(p,q)-strings probing five-brane webs

Understand

In recent work, globally well-defined Type IIB supergravity solutions with geometry $AdS_6 \times S^2$ warped over a Riemann surface $\Sigma$ were constructed and conjectured to describe the near-horizon geometry of $(p,q)$ five-brane webs in the conformal limit.

• In the present paper, we offer more evidence for this interpretation of the supergravity solutions in terms of five-brane webs.
• In particular, we explore the behavior of probe $(p,q)$-strings in certain families of these $AdS_6 \times S^2\times \Sigma$ backgrounds and compare this behavior to that predicted by microscopic, brane web considerations.
• In the microscopic picture, we argue that the embedding of a probe string may give rise to the formation of string junctions involving open strings anchored on the branes of the web.