Non-perturbative transitions among intersecting-brane vacua

TL;DR

This paper explores how D-branes can transform into Abelian magnetic backgrounds on higher-dimensional branes within compact models, revealing a novel transition mechanism related to brane recombination and Higgs processes.

Contribution

It introduces a non-perturbative transition mechanism between intersecting-brane vacua and Abelian magnetic backgrounds in compact models, expanding understanding of brane dynamics.

Findings

Detailed transition mechanisms in supersymmetric orientifolds.

Analysis of non-supersymmetric tachyon-free vacua with Brane Supersymmetry Breaking.

Connection between brane recombination and Higgs mechanisms in this context.

Abstract

We investigate the transmutation of D-branes into Abelian magnetic backgrounds on the world-volume of higher-dimensional branes, within the framework of global models with compact internal dimensions. The phenomenon, T-dual to brane recombination in the intersecting-brane picture, shares some similarities to inverse small-instanton transitions in non-compact spaces, though in this case the Abelian magnetic background is a consequence of the compactness of the internal manifold, and is not ascribed to a zero-size non-Abelian instanton growing to maximal size. We provide details of the transition in various supersymmetric orientifolds and non-supersymmetric tachyon-free vacua with Brane Supersymmetry Breaking, both from brane recombination and from a field theory Higgs mechanism viewpoints.