Defect CFT techniques in the 6d $\mathcal{N} = (2,0)$ theory

TL;DR

This paper applies defect conformal field theory techniques to analyze surface operators in the 6d $ abla(2,0)$ theory, deriving new relations and classifying defect operators to deepen understanding of this high-dimensional supersymmetric system.

Contribution

It introduces novel methods to relate defect operator correlators to bulk properties and classifies new defect operators in the 6d $ abla(2,0)$ theory.

Findings

Relation between displacement operator 2-point function and bulk stress tensor expectation value

Identification of new defect operators in the stress tensor multiplet

Classification of unitary representations of the preserved superconformal algebra

Abstract

Surface operators are among the most important observables of the 6d $\mathcal{N} = (2,0)$ theory. Here we apply the tools of defect CFT to study local operator insertions into the 1/2-BPS plane. We first relate the 2-point function of the displacement operator to the expectation value of the bulk stress tensor and translate this relation into a constraint on the anomaly coefficients associated with the defect. Secondly, we study the defect operator expansion of the stress tensor multiplet and identify several new operators of the defect CFT. Technical results derived along the way include the explicit supersymmetry tranformations of the stress tensor multiplet and the classification of unitary representations of the superconformal algebra preserved by the defect.