On BPS Strings in ${mathcal N}=4$ Yang-Mills Theory

We study singular time-dependent $frac{1}{8}$-BPS configurations in the abelian sector of ${{mathcal N}= 4}$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory that represent BPS string-like defects in ${{mathbb R}times S^3}$ spacetime. Such BPS strings can be described as intersections of the zeros of holomorphic functions in two complex variables with a 3-sphere. We argue that these BPS strings map to $frac{1}{8}$-BPS surface operators under the state-operator correspondence of the CFT. We show that the string defects are holographically dual to noncompact probe D3-branes in global $AdS_5times S^5$ that share supersymmetries with a class of dual-giant gravitons. For simple configurations, we demonstrate how to define a good variational problem and propose a regularization scheme that leads to finite energy and global charges on both sides of the holographic correspondence.