Defect two-point functions in 6d (2,0) theories

Abstract

We consider correlation functions in 6d $(2,0)$ theories of two $\frac{1}{2}$-BPS operators inserted away from a $\frac{1}{2}$-BPS surface defect. In the large central charge limit the leading connected contribution corresponds to sums of tree-level Witten diagram in AdS${}_7\times$S${}^4$ in the presence of an AdS${}_3$ defect. We show that these correlators can be uniquely determined by imposing only superconformal symmetry and consistency conditions, eschewing the details of the complicated effective Lagrangian. We explicitly compute all such two-point functions. The result exhibits remarkable hidden simplicity.

arXiv comment7 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, 1 ancillary Mathematica notebook