Integrable AdS${}_2$ branes in mixed flux AdS${}_3$

Abstract

We show that half-BPS D3-branes wrapping AdS${}_2\times$S${}^2$ in AdS${}_3\times$S${}^3\times$T${}^4$ with mixed NSNS and RR flux define integrable boundary conditions for the supercoset sigma model of the Green--Schwarz superstring. This extends the integrable D-branes of Dekel and Oz to backgrounds with a Wess--Zumino term, and previous bosonic results for mixed flux to the full superstring. Using the D3-brane action, we find that the electric and magnetic worldvolume fields that stabilise the branes at generic positions are obtained from those of the AdS${}_2\times$S${}^2$ branes of the WZW model by the same $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$ rotation that maps the pure NSNS background to the mixed flux one, acting on the D3-brane as electric--magnetic duality. On the worldsheet, cancelling the fermionic boundary terms requires introducing a specific closed two-form in the boundary action, and its contribution to the bosonic boundary conditions reproduces precisely these worldvolume fields. We then construct field-dependent reflection matrices that lift the boundary conditions to gluing conditions for the Cagnazzo--Zarembo Lax connection and describe displacements along geodesics normal to the brane. The resulting double-row monodromy matrix generates infinitely many conserved charges, which establishes the classical integrability of the open superstring for any mixture of fluxes. In AdS${}_3$/CFT${}_2$, these branes are expected to be dual to conformal interfaces in a deformation of the symmetric product orbifold of T${}^4$.

arXiv comment42 pages