Non-abelian Action for Multiple Five-Branes with Self-Dual Tensors

TL;DR

This paper develops a non-abelian 6-dimensional action for multiple M5-branes with self-dual tensor fields, extending previous abelian models and maintaining key symmetries, potentially describing multiple M5-brane dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel non-abelian action for self-dual 2-forms in 6D, generalizing the Perry-Schwarz model to multiple branes with modified Lorentz symmetry.

Findings

The action admits a self-duality equation as the equation of motion.

Dimensional reduction yields 5D Yang-Mills plus higher order corrections.

Proposes a model for the gauge sector of multiple M5-branes.

Abstract

We construct an action for non-abelian 2-form in 6-dimensions. Our action consists of a non-abelian generalization of the abelian action of Perry and Schwarz for a single five-brane. It admits a self-duality equation on the field strength as the equation of motion. It has a modified 6d Lorentz symmetry. On dimensional reduction on a circle, our action gives the standard 5d Yang-Mills action plus higher order corrections. Based on these properties, we propose that our theory describes the gauge sector of multiple M5-branes in flat space.