Generalized geometry in AdS/CFT and volume minimization Original Research Article

We study the general structure of the image correspondence in type IIB string theory from the perspective of generalized geometry. We begin by defining a notion of “generalized Sasakian geometry”, which consists of a contact structure together with a differential system for three symplectic forms on the four-dimensional transverse space to the Reeb vector field. A generalized Sasakian manifold which satisfies an additional “Einstein” condition provides a general supersymmetric image solution of type IIB supergravity with fluxes. We then show that the supergravity action restricted to a space of generalized Sasakian structures is simply the contact volume, and that its minimization determines the Reeb vector field for such a solution. We conjecture that this contact volume is equal to the inverse of the trial central charge whose maximization determines the R-symmetry of any four-dimensional image superconformal field theory. This variational procedure allows us to compute the contact volumes for a predicted infinite family of solutions, and we find perfect agreement with the central charges and R-charges of BPS operators in the dual mass-deformed generalized conifold theories.