No abstract uploaded!

We study Vasiliev’s system of higher spin gauge fields coupled to massive scalars in AdS_3, and compute the tree level two and three point functions. These are compared to the large N limit of the W_N minimal model, and nontrivial agreements are found. We propose a modified version of the conjecture of Gaberdiel and Gopakumar, under which the bulk theory is perturbatively dual to a subsector of the CFT that closes on the sphere.

We construct an index for BPS operators supported on a ray in five dimensional superconformal field theories with exceptional global symmetries. We compute the E_n representations (for n = 2, . . . , 7) of operators of low spin, thus verifying that while the expression for the index is only SO(2n − 2) × U(1) invariant, the index itself exhibits the full E_n symmetry (at least up to the order we expanded). The ray operators we studied in 5d can be viewed as generalizations of operators constructed in a Yang-Mills theory with fundamental matter by attaching an open Wilson line to a quark. For n ≤ 7, in contrast to local operators, they carry nontrivial charge under the ℤ_{9 − n}  ⊂ E_n center of the global symmetry. The representations that appear in the ray operator index are therefore different, for n ≤ 7, from those appearing in the previously computed superconformal index. For 3 ≤ n ≤ 7, we find that the leading term in the index is a character of a minuscule representation of E_n . We also discuss the case n = 8, which presents a unique technical challenge, and remains an open problem.

We study deformations of maximally supersymmetric gauge theories by higher dimensional operators in various spacetime dimensions. We classify infinitesimal deformations that preserve all 16 supersymmetries, while allowing the possibility of breaking either Lorentz or R-symmetry, using an on-shell algebraic method developed by Movshev and Schwarz. We also consider the problem of extending the deformation beyond the first order.

It is observed that three-dimensional Gödel black holes can be promoted to exact string theory backgrounds through an orbifold of an hyperbolic asymmetric marginal deformation of the SL(2,R) WZW model. Tachyons are found in the spectrum of long strings. Uplifting these solutions in type IIB supergravity, extremal black holes are shown to preserve one supersymmetry in accordance with the BTZ limit. We also make connections with some recently discussed warped black hole solutions of topologically massive gravity, showing that they actually correspond to quotients of spacelike squashed AdS_3.