Holographic $\frac{1}{2}$-BPS surface defects in ABJM

Abstract: We study the class of $\text{AdS}_3\times \mathbb{CP}^3$ solutions to massive Type IIA supergravity with $\mathfrak{osp}(6|2)$ superconformal algebra recently constructed in arXiv:2304.12207 [hep-th]. These solutions are foliations over an interval preserving $\mathcal{N}=(0,6)$ supersymmetry in two dimensions, that in the massless limit can be mapped to the $\text{AdS}_4\times \mathbb{CP}^3$ solution of ABJM/ABJ. We show that in the massive case extra NS5-D8 branes, that we interpret as $\frac{1}{2}$-BPS surface defect branes within the ABJ theory, backreact in the geometry and turn one of the 3d field theory directions onto an energy scale, generating a flow towards a 2d CFT. We construct explicit quiver field theories that we propose flow in the IR to the $(0,6)$ SCFTs dual to the solutions. Finally, we show that the $\text{AdS}_3$ solutions realise geometrically, in terms of large gauge transformations, an extension to the massive case of Seiberg duality in ABJ theories proposed in the literature.