Superconformal surfaces in four dimensions

Understand

We study the constraints of superconformal symmetry on codimension two defects in four-dimensional superconformal field theories.

• We show that the one-point function of the stress tensor and the two-point function of the displacement operator are related, and we discuss the consequences of this relation for the Weyl anomaly coefficients as well as in a few examples, including the supersymmetric R\'enyi entropy.
• Imposing consistency with existing results, we propose a general relation that could hold for sufficiently supersymmetric defects of arbitrary dimension and codimension.
• Turning to $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ surface defects in $\mathcal{N} \geqslant 2$ superconformal field theories, we study the associated chiral algebra.