We establish a framework for doing second order conformal perturbation theory for the symmetric orbifold Sym$^N(T^4)$ to all orders in $N$. This allows us to compute how 1/4-BPS states of the D1-D5 system on $AdS_3times S^3times T^4$ are lifted as we move away from the orbifold point. As an application we confirm a previous observation that in the large $N$ limit not all 1/4-BPS states that can be lifted do get lifted. This provides evidence that the supersymmetric index actually undercounts the number of 1/4-BPS states at a generic point in the moduli space.
The elliptic genus of K3 is an index for the 1/4-BPS states of its sigma model. At the torus orbifold point there is an accidental degeneracy of such states. We blow up the orbifold fixed points using conformal perturbation theory, and find that this
fully lifts the accidental degeneracy of the 1/4-BPS states with h=1. At a generic point near the Kummer surface the elliptic genus thus measures not just their index, but counts the actual number of these BPS states. We comment on the implication of this for symmetry surfing and Mathieu moonshine.
In this paper we generalize the work of Lin, Lunin and Maldacena on the classification of 1/2-BPS M-theory solutions to a specific class of 1/4-BPS configurations. We are interested in the solutions of 11 dimensional supergravity with $SO(3)times SO(
4)$ symmetry, and it is shown that such solutions are constructed over a one-parameter familiy of 4 dimensional almost Calabi-Yau spaces. Through analytic continuations we can obtain M-theory solutions having $AdS_2times S^3$ or $AdS_3times S^2$ factors. It is shown that our result is equivalent to the $AdS$ solutions which have been recently reported as the near-horizon geometry of M2 or M5-branes wrapped on 2 or 4-cycles in Calabi-Yau threefolds. We also discuss the hierarchy of M-theory bubbles with different number of supersymmetries.
We consider N = 4 Yang-Mills theory on a flat four-torus with the R-symmetry current coupled to a flat background connection. The partition function depends on the coupling constant of the theory, but when it is expanded in a power series in the R-sy
mmetry connection around the loci at which one of the supersymmetries is unbroken, the constant and linear terms are in fact independent of the coupling constant and can be computed at weak coupling for all non-trivial t Hooft fluxes. The case of a trivial t Hooft flux is difficult because of infrared problems, but the corresponding terms in the partition function are uniquely determined by S-duality.
We study the strong coupling behaviour of $1/4$-BPS circular Wilson loops (a family of latitudes) in ${cal N}=4$ Super Yang-Mills theory, computing the one-loop corrections to the relevant classical string solutions in AdS$_5times$S$^5$. Supersymmetr
ic localization provides an exact result that, in the large t Hooft coupling limit, should be reproduced by the sigma-model approach. To avoid ambiguities due to the absolute normalization of the string partition function, we compare the $ratio$ between the generic latitude and the maximal 1/2-BPS circle: Any measure-related ambiguity should simply cancel in this way. We use Gelfand-Yaglom method to calculate the relevant functional determinants, that present some complications with respect to the standard circular case. After a careful numerical evaluation of our final expression we still find disagreement with the localization answer: The difference is encoded into a precise remainder function. We comment on the possible origin and resolution of this discordance.
The maximally supersymmetric Freund-Rubin vacua for eleven dimensional supergravity, namely $AdS_4 times S^7$ and $AdS_7 times S^4$, admit an analytic continuation to $S^4 times S^7$. From the full harmonic expansions on $S^4 times S^7$, it is shown
that by analytical continuation to either $AdS_4$, or to $AdS_7$, the detailed structure of the Kaluza-Klein spectrum can be obtained for both vacua in a unified manner. The results are shown to be related by a simple rule which interchanges the spacetime and internal space representations. We also obtain the linearized field equations for the singletons and doubletons but they can be gauged away by fixing certain Stuckelberg shift symmetries inherited from the Kaluza-Klein reduction.