Abstract
Surface operators are among the most important observables of the 6d mathcal{N} = (2, 0) theory. Here we apply the tools of defect CFT to study local operator insertions into the 1/2-BPS plane. We first relate the 2-point function of the displacement operator to the expectation value of the bulk stress tensor and translate this relation into a constraint on the anomaly coefficients associated with the defect. Secondly, we study the defect operator expansion of the stress tensor multiplet and identify several new operators of the defect CFT. Technical results derived along the way include the explicit supersymmetry tranformations of the stress tensor multiplet and the classification of unitary representations of the superconformal algebra preserved by the defect.
Highlights
Similarities suggest that some of the methods which have proven successful in the study of Wilson loops can be applied to the N = (2, 0) theory as well, providing a window into its dynamics
We look at operators in the stress tensor multiplet and determine the short multiplets arising in their defect operator expansion (dOE)
In addition to this result, we find that the defect operator expansion provides a useful framework and makes the constraints imposed by the preserved symmetries manifest
Summary
As far as defect operators go, the displacement operator is pretty universal. As (1.1) suggests, any defect breaking translation symmetry contains that defect operator. In the case of N = (2, 0), we are mostly interested in the multiplet which contains the displacement operator. Of the full superconformal algebra osp(8∗|4), the 1/2-BPS plane preserves a 2d conformal algebra so(2, 2) in the directions parallel to the plane, along with rotations of the transverse directions so(4)⊥ and an so(4)R R-symmetry. It preserves half the supersymmetries Q+ (and S+) such that Q+V = 0. The full multiplet as derived in appendix D.2.1 reads δ+Dm. δ+ = ε+Q+ is a variation with respect to the preserved supercharges and ε+ = ε+Π+
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