Constructing D-Branes from K-Theory
摘要
A detailed review of recent developments in the topological classification of D-branes in superstring theory is presented. Beginning with a thorough, self-contained introduction to the techniques and applications of topological K-theory, the relationships between the classic constructions of K-theory and the recent realizations of D-branes as tachyonic solitons, coming from bound states of higher dimensional systems of unstable branes, are described. It is shown how the K-theory formalism naturally reproduces the known spectra of BPS and non-BPS D-branes, and how it can be systematically used to predict the existence of new states. The emphasis is placed on the new interpretations of D-branes as conventional topological solitons in other brane worldvolumes, how the mathematical formalism can be used to deduce the gauge field content on both supersymmetric and non-BPS branes, and also how K-theory predicts new relationships between the various superstring theories and their D-brane spectra. The implementations of duality symmetries as natural isomorphisms of K-groups are discussed. The relationship with the standard cohomological classification is presented and used to derive an explicit formula for D-brane charges. Some string theoretical constructions of the K-theory predictions are also briefly described.
引用
@article{arxiv.hep-th/9907140,
title = {Constructing D-Branes from K-Theory},
author = {Kasper Olsen and Richard J. Szabo},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-th/9907140},
year = {2007}
}
备注
112 pages LaTeX, 1 .eps file, uses epsf.tex; Run 3 times to generate table of contents properly; Typos corrected