Holographic $$ \frac{1}{2} $$-BPS surface defects in ABJM

Abstract

We study the class of AdS3 × ℂℙ3 solutions to massive Type IIA supergravity with $$ \mathfrak{osp} $$ osp (6|2) superconformal algebra recently constructed in [1]. These solutions are foliations over an interval preserving $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = (0, 6) supersymmetry in two dimensions, that in the massless limit can be mapped to the AdS4 × ℂℙ3 solution of ABJM/ABJ. We show that in the massive case extra NS5-D8 branes, that we interpret as $$ \frac{1}{2} $$ 1 2 -BPS surface defect branes within the ABJ theory, backreact in the geometry and turn one of the 3d field theory directions onto an energy scale, generating a flow towards a 2d CFT. We construct explicit quiver field theories that we propose flow in the IR to the (0, 6) SCFTs dual to the solutions. Finally, we show that the AdS3 solutions realise geometrically, in terms of large gauge transformations, an extension to the massive case of Seiberg duality in ABJ theories proposed in the literature.