We compute the conformal anomaly a-coefficient for some non-unitary (higher derivative or non-gauge-invariant) 6d conformal fields and their supermultiplets. We use the method based on a connection between 6d determinants on S^6 and 7d determinants o
n AdS_7. We find, in particular, that (1,0) supermultiplet containing 4-derivative gauge-invariant conformal vector has precisely the value of a-anomaly as attributed in arXiv:1506.03807 (on the basis of R-symmetry and gravitational t Hooft matching) to the standard (1,0) vector multiplet. We also show that higher derivative (2,0) 6d conformal supergravity coupled to exactly 26 (2,0) tensor multiplets has vanishing a-anomaly. This is the 6d counterpart of the known fact of cancellation of the conformal anomaly in the 4d system of N=4 conformal supergravity coupled to 4 vector N=4 multiplets. In the case when 5 of tensor multiplets are chosen to be ghost-like and the conformal symmetry is spontaneously broken by a quadratic scalar constraint the resulting IR theory may be identified with (2,0) Poincare supergravity coupled to 21=26-5 tensor multiplets. The latter theory is known to be special: it is gravitational anomaly free and results upon compactification of 10d type IIB supergravity on K3.
We address the question about the exact form of the dispersion relation for light-cone string excitations in string theory in AdS3 x S3 x T4 with mixed R-R and NS-NS 3-form fluxes. The analogy with string theory in AdS5 x S5 suggests that in addition
to the data provided by the perturbative near-BMN expansion and the symmetry algebra considerations there is also another source of information about the dispersion relation -- the semiclassical giant magnon solution. In earlier work in arXiv:1303.1037 and arXiv:1304.4099 it was found that the symmetry algebra constraints consistent with perturbative expansion do not completely determine the form of the dispersion relation. The aim of the present paper is to fix it by constructing a generalization of the known dyonic giant magnon soliton on S3 to the presence of a non-zero NS-NS flux described by a WZ term in the string action. We find that the angular momentum of this soliton gets shifted by a term linear in world-sheet momentum. We also discuss the symmetry algebra of the string light-cone S-matrix and show that the exact dispersion relation, which should have the correct perturbative BMN and semiclassical giant magnon limits, should also contain such a linear momentum term. The simplicity of the resulting bound-state picture provides a strong argument in favour of this dispersion relation.
We consider a computation of one-loop AdS_5 x S^5 superstring correction to the energy radiated by the end-point of a string which moves along a wavy line at the boundary of AdS_5 with a small transverse acceleration (the corresponding classical solu
tion was described by Mikhailov in hep-th/0305196). We also compute the one-loop effective action for an arbitrary small transverse string fluctuation background. It is related by an analytic continuation to the Euclidean effective action describing one-loop correction to the expectation value of a wavy Wilson line. We show that both the one-loop contribution to the energy and to the Wilson line are controlled by the subleading term in the strong-coupling expansion of the function B(lambda) as suggested by Correa, Henn, Maldacena and Sever in arXiv:1202.4455.
We consider the correlation function of a circular Wilson loop with two local scalar operators at generic 4-positions in planar N=4 supersymmetric gauge theory. We show that such correlator is fixed by conformal invariance up to a function of t Hooft
coupling and two scalar combinations of the positions invariant under the conformal transformations preserving the circle. We compute this function at leading orders at weak and strong coupling for some simple choices of local BPS operators. We also check that correlators of an infinite line Wilson loop with local operators are the same as those for the circular loop.
We give an elementary introduction to classical and quantum bosonic string theory.
