Towards OSV in AdS

Abstract

We use supersymmetric localization for 3d $\mathcal{N}=2$ SCFTs to establish a relation of the form $Z_{S^1\times S^2} \sim |Z_{S^3_b}|^2$ between the superconformal index and the squashed three-sphere partition function. This applies to general 3d $\mathcal{N}=2$ SCFTs and is derived using a saddle point approximation in the Cardy-like limit of small $S^1$ radius and large squashing parameter. We also show a similar relation between the topologically twisted index and the squashed sphere partition function. In the context of holography our results lead to a relation between the partition function of supersymmetric asymptotically AdS$_4$ black holes and the large $N$ limit of $Z_{S^3_b}$ of the dual SCFT. Since the latter encodes the gauged supergravity prepotential, this result is akin to the OSV conjecture for asymptotically flat black holes. We confirm this relation in detail for SCFTs arising from M2-branes using recent large $N$ results from supersymmetric localization. We also briefly discuss a similar relation for 5d SCFTs and its implications for asymptotically AdS$_6$ black holes.