The D2–D6 system and a fibered AdS geometry Original Research Article

The system of D2-branes localized on or near D6-branes is considered. The world-volume theory on the D2-branes is investigated, using its conjectured relation to the near-horizon geometry. The results are in agreement with known facts and expectations for the corresponding field theory and a rich phase structure is obtained as a function of the energy scale and the number of branes. In particular, for an intermediate range of the number of D6-branes, the IR geometry is that of an AdS4 space fibered over a compact space. This D2–D6 system is compared to other systems, related to it by compactification and duality and it is shown that the qualitative differences have compatible explanations in the geometric and field-theoretic descriptions. Another system — that of NS5 branes located at D6-branes — is also briefly studied, leading to a similar phase structure.