5D Yang-Mills instantons from ABJM Monopoles

TL;DR

This paper explores how M2-branes expand into M5-branes under supergravity flux, linking five-dimensional Yang-Mills instantons to M-theory via ABJM flux interpretation.

Contribution

It demonstrates that ABJM magnetic flux corresponds to instanton flux in 5D Yang-Mills, providing an M-theory interpretation for these instantons.

Findings

M2-branes expand into M5-branes with flux background

Instanton flux in 5D Yang-Mills relates to M-theory momentum

Provides a new perspective on M2-M5 brane dynamics

Abstract

In the presence of a background supergravity flux, N M2-branes will expand via the Myers effect into M5-branes wrapped on a fuzzy three-sphere. In previous work the fluctuations of the M2-branes were shown to be described by the five-dimensional Yang-Mills gauge theory associated to D4-branes. We show that the ABJM prescription for eleven-dimensional momentum in terms of magnetic flux lifts to an instanton flux of the effective five-dimensional Yang-Mills theory on the sphere, giving an M-theory interpretation for these instantons.