Exact renormalization flow and domain walls from holography

Abstract

The holographic correspondence between 2d, N=2 quantum field theories and classical 4d, N=2 supergravity coupled to hypermultiplet matter is proposed. The geometrical constraints on the target space of the 4d, N=2 non-linear sigma-models in N=2 supergravity background are interpreted as the exact renormalization group flow equations in two dimensions. Our geometrical description of the renormalization flow is manifestly covariant under general reparametrization of the 2d coupling constants. An explicit exact solution to the 2d renormalization flow, based on its dual holographic description in terms of the Zamolodchikov metric, is considered in the particular case of the four-dimensional NLSM target space described by the SU(2)-invariant (Weyl) anti-self-dual Einstein metrics. The exact regular (Tod-Hitchin) solutions to these metrics are governed by the Painlev'e VI equation, and describe domain walls.