Related papers: The M Theory Five-Brane and the Heterotic String
String structures in degree four are associated with cancellation of anomalies of string theory in ten dimensions. Fivebrane structures in degree eight have recently been shown to be associated with cancellation of anomalies associated to…
In this note we provide a new perspective on the topological parts of several action functionals in string and M-theory. We show that rationally these can be viewed as large gauge transformations corresponding to variations of higher…
We consider a brane configuration consisting of intersecting Neveu-Schwarz five-branes, Dirichlet four-branes, and an orientifold four-plane in a C^2/Z_3 orbifold background. We show that the low-energy dynamics is described by a four…
New forms of Born-Infeld, D-brane and M theory five-brane actions are found which are quadratic in the abelian field strength. The gauge fields couple both to a background or induced metric and a new auxiliary metric, whose elimination…
We discuss K-theoretic matching of D-brane charges in the string duality between type I on the 4-torus and type IIA on a K3 surface. This case is more complex than the familiar case of IIA/IIB duality, which is already well understood, but…
We examine string-theory orientifold planes of various types including the Sp and SO-odd planes, and deduce the gravitational Chern-Simons couplings on their world-volumes. Consistency checks are carried out in different spacetime…
We argue for the existence of phase transitions in $3+1$ dimensions associated with the appearance of tensionless strings. The massless spectrum of this theory does not contain a graviton: it consists of one $N=2$ vector multiplet and one…
It is argued that D=10 type II strings and M-theory in D=11 have D-5 branes and 9-branes that are not standard p-branes coupled to anti-symmetric tensors. The global charges in a D-dimensional theory of gravity consist of a momentum $P_M$…
We present new M2 and M5-brane solutions in M-theory based on transverse Gibbons-Hawking spaces. These solutions provide realizations of fully localized type IIA D2/D6 and NS5/D6 brane intersections. One novel feature of these solutions is…
We study the relationship between static p-brane solitons and cosmological solutions of string theory or M-theory. We discuss two different ways in which extremal p-branes can be generalised to non-extremal ones, and show how wide classes…
We construct world-volume effective actions of exotic $5^2_2$-branes in type IIA and IIB string theories. The effective actions are given in fully space-time covariant forms with two Killing vectors associated with background isometries.…
We give a lightning introduction to critical string theory, including the 26-dimensional bosonic string, the 10-dimensional superstrings and heterotic strings with and without spacetime supersymmetry. We also discuss open strings and…
We solve for the effective actions on the Coulomb branches of a class of N=2 supersymmetric theories by finding the complex structure of an M5 brane in an appropriate background hyperkahler geometry corresponding to the lift of two O6^-…
The possibility to study the M/string theory cosmology via 5d bulk & brane action is investigated. The role of the 4-form field in the theory of BPS branes in 5d is clarified. We describe arguments suggesting that the effective 4d…
It is shown that many of the $p$-branes of type II string theory and $d=11$ supergravity can have boundaries on other $p$-branes. The rules for when this can and cannot occur are derived from charge conservation. For example it is found…
We consider Type IIB superstring theory with the addition of n 9-branes and n anti-9-branes (and no orientifolds). The result is a ten-dimensional chiral theory of open and closed oriented strings with gauge group U(n) \times U(n). There…
We present a generalization of the string's Polyakov action that describes a conformally invariant four dimensional brane. The new extended object is very different from the traditional D-branes of string theory, but, nevertheless, shares…
In this note we discuss the theory of super-threebranes in a spacetime of signature (10,2). Upon reduction, the threebrane provides us with the classical representations of the M-2-brane and the type IIB superstring. Many features of the…
We show that a set of parallel 3-brane probes near a conifold singularity can be mapped onto a configuration of intersecting branes in type IIA string theory. The field theory on the probes can be explicitly derived from this formulation.…
The (I)nstantonic strings are described as extended states occupying a flat (isometry) direction on the multiple M5-brane world-volume. These are constituted by 4-dimensional gauge instantons and 2-dimensional chiral axion. In this light we…