arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to E. Bergshoeff.
We investigate, in a certain decoupling limit, the effect of having a constant C-field on the M-theory five-brane using an open membrane probe. We define an open membrane metric for the five-brane that remains non-degenerate in the limit. The canonical quantisation of the open membrane boundary leads to a noncommutative loop space which is a functional analogue of the noncommutative geometry that occurs for D-branes.
We discuss branes whose worldvolume dimension equals the target spacetime dimension, i.e. ``spacetime-filling branes''. In addition to the D9-branes, there are 9-branes in the NS-NS sectors of both the IIA and IIB strings. The worldvolume actions of these branes are constructed, via duality, from the known actions of branes with codimension larger than zero. Each of these types of branes is used in the construction of a string theory with sixteen supercharges by modding out a type II string by an appropriate discrete symmetry and adding 32 9-branes. These constructions are related by a web of dualities and each arises as a different limit of the Horava-Witten construction.
Energy bounds are derived for planar and compactified M2-branes in a hyper-Kähler background. These bounds are saturated, respectively, by lump and Q-kink solitons, which are shown to preserve a half of the worldvolume supersymmetry. The Q-kinks have a dual IIB interpretation as strings that migrate between fivebranes.
We obtain the Hamiltonian form of the worldvolume action for the M5-brane in a general D=11 supergravity background. We use this result to obtain a new version of the covariant M5-brane Lagrangian in which the tension appears as a dynamical variable, although this Lagrangian has some unsatisfactory features which we trace to peculiarities of the null limit. We also show that the M5-brane action is invariant under all (super)isometries of the background.
A version of the kappa-symmetric super D-p-brane action is presented in which the tension is a dynamical variable, equal to the flux of a p-form worldvolume gauge field. The Lagrangian is shown to be invariant under all (super)isometries of the background for appropriate transformations of the worldvolume gauge fields, which determine the central charges in the symmetry algebra. We also present the Hamiltonian form of the action in a general supergravity background.
The large N limit of D3-branes is expected to correspond to a superconformal field theory living on the boundary of the anti-de Sitter space appearing in the near-horizon geometry. Dualizing the D3-brane to a D-instanton, we show that this limit is equivalent to a type IIB S-duality. In both cases one effectively reaches the near-horizon geometry. This provides an alternative approach to an earlier derivation of the same result that makes use of the properties of a gravitational wave instead of the D-instanton.
We investigate the effective worldvolume theories of branes in a background given by (the bosonic sector of) 10-dimensional massive IIA supergravity (``massive branes'') and their M-theoretic origin. In the case of the solitonic 5-brane of type IIA superstring theory the construction of the Wess-Zumino term in the worldvolume action requires a dualization of the massive Neveu-Schwarz/Neveu-Schwarz target space 2-form field. We find that, in general, the effective worldvolume theory of massive branes contains new worldvolume fields that are absent in the massless case, i.e. when the mass parameter m of massive IIA supergravity is set to zero. We show how these new worldvolume fields can be introduced in a systematic way. In particular, we find new couplings between the massive solitonic 5-brane and the target space background, involving an additional worldvolume 1-form and 6-form. These new couplings have implications for the anomalous creation of branes. In particular, when a massive solitonic 5-brane passes through a D8-brane a stretched D6-brane is created. Similarly, in M-theory we find that when an M5-brane passes through an M9-brane a stretched Kaluza-Klein monopole is created. Pairs of massive branes of type IIA string theory can be viewed as the direct and double dimensional reduction of a single ``massive M-brane'' whose worldvolume theory is described by a gauged sigma model.
We consider intersections in eleven dimensions involving Kaluza-Klein monopoles and Brinkmann waves. Besides these purely gravitational configurations we also construct solutions to the equations of motion that involve additional M2- and M5-branes. The maximal number of independent objects in these intersections is nine, and such maximal configurations, when reduced to two dimensions, give rise to a 0-brane solution with dilaton coupling a=-4/9.
