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Metric isometries, holography, and continuous symmetry operators

Mirjam Cvetič1,2,3,*, Jonathan J. Heckman1,2,†, Max Hübner4,‡, and Chitraang Murdia1,§

  • *Contact author: cvetic@physics.upenn.edu
  • †Contact author: jheckman@sas.upenn.edu
  • ‡Contact author: max-elliot.huebner@physics.uu.se
  • §Contact author: murdia@sas.upenn.edu
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Phys. Rev. D 112, 106020 – Published 25 November, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/t68l-n5gg

Abstract

In the AdS/CFT correspondence, a topological symmetry operator of the boundary conformal field theory (CFT) is dual to a dynamical brane in the gravitational bulk. Said differently, this predicts a dynamical brane for every global symmetry of the boundary CFT. We analyze this correspondence for continuous symmetries which arise from a consistent truncation of isometries on the “internal” factor X of AdS×X. In the extra-dimensional geometry, these branes are associated with various metric singularities and do not arise from wrapped D-branes. Boosts relate configurations interpreted as topological symmetry operators and heavy defects in the CFT. From the perspective of the AdS factor, with gravity and bulk gauge fields, these are codimension-2 Gukov-Witten-like vortex configurations which are the gravity duals of 0-form symmetry operators. These effective branes come with an asymptotic tension and size which is also fully fixed by bulk dynamics. We use this higher-dimensional perspective to determine properties of the worldvolume theory for these branes. We also discuss how these considerations generalize to more general quantum field theories engineered via string theory which need not possess a semiclassical gravity dual.

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 106020– Published 25 November, 2025
  • Received 3 June 2025
  • Accepted 17 October 2025
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