The Resolved Elliptic Genus and the D1-D5 CFT

TL;DR

This paper introduces the resolved elliptic genus (REG), a new supersymmetry index for the D1-D5 CFT, which aligns with supergravity results below the black-hole threshold and reveals black-hole microstates above it.

Contribution

The paper develops a new formalism based on Schur-Weyl duality and introduces the REG, enhancing the understanding of black-hole microstates in the D1-D5 CFT.

Findings

REG agrees with supergravity below the black-hole threshold

REG captures black-hole microstates above the threshold

Formalism clarifies the structure of BPS state lifting

Abstract

This paper is a follow-up to the short paper arXiv:2509.19425, greatly expanding the discussion with examples and providing derivations and justifications of results presented there. We introduce a new supersymmetry index for the D1-D5 CFT on $T^4$, which we call the resolved elliptic genus (REG). It is a one-parameter generalisation of the standard supersymmetry index, the modified elliptic genus (MEG), and arises naturally in the free symmetric orbifold description of the theory within a new formalism, based on Schur-Weyl duality, that we develop. In this formalism, the Hilbert space of the symmetric orbifold CFT is decomposed into symmetry sectors in which the structure of the states contributing to the MEG is transparent. By examining the action of the supercharge deformed by an exactly marginal operator on the relevant symmetry algebra, we propose a superselection rule governing the lifting process of BPS states, and use it to construct the REG by summing only over those symmetry sectors that can mix according to this rule. The REG exhibits detailed agreement between the CFT and supergravity below the black-hole threshold, a regime in which the MEG is essentially trivial. Above the threshold, the REG is dominated by black-hole microstates, which are now distributed amongst distinct sectors that are invisible to the MEG. We expect both the new formalism and the REG to provide useful new tools for studying the structure of black-hole microstates. In particular, we comment on their possible relevance to the fortuity program for understanding black-hole microstates within CFT.