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A bstract We study AdS 3 × S 3 / ℤ k × S ˜ 3 / ℤ k ′ solutions to M-theory preserving N = (0 , 4) supersymmetries, arising as near-horizon limits of M2-M5 brane intersections ending on M5’-branes, with both types of five-branes placed on A-type singularities. Solutions in this class asymptote locally to AdS 7 / ℤ k × S ˜ 3 / ℤ k ′ , and can thus be interpreted as holographic duals to surface defect CFTs within the N = (1 , 0) 6d CFT dual to this solution. Upon reduction to Type IIA, we obtain a new class of solutions of the form AdS 3 × S 3 /ℤ k × S 2 × Σ 2 preserving (0,4) supersymmetries. We construct explicit 2d quiver CFTs dual to these solutions, describing D2-D4 surface defects embedded within the 6d (1,0) quiver CFT dual to the AdS 7 /ℤ k solution to massless IIA. Finally, in the massive case, we show that the recently constructed AdS 3 × S 2 × CY 2 solutions with N = (0 , 4) supersymmetries gain a defect interpretation as surface CFTs originating from D2-NS5-D6 defects embedded within the 5d CFT dual to the Brandhuber-Oz AdS 6 background.

A bstract We discuss AdS 2 × S 3 × CY 2 × I ρ solutions to massive Type IIA supergravity with 4 Poincaré supersymmetries. We propose explicit dual quiver quantum mechanics built out of D0 and D4 colour branes coupled to D4’ and D8 flavour branes. We propose that these quivers describe the interactions of instantons and Wilson lines in 5d gauge theories with 8 Poincaré supersymmetries. Using the RR Maxwell fluxes of the solutions, conveniently put off-shell, we construct a functional from which the holographic central charge can be derived through a geometrical extremisation principle.

A bstract We construct a new family of AdS 2 × S 2 × S 2 solutions to Type IIA supergravity with 4 supercharges acting with non-Abelian T-duality on the recent class constructed in [ 1 ]. We focus on a particular solution in this class asymptoting locally to an AdS 5 Gaiotto-Maldacena geometry. This solution allows for a line defect interpretation within the 4d N = 2 SCFT dual to this geometry, that we study in detail. We show that the defect branes, consisting on a non-trivial intersection of D2-D4-NS5-F1 branes, can be interpreted as baryon vertices within the 4d N = 2 SCFT, whose backreaction gives rise to the AdS 2 solution. We construct the explicit quiver quantum mechanics that flows in the IR to the dual SCQM, and show that it can be embedded within the quiver CFT associated to the AdS 5 solution. The quiver quantum mechanics arises from a brane box set-up of D2-branes stretched between perpendicular NS5-branes, that we construct from the AdS 2 solution. We provide non-trivial checks of our proposed duality. Our construction provides one further example of the successful applications of non-Abelian T-duality to holography, in this case in providing a very non-trivial connection between AdS 2 solutions, line defects and brane boxes.

A bstract We establish a map between AdS 3 × S 2 and AdS 7 solutions to massive IIA supergravity that allows one to interpret the former as holographic duals to D2-D4 defects inside 6d (1,0) CFTs. This relation singles out in a particular manner the AdS 3 × S 2 solution constructed from AdS 3 × S 3 × CY 2 through non-Abelian T-duality, with respect to a freely acting SU(2). We find explicit global completions to this solution and provide well-defined (0,4) 2d dual CFTs associated to them. These completions consist of linear quivers with colour groups coming from D2 and D6 branes and flavour groups coming from D8 and D4 branes. Finally, we discuss the relation with flows interpolating between AdS 3 × S 2 × T 4 geometries and AdS 7 solutions found in the literature.

A bstract We construct a new class of AdS 3 × S 3 × M 4 solutions of massive Type IIA supergravity with (0 , 4) supersymmetries and SU(3) structure. We study in detail two subclasses of these solutions. The first subclass is when M 4 = S 2 × Σ 2 , with Σ 2 a 2d Riemann surface, and the geometry is foliated over the Σ 2 . We interpret these solutions as duals to surface defect CFTs within the 6d (1 , 0) CFTs dual to the AdS 7 × S 2 × I solutions of massive IIA supergravity. The second subclass is when M 4 = 𝕋 3 × I and the geometry is foliated over the interval. In this case supersymmetry is enhanced to (4 , 4) in the massless limit, and the solutions are the sought-for holographic duals of (4 , 4) CFTs living in two dimensional D2-NS5-D4 Hanany-Witten brane set-ups. In turn, in the massive case the solutions find an interpretation as D2-D4 branes embedded in Type I’ string theory. We construct explicit quiver gauge theories from the different brane set-ups that flow in the IR to the 2d dual CFTs dual to the solutions. We check the validity of our proposals with the matching between the field theory and holographic central charges.

