Electric/Magnetic Deformations of S^3 and AdS_3, and Geometric Cosets

TL;DR

This paper studies asymmetric deformations of SU(2)_k and SL(2,R)_k WZW models, leading to new exact string vacua with geometries like deformed S^3 and AdS_3, relevant for holography and supersymmetry.

Contribution

It introduces novel asymmetric marginal deformations of WZW models that produce exact string backgrounds with electric and magnetic fields, expanding the landscape of consistent conformal sigma models.

Findings

Deformed geometries include S^2, AdS_2, H_2 as exact conformal models.

Spectra and partition functions of these models are analyzed.

Potential applications to holography and supersymmetric backgrounds are discussed.

Abstract

We analyze asymmetric marginal deformations of SU(2)_k and SL(2,R)_k WZW models. These appear in heterotic string backgrounds with non-vanishing Neveu--Schwarz three-forms plus electric or magnetic fields, depending on whether the deformation is elliptic, hyperbolic or parabolic. Asymmetric deformations create new families of exact string vacua. The geometries which are generated in this way, deformed S^3 or AdS_3, include in particular geometric cosets such as S^2, AdS_2 or H_2. Hence, the latter are consistent, exact conformal sigma models, with electric or magnetic backgrounds. We discuss various geometric and symmetry properties of the deformations at hand as well as their spectra and partition functions, with special attention to the supersymmetric AdS_2 x S^2 background. We also comment on potential holographic applications.