English

Is string theory a theory of strings?

High Energy Physics - Theory 2014-11-18 v2

Abstract

Recently a great deal of evidence has been found indicating that type IIA string theory compactified on K3 is equivalent to heterotic string theory compactified on T^4. Under the transformation which relates the two theories, the roles of fundamental and solitonic string solutions are interchanged. In this letter we show that there exists a solitonic membrane solution of the heterotic string theory which becomes a singular solution of the type IIA theory, and should therefore be interpreted as a fundamental membrane in the latter theory. We speculate upon the implications that the complete type IIA theory is a theory of membranes, as well as strings.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.hep-th/9509070,
  title  = {Is string theory a theory of strings?},
  author = {Clifford V. Johnson and Nemanja Kaloper and Ramzi R. Khuri and Robert C. Myers},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-th/9509070},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

11 pages. Uses harvmac.tex (A note and a reference added)

R2 v1 2026-07-22T15:56:16.854Z