Non-Abelian R-symmetry and dielectric branes

A bstract We study the holographic realization of the SO(6) R R-symmetry of N N = 4 super Yang-Mills with unitary gauge group. Focusing on 1/2 BPS states in the [0, J , 0] representation of SO(6) R , it is known that depending on the scaling of J with N , these are best described holographically in terms of gravitational waves ( J ≪ N ) or D3 brane giant gravitons ( J ~ N ). These two descriptions are bridged by the dielectric effect, as the D3 giant can be regarded as a puffed-up configuration of gravitational waves. The natural non-BPS branes for symmetry operators are either 4-branes or non-BPS Kaluza-Klein monopoles. We show that the former can be regarded as a dielectric expansion of the latter, in parallel to the charged operators. We also propose symTh and symTFT candidates for the SO(6) R symmetry, whose operators at the boundary must correspond to the non-BPS branes.