Surface Operators in Superspace

TL;DR

This paper extends the geometric framework of Wilson loops to Wilson surfaces in six-dimensional supersymmetric theories, deriving BPS conditions, classifying operators by supersymmetry preservation, and exploring their relation to supercurrents and higher-dimensional operators.

Contribution

It provides a detailed geometric and supersymmetric formulation of Wilson surfaces, including BPS conditions, classification, and their connection to supercurrents and higher-dimensional operators.

Findings

Explicit BPS Wilson surfaces in 6D N=(2,0) theory derived.

Classification of Wilson surfaces by preserved supercharges.

Connection established between BPS conditions and kappa-symmetry invariance.

Abstract

We generalize the geometrical formulation of Wilson loops recently introduced in arXiv:2003.01729v2 to the description of Wilson Surfaces. For N=(2,0) theory in six dimensions, we provide an explicit derivation of BPS Wilson Surfaces with non-trivial coupling to scalars, together with their manifestly supersymmetric version. We derive explicit conditions which allow to classify these operators in terms of the number of preserved supercharges. We also discuss kappa-symmetry and prove that BPS conditions in six dimensions arise from kappa-symmetry invariance in eleven dimensions. Finally, we discuss super-Wilson Surfaces - and higher dimensional operators - as objects charged under global $p$-form (super)symmetries generated by tensorial supercurrents. To this end, the construction of conserved supercurrents in supermanifolds and of the corresponding conserved charges is developed in details.