Mesons and Higgs branch in defect theories

We consider the defect theory obtained by intersecting D3- and D5-branes along two common spatial directions. We work in the approximation in which the D5-brane is a probe in the AdS(5) X S-5 background. By adding worldvolume flux to the D5-brane and choosing an appropriate embedding of the probe in AdS(5) X S-5, one gets a supersymmetric configuration in which some of the D3-branes recombine with the D5-brane. We check this fact by showing that the D5-brane can be regarded as a system of polarized D3-branes. On the field theory side this corresponds to the Higgs branch of the defect theory, where some of the fundamental hypermultiplet fields living on the intersection acquire a vacuum expectation value. We study the spectrum of mesonic bound states of the defect theory in this Higgs branch and show that it is continuous and gapless. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.