Deformations of large N=(4,4) 2D SCFT from 3D gauged supergravity

Abstract

Supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric deformations of large $N=(4,4)$ SCFT with superconformal symmetry $D^1(2,1;\alpha)\times D^1(2,1;\alpha)$ are explored in the gravity dual described by a Chern-Simons $N=8$, $(SO(4)\times SO(4))\ltimes \mathbf{T}^{12}$ gauged supergravity in three dimensions. For $\alpha>0$, the gauged supergravity describes an effective theory of the maximal supergravity in nine dimensions on $AdS_3\times S^3\times S^3$ with the parameter $\alpha$ being the ratio of the two $S^3$ radii. We consider the scalar manifold of the supergravity theory of the form $SO(8,8)/SO(8)\times SO(8)$ and find a number of stable non-supersymmetric $AdS_3$ critical points for some values of $\alpha$. These correspond to non-supersymmetric IR fixed points of the UV $N=(4,4)$ SCFT dual to the maximally supersymmetric critical point. We study the associated RG flow solutions interpolating between these fixed points and the UV $N=(4,4)$ SCFT. Possible supersymmetric flows to non-conformal field theories are also investigated. Additionally, a half-supersymmetric domain wall within this gauged supergravity is obtained.