English

Non Abelian Tachyon Kinks

High Energy Physics - Theory 2009-09-28 v2

Abstract

Starting from the action of two coincident non-BPS D9-branes, we investigate kink configurations of the U(2) matrix tachyon field. We consider both Str and Tr prescriptions for the trace over gauge indices of the non-BPS action. Non-abelian tachyon condensation in the theory with Tr prescription, and the resulting fluctuations about the kink profile, are shown to give rise to a theory of two coincident BPS D8-branes. This is a natural non-abelian generalization of Sen's mechanism of tachyon condensation on a single non-BPS Dp-brane yielding a single BPS brane of codimesion one. By contrast, starting with the Str gauge trace prescription of the coincident non-BPS D9-brane action, such a generalization of Sen's mechanism appears problematic.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0904.0601,
  title  = {Non Abelian Tachyon Kinks},
  author = {Vincenzo Calò and Gianni Tallarita and Steven Thomas},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0904.0601},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

18 pages, references added, version to appear in JHEP

R2 v1 2026-06-21T12:47:57.335Z