4D and 2D superconformal index with surface operator

Abstract

We study the superconformal index of the N=4 super-Yang-Milles theory on S^3 X S^1 with the half BPS superconformal surface operator (defect) inserted at the great circle of S^3. The half BPS superconformal surface operators preserve the same supersymmetry as well as the symmetry of the chemical potential used in the definition of the superconformal index, so the structure and the parameterization of the superconformal index remain unaffected by the presence of the surface operator. On the surface defect, a two-dimensional (4,4) superconformal field theory resides, and the four-dimensional superconformal index may be regarded as a superconformal index of the two-dimensional (4,4) superconformal field theory coupled with the four-dimensional bulk system. We construct the matrix model that computes the superconformal index with the surface operator when it couples with the bulk N=4 super-Yang-Milles theory through the defect hypermultiplets on it.

22 pages, v3: typos corrected and references added

References in corpus (13)

• Applications of the Superconformal Index for Protected Operators and q-Hypergeometric Identities to N=1 Dual Theories
• The 4d Superconformal Index from q-deformed 2d Yang-Mills
• Superconformal indices for N=1 theories with multiple duals
• On the Superconformal Index of N=1 IR Fixed Points: A Holographic Check
• 3d Partition Function as Overlap of Wavefunctions
• Bubbling Surface Operators And S-Duality
• N=4 Superconformal Characters and Partition Functions
• Holographic Gauge Theories in Background Fields and Surface Operators
• On the ISS model of dynamical SUSY breaking
• Index for Supergravity on AdS_5 \times T^{1,1} and Conifold Gauge Theory
• Supersymmetric dualities beyond the conformal window
• Surface operators in the Klebanov-Witten theory
• Finite N Index and Angular Momentum Bound from Gravity

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Bootstrapping the superconformal index with surface defects
• Surface Defects and Chiral Algebras
• Surface Defects and Resolvents
• Elliptic hypergeometry of supersymmetric dualities II. Orthogonal groups, knots, and vortices
• M2-brane surface operators and gauge theory dualities in Toda
• Line Operator Index on S1 $\times$ S3
• Superconformal surfaces in four dimensions
• Elliptic hypergeometric integrals and 't Hooft anomaly matching conditions
• Superconformal Index with Duality Domain Wall
• Vanishing superconformal indices and the chiral symmetry breaking
• Orbifolds, Defects and Sphere Partition Function
• Wilson punctured network defects in 2D q-deformed Yang-Mills theory