Mufaro Chitoto | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Continuous symmetries and charge measurement of boundary operators in holography

We study holographic charge measurement for continuous internal symmetries. Charged boundary operators are characterized by Wilson lines of bulk gauge fields ending on the boundary, while charge measurement is performed using U-shaped defects hanging from the boundary. We derive universal features of this process from a low-energy point of view, and show how the hanging defect picture mimics the thickening regularization of continuous symmetry operators in field theory. Furthermore, we provide explicit top-down realizations in AdS/CFT setups in Type IIB string theory and M-theory, featuring Abelian as well as non-Abelian symmetries. In the case of Type IIB constructions, we analyze the brane dynamics underlying the charge measurement process. Along the way, we also characterize how hanging brane configurations can be regarded as being topological, and demonstrate how tachyon dynamics account for their fusion rules.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Non-Abelian Symmetry Operators from Hanging Branes in $AdS_5 \times S^5$

We investigate the holographic realization of topological operators for continuous non-Abelian symmetries in quantum field theories. As a concrete case study, we focus on Type IIB string theory on $AdS_5 \times S^5$ which admits an $SO(6)$ isometry, dual to the R-symmetry in 4d $N=4$ super Yang-Mills theory. We argue that symmetry operators for continuous symmetries are generally realized by bound states of D5-branes and KK monopoles hanging from the conformal boundary. Together they account for the contributions to the Gauss' law constraints from the self-dual 5-form flux and the Einstein-Hilbert term respectively. We also demonstrate how the D5-KK bound state measures the representation of the endpoint of Wilson lines constructed by D3-branes.

hep-th↗