Related papers: M-theory and E10: Billiards, Branes, and Imaginary…
Nature's attraction to unique mathematical structures provides powerful hints for unraveling her mysteries. None is at present as intriguing as eleven-dimensional M-theory. The search for exceptional structures specific to eleven dimensions…
We show that the commonly considered half BPS solutions of eleven dimensional supergravity and the ten dimensional type II theories, when expressed in terms of $E_{11}$ group elements, take the universal form $\exp(-{1\over 2}ln N…
We construct the M5-brane limit of eleven-dimensional supergravity. The resulting action is invariant under Galilean boosts and has a local scale symmetry. We also consider the limit of the equations of motion where we recover a…
The theory of eleven dimensional supergravity on R^10 x S^1/Z_2 with super Yang-Mills theory on the boundaries is reconsidered. We analyse the general solution of the modified Bianchi identity for the four-form field strength using the…
A simple relation is developed between elastic collisions of freely-moving point particles in one dimension and a corresponding billiard system. For two particles with masses m_1 and m_2 on the half-line x>0 that approach an elastic barrier…
A short overview of the billiard approach for cosmological-type models with n Einstein factor-spaces is presented. We start with the billiard representation for pseudo-Euclidean Toda-like systems of cosmological origin. Then we consider…
The quest for unification of particles and fields and for reconciliation of Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity has led us to gauge theories, string theories, supersymmetry and higher-extended objects: membranes... Our spacetime is…
It has been shown that membranes and fivebranes are wave-like or monopole-like solutions in some higher dimensional theory. Here the picture is completed by combining the wave and monopole solutions into a single solution of Exceptional…
Four and five dimensional extremal black holes with nonzero entropy have simple presentations in M-theory as gravitational waves bound to configurations of intersecting M-branes. We discuss realizations of these objects in matrix models of…
The mini-superspace quantization of D=11 supergravity is equivalent to the quantization of a E10/K(E10) coset space sigma model, when the latter is restricted to the E10 Cartan subalgebra. As a consequence, the wavefunctions solving the…
We study the hidden symmetries of the fermionic sector of D=11 supergravity, and the role of K(E10) as a generalised `R-symmetry'. We find a consistent model of a massless spinning particle on an E10/K(E10) coset manifold whose dynamics can…
The conjecture of a hidden $E_{10}$ symmetry of M-theory is supported by the close connection between the dynamics of D=11 supergravity near a spacelike singularity and a truncation of an one-dimensional $\sigma$-model with $E_{10}$…
We comment on the recent papers by Costa et al and Emparan, which show how one might generate supergravity solutions describing certain dielectric branes in ten dimensions. The ``basic'' such solutions describe either N fundamental strings…
The past year has seen enormous progress in string theory. It has become clear that all of the different string theories are different limits of a single theory. Moreover, in certain limits, one obtains a new, eleven-dimensional structure…
When string/M-theory is compactified to lower dimensions, the U-duality symmetry predicts so-called exotic branes whose higher dimensional origin cannot be explained by the standard string/M-theory branes. We argue that exotic branes can be…
We present a class of Kaluza-Klein electrically charged black p-brane solutions of ten-dimensional, type IIA superstring theory. Uplifting to eleven dimensions these solutions are studied in the context of M-theory. They can be interpreted…
We review the recent developments in obtaining accelerating cosmologies and/or inflation from higher-dimensional gravitational theories, in particular superstring theories in ten dimensions and M-theory in eleven dimensions. We first…
We derive the analogue of the vanishing of the cosmological constant in 3+1 dimensions, T_0^0 = 0, in terms of an integral over components of the energy-momentum tensor of a 4+1 dimensional universe with parallel three-branes, and an…
We determine the anomaly polynomial of the E-string theory and its higher-rank generalizations, that is, the 6d $\mathcal{N} =(1, 0)$ superconformal theories on the worldvolume of one or multiple M5-branes embedded within the…
A proposed duality between type IIB superstring theory on R^9 X S^1 and a conjectured 11D fundamental theory (``M theory'') on R^9 X T^2 is investigated. Simple heuristic reasoning leads to a consistent picture relating the various p-branes…