BIonic membranes and AdS instabilities

Fernando Marchesano; David Prieto; Joan Quirant

doi:10.1007/JHEP07(2022)118

paper

BIonic membranes and AdS instabilities

arXiv:2110.11370 · doi:10.1007/JHEP07(2022)118

Abstract

We study 4d membranes in type IIA flux compactifications of the form AdS $_{4} \times X_{6}$ , where $X_{6}$ admits a Calabi--Yau metric. These models feature scale separation and D6-branes/O6-planes on three-cycles of $X_{6}$ . When the latter are treated as localised sources, explicit solutions to the 10d equations of motion and Bianchi identities are known in 4d $N = 1$ settings, valid at first order in an expansion parameter related to the AdS $_{4}$ cosmological constant. We extend such solutions to a family of perturbatively stable $N = 0$ vacua, and analyse their non-perturbative stability by looking at 4d membranes. Up to the accuracy of the solution, we find that either D4-branes or anti-D4-branes on holomorphic curves feel no force in both $N = 1$ and $N = 0$ AdS $_{4}$ . Differently, D8-branes wrapping $X_{6}$ and with D6-branes ending on them can be superextremal 4d membranes attracted towards the $N = 0$ AdS $_{4}$ boundary. The sources of imbalance are the curvature of $X_{6}$ and the D8/D6 BIon profile, with both comparable terms as can be checked for $X_{6}$ a (blown-up) toroidal orbifold. We then show that simple $N = 0$ vacua with space-time filling D6-branes are unstable against bubble nucleation, decaying to $N = 0$ vacua with less D6-branes and larger Romans mass.

arXiv commentv4: Minor corrections, references added; v1:30 pages + appendices, 2 figures

BIonic membranes and AdS instabilities

Abstract

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