Note About Unstable M3-brane Action

TL;DR

This paper constructs an action for an unstable M3-brane in M-theory, demonstrating how it reduces to known D-brane actions in type IIA string theory through dimensional reduction and gauge isometry considerations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel M3-brane action in M-theory that, with specific background assumptions, reduces to non-BPS D3-brane and D2-brane actions, linking M-theory and string theory branes.

Findings

Constructed an M3-brane action with gauged isometry.

Derived tachyon kink leading to D2-brane dynamics.

Showed equivalence to M2-brane action in flat background.

Abstract

We construct an action for unstable M3-brane in M-theory. We argue that in order to find M3-brane action that upon direct dimensional reduction leads to non-BPS D3-brane action in type IIA theory we have to presume that the background possesses Killing isometry and that this isometry has to be gauged on the world-volume of M3-brane. Then we construct singular tachyon kink on world-volume of M3-brane and we show that the dynamics of resulting topological defect is governed by an action that upon direct dimensional reduction leads to D2-brane in type IIA theory and that is equivalent to standard M2-brane action in flat background.