Mass-deformed M2 branes in Stenzel space

Abstract

We obtain finite-temperature M2 black branes in 11-dimensional supergravity, in a $G_4$-flux background whose self-dual part approaches a solution of Cveti\v{c}, Gibbons, L\"u, and Pope, based upon Stenzel's family of Ricci-flat K\"ahler deformed cones. Our solutions are asymptotically $AdS_4$ times a 7-dimensional Stiefel manifold $V_{5,2}$, and the branes are ``smeared'' to retain $SO(5)$ symmetry in the internal space. The solutions represent a mass deformation of the corresponding dual $CFT_3$, whose full description is at this time only partially-understood. We investigate the possibility of a confinement/de-confinement phase transition analogous to the $AdS_5 \times S^5$ case, and a possible Gregory-Laflamme type instability which could lead to polarised brane solutions which break $SO(5)$. We discuss possible consequences for AdS/CFT and the KKLT cosmological uplift mechanism.