A bstract Acting with non-Abelian T-duality on the S 3 inside the AdS 5 subspace of AdS 5 × S 5 with N units of flux, we generate a new half-BPS solution with SU(2|4) symmetry that belongs to the Lin-Lunin-Maldacena class of geometries. The analysis of the asymptotics, quantised charges and probe branes in this geometry suggests an interpretation as the gravity dual to the Berenstein-Maldacena-Nastase Plane Wave Matrix Model, in a particular vacuum associated to a partition of N , in which the multiplicity of each SU(2) irreducible representation is equal to its dimension. This vacuum is interpreted in M-theory in terms of giant gravitons backreacting in the maximally supersymmetric pp-wave geometry. Consistently with this, we show that the non-Abelian T-dual solution exactly agrees with the Penrose limit of the superstar solution in AdS 7 × S 4 . This suggests an interesting global completion of the non-Abelian T-dual solution in terms of an M5-brane geometry.

A bstract We construct new families of AdS 2 × S 2 × S 2 solutions with 4 supercharges in Type II supergravities. We show that subclasses of these solutions can be interpreted in terms of defect branes embedded in 4d N = 4 SYM, or orbifolds thereof. This is explicitly realised by showing that the solutions asymptote locally to AdS 5 × S 5 /ℤ n , in Type IIB, or its T-dual background, in Type IIA. The latter is a Gaiotto-Maldacena geometry realised on an intersection of D4 and NS5 branes. We extend the Type IIA solutions to include D6 branes, and interpret them as describing backreacted baryon vertices within 4d N = 2 CFTs living in D4-NS5-D6 intersections. We propose explicit quiver quantum mechanics in which the defect branes play the role of colour branes, with the D4 branes of the D4-NS5-D6 intersection becoming flavour branes. These quivers are used to compute the degeneracies of the ground states of the dual super conformal quantum mechanics, that are shown to agree with the holographic expressions.

A bstract We present general results on generating AdS 2 solutions to Type II supergravity from AdS 3 solutions via U(1) and SL(2) T-dualities. We focus on a class of Type IIB solutions with small 𝒩 = 4 supersymmetry, that we show can be embedded into a more general class of solutions obtained by double analytical continuation from AdS 3 geometries with small 𝒩 = (0, 4) supersymmetry constructed in the literature. We then start the analysis of the superconformal quantum mechanics dual to the 𝒩 = 4 backgrounds focusing on a subclass of AdS 2 × S 3 × 𝕋 3 solutions foliated over a Riemann surface. We show that the associated supersymmetric quantum mechanics describes monopole bubbling in 4d 𝒩 = 2 supersymmetric gauge theories living in D3-D7 branes, as previously discussed in the literature. Therefore, we propose that our solutions provide a geometrical description via holography of monopole bubbling in 4d 𝒩 = 2 SCFTs. We check our proposal with the computation of the central charge.

A bstract We study AdS 2 × S 4 × S 2 × Σ 2 solutions in type IIB string theory arising from D1-D3-NS5 brane intersections. These backgrounds enjoy sixteen supercharges and the corresponding internal geometry is non-compact due to the specific form of the warping w.r.t. the Riemann surface Σ 2 . Even though a direct computation of the holographic free energy of the would-be dual CFT 1 yields a divergent behaviour, it reveals the typical N 3 scaling of a 6d theory upon introducing a hard cut-off. We claim that such geometries may be interpreted as the gravity duals of M(atrix) models describing an IR phase of the (2 , 0) theory of M5 branes, in presence of momentum and NUT charges. We discuss parallel AdS 2 geometries describing longitudinal M2 branes in the UV, where the counting of the number of degrees of freedom correctly reproduces the expected N 3/2 behaviour of the dual field theory. These geometries provide explicit examples where deconstructed extra dimensions yield well-defined UV descriptions in terms of higher-dimensional CFTs.

A bstract We study half-BPS flows in gauged minimal 7d supergravity featured by an AdS 3 × S 3 slicing of the metric, supported by a dyonic three-form field. We first present a novel strategy for analytic integration of the BPS equations, which makes use of the integrals of motion. Subsequently, we discuss the suitable choice of integration constants that gives rise to smooth geometries. These flows are asymptotically locally AdS 7 and close off smoothly reproducing an AdS 3 × ℝ 4 geometry. We then discuss their uplifts to 11d and massive IIA supergravity and observe that they describe one-parameter deformations of their AdS 7 × S 4 and AdS 7 × S 3 vacua, respectively, their holographic interpretation being as conformal defect CFT 2 ’s within the corresponding dual SCFT 6 ’s. We conclude with the computation of the holographic central charge, by focussing on the M-theory interpretation.