{\mathbb{Z}}}_{k^{\prime }} $$ × S 3 / ℤ k × S ˜ 3 / ℤ k ′ solutions to M-theory preserving $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = (0, 4) supersymmetries, arising as near-horizon limits of M2-M5 brane intersections ending on M5’-branes, with both types of five-branes placed on A-type singularities. Solutions in this class asymptote locally to AdS7$$ /{\mathrm{\mathbb{Z}}}_k\times {\tilde{S}}^3/{\mathrm{\mathbb{Z}}}_{k^{\prime }} $$ / ℤ k × S ˜ 3 / ℤ k ′ , and can thus be interpreted as holographic duals to surface defect CFTs within the $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = (1, 0) 6d CFT dual to this solution. Upon reduction to Type IIA, we obtain a new class of solutions of the form AdS3× S3/ℤk× S2×Σ2 preserving (0,4) supersymmetries. We construct explicit 2d quiver CFTs dual to these solutions, describing D2-D4 surface defects embedded within the 6d (1,0) quiver CFT dual to the AdS7/ℤk solution to massless IIA. Finally, in the massive case, we show that the recently constructed AdS3× S2× CY2 solutions with $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = (0, 4) supersymmetries gain a defect interpretation as surface CFTs originating from D2-NS5-D6 defects embedded within the 5d CFT dual to the Brandhuber-Oz AdS6 background.