SciPost Phys. 19, 134 (2025) ·
published 24 November 2025
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We consider the five-dimensional supergravity path integral that computes a supersymmetric index, and uncover a wealth of semiclassical saddles with bubbling topology. These are complex finite-temperature configurations asymptotic to $S^1×\mathbb{R}^4$, solving the supersymmetry equations. We assume a $\mathrm{U}(1)^3$ symmetry given by the thermal isometry and two rotations, and present a general construction based on a rod structure specifying the fixed loci of the $\mathrm{U}(1)$ isometries and their three-dimensional topology. These fixed loci may correspond to multiple horizons or three-dimensional bubbles, and they may have $S^3$, $S^2× S^1$, or lens space topology. Allowing for conical singularities gives additional topologies involving spindles and branched spheres or branched lens spaces. As a particularly significant example, we analyze in detail the configurations with a horizon and a bubble just outside of it. We determine the possible saddle-point contribution of these configurations to the gravitational index by evaluating their on-shell action and the relevant thermodynamic relations. We also spell out two limits leading to well-defined Lorentzian solutions. The first is the extremal limit, which gives the known BPS black ring and black lens solutions. The on-shell action and chemical potentials remain well-defined in this limit and should thus provide the contribution of the black ring and black lens to the gravitational index. The second is a limit leading to horizonless bubbling solutions, which have purely imaginary action.
Pieter Bomans, Davide Cassani, Giuseppe Dibitetto, Nicolò Petri
SciPost Phys. 12, 099 (2022) ·
published 18 March 2022
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We consider compactifications of massive IIA supergravity on a six-sphere. This setup is known to give rise to non-supersymmetric AdS$_4$ vacua preserving SO$(7)$ as well as G$_2$ residual symmetry. Both solutions have a round $S^6$ metric and are supported by the Romans’ mass and internal $F_6$ flux. While the SO$(7)$ invariant vacuum is known to be perturbatively unstable, the G$_2$ invariant one has been found to have a fully stable Kaluza-Klein spectrum. Moreover, it has been shown to be protected against brane-jet instabilities. Motivated by these results, we study possible bubbling solutions connected to the G$_2$ vacuum, representing non-perturbative instabilities of the latter. We indeed find an instability channel represented by the nucleation of a bubble of nothing dressed up with a homogeneous D2 brane charge distribution in the internal space. Our solution generalizes to the case where $S^6$ is replaced by any six-dimensional nearly-Kähler manifold.
SciPost Phys. 11, 004 (2021) ·
published 9 July 2021
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The counting of BPS states in four-dimensional ${\cal N}=1$ theories has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. For superconformal theories, these states are in one-to-one correspondence with local operators in various short representations. The generating function for this counting problem has branch cuts and hence several Cardy-like limits, which are analogous to high-temperature limits. Particularly interesting is the second sheet, which has been shown to capture the microstates and phases of supersymmetric black holes in AdS$_5$. Here we present a 3d Effective Field Theory (EFT) approach to the high-temperature limit on the second sheet. We use the EFT to derive the behavior of the index at orders $\beta^{-2},\beta^{-1},\beta^0$. We also make a conjecture for $O(\beta)$, where we argue that the expansion truncates up to exponentially small corrections. An important point is the existence of vector multiplet zero modes, unaccompanied by massless matter fields. The runaway of Affleck-Harvey-Witten is however avoided by a non-perturbative confinement mechanism. This confinement mechanism guarantees that our results are robust.
Dr Cassani: "We thank the referee for the i..."
in Submissions | report on Bubbling saddles of the gravitational index