Aspects of M-Theory Brane Interactions and String Theory Symmetries

Abstract

The dissertation consists of two parts. The first presents an account of the effective worldvolume description of $N$ coincident M2-branes ending on an M5-brane in M-theory. It reviews Basu and Harvey's recent description of the worldvolume theory of the M2-branes in terms of a Bogomol'nyi equation, and its solution via a fuzzy (three-) funnel. Tests of the consistency of this picture are then performed and many of the issues with it are addressed. This is followed by a discussion of how a refinement of the fuzzy three-sphere algebra used can lead to the correct $N^{3/2}$ scaling of degrees of freedom for this system. A reduction of this Basu-Harvey picture to the D1-string picture of the D1-D3 intersection is then performed via constructing a reduction of the fuzzy-three sphere to the fuzzy two-sphere. The second part of the dissertation describes how a holomorphic factorisation argument can be used to demonstrate quantum equivalence of the doubled formalism of string theory with the standard formalism by deriving the partition function, including instanton and oscillator sectors.

161 pages. Author's PhD thesis

References in corpus (15)

• Modeling Multiple M2's
• Doubled Geometry and T-Folds
• Global Aspects of T-Duality, Gauged Sigma Models and T-Folds
• Holographic Action for the Self-Dual Field
• Moduli Stabilization in Non-Geometric Backgrounds
• On the partition sum of the NS five-brane
• The string partition function in Hull's doubled formalism
• A note on the M2-M5 brane system and fuzzy spheres
• Worldsheet CFTs for Flat Monodrofolds
• Quantum Mechanics of the Doubled Torus
• Open M5-branes
• Inherent Holography In Fuzzy Spaces and An N-tropic Approach To The Cosmological Constant Problem
• Electrified Fuzzy Spheres and Funnels in Curved Backgrounds
• On Time-dependent Collapsing Branes and Fuzzy Odd-dimensional Spheres
• A Short Note on Multi-bion Solutions

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Algebraic structures on parallel M2-branes
• The fuzzy S^2 structure of M2-M5 systems in ABJM membrane theories
• Classification of the BPS states in Bagger-Lambert Theory
• Truncated Nambu-Poisson Bracket and Entropy Formula for Multiple Membranes
• Topological branes, p-algebras and generalized Nahm equations
• M-brane bound states and the supersymmetry of BPS solutions in the Bagger-Lambert theory