Quantum holographic surface anomalies

Abstract

Expectation values of surface operators suffer from logarithmic divergences reflecting a conformal anomaly. In a holographic setting, where surface operators can be computed by a minimal surface in AdS, the leading contribution to the anomaly comes from a divergence in the classical action (or area) of the minimal surface. We study the subleading correction to it due to quantum fluctuations of the minimal surface. In the same way that the divergence in the area does not require a global solution but only a near-boundary analysis, the same holds for the quantum corrections. We study the asymptotic form of the fluctuation determinant and show how to use the heat kernel to calculate the quantum anomaly. In the case of M2-branes describing surface operators in the N=(2,0) theory in 6d, our calculation of the one-loop determinant reproduces expressions for the anomaly that have been found by less direct methods.