We perform a generalised Scherk-Schwarz reduction of the effective action of the heterotic string on T^6 to obtain a massive N=4 supergravity theory in four dimensions. The local symmetry-group of the resulting d=4 theory includes a Heisenberg group, which is a subgroup of the global O(6,6+n) obtained in the standard reduction. We show explicitly that the same theory can be obtained by gauging this Heisenberg group in d=4, N=4 supergravity.
The superfield equations of massive IIA supergravity, in the form of constraints on the superspace geometry, are shown to be implied by $κ$-symmetry of the topologically massive D-2-brane.
We present a new form of kappa-symmetry transformations for D-branes in which the dependence on the Born-Infeld field strength is expressed as a relative rotation on the left- and right-moving fields with opposite parameters. Then, we apply this result to investigate the supersymmetry preserved by certain intersecting brane configurations at arbitrary angles and with non-vanishing constant Born-Infeld fields. We also comment on the covariant quantization of the D-brane actions.
We present a manifestly Lorentz invariant, spacetime supersymmetric, and `$κ$-invariant' worldvolume action for all type II Dirichlet p-branes, $p\le9$, in a general type II supergravity background, including massive backgrounds in the IIA case. The $p=0,2$ cases are rederived from D=11. The $p=9$ case provides a supersymmetrization of the D=10 Born-Infeld action.
We give a classification of all multiple intersections of D-branes in ten dimensions and M-branes in eleven dimensions that corresponds to threshold BPS bound states. The residual supersymmetry of these composite branes is determined. By dimensional reduction composite p-branes in lower dimensions can be constructed. We emphasize in dimensions D greater or equal than two, those solutions which involve a single scalar and depend on a single harmonic function. For these extremal branes we obtain the strength of the coupling between the scalar and the gauge field. In particular we give a D-brane and M-brane interpretation of extreme p-branes in two, three and four dimensions.
We consider solutions to the string effective action corresponding to p-Branes, D-Branes and M-Branes and discuss some of their properties.
We show that a class of extremal four-dimensional supersymmetric ``high-branes'', i.e. string and domain wall solutions, can be interpreted as intersections of four ten-dimensional Dirichlet branes. These $d=4$ solutions are related, via $T$-duality in ten dimensions, to the four-dimensional extremal Maxwell/scalar black holes that are characterized by a scalar coupling parameter $a$ with $a=0,1/\sqrt{3}, 1, \sqrt{3}$.
We consider the actions for ten--dimensional $p$--branes and $D$--branes in an arbitrary curved background and discuss some of their properties. We comment on how the $SL(2,R)$ duality symmetry acts on the five--brane actions.
We present a new set of supersymmetric stationary solutions of pure N=4,d=4 supergravity (and, hence, of low-energy effective string theory) that generalize (and include) the Israel-Wilson-Perjés solutions of Einstein-Maxwell theory. All solutions have 1/4 of the supersymmetries unbroken and some have 1/2. The full solution is determined by two arbitrary complex harmonic functions {\cal H}_{1,2} which transform as a doublet under SL(2,\R) S duality and N complex constants k^{(n)} that transform as an SO(N) vector. This set of solutions is, then, manifestly duality invariant. When the harmonic functions are chosen to have only one pole, all the general resulting point-like objects have supersymmetric rotating asymptotically Taub-NUT metrics with 1/2 or 1/4 of the supersymmetries unbroken. The static, asymptotically flat metrics describe supersymmetric extreme black holes. Only those breaking 3/4 of the supersymmetries have regular horizons. The stationary asymptotically flat metrics do not describe black holes when the angular momentum does not vanish, even in the case in which 3/4 of the supersymmetries are broken.
In four dimensions there are 4 different types of extremal Maxwell/scalar black holes characterized by a scalar coupling parameter $a$ with $a=0,1/\sqrt{3} , 1 , \sqrt{3}$. These black holes can be described as intersections of ten--dimensional non-singular Ramond-Ramond objects, i.e.~$D$-branes, waves and Taub-NUT solitons. Using this description it can be shown that the four--dimensional black holes decompactify near the core to higher--dimensional {\em non-singular} solutions. In terms of these higher--dimensional non-singular solutions we define a non-vanishing entropy for all four black hole types from a four--dimensional point of view.