Three Dimensional SCFT from M2 Branes at Conifold Singularities

Abstract

Recently it was conjectured that parallel branes at conical singularities are related to string/M theory on $AdS \times X$ where $X$ is an Einstein manifold. In this paper we consider coincident M2 branes near a conifold singularity when M theory is compactified on $AdS_4 \times Q^{1,1,1}$ where $Q^{1,1,1} = (SU(2) \times SU(2) \times SU(2))/(U(1) \times U(1))$ is a seven dimensional Sasaki-Einstein manifold. We argue that M theory on $AdS_4 \times Q^{1,1,1}$ can be described in terms of a three dimensional superconformal field theory.We use the fact that the three dimensional self-mirror duality is preserved by exact marginal operators, as observed by Strassler.