# Thermal transitions of metastable M-branes

## TL;DR

This paper uses blackfold methods to analyze supergravity solutions in M-theory, revealing new finite-temperature transition patterns of metastable M-branes and their relation to horizon geometry.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis of metastable M-brane states at finite temperature, uncovering new merger patterns and transitions not seen in similar anti-D3-brane systems.

## Key findings

- Recovered metastable state of Klebanov and Pufu in supergravity.
- Discovered new merger patterns between M5-brane states at finite temperature.
- Identified different transition patterns for larger anti-brane charges.

## Abstract

We use blackfold methods to analyse the properties of putative supergravity solutions in M-theory that describe the backreaction of polarised anti-M2 branes (namely, M5 branes wrapping three-cycles with negative M2-brane charge) in the Cvetic-Gibbons-Lu-Pope background of eleven-dimensional supergravity. At zero temperature we recover the metastable state of Klebanov and Pufu directly in supergravity. At finite temperature we uncover a previously unknown pattern of mergers between fat or thin M5-brane states with the thermalised version of the metastable state. At sufficiently small values of the anti-brane charge a single fat-metastable merger follows the same pattern recently discovered for polarised anti-D3-branes in the Klebanov-Strassler solution in type IIB supergravity. We provide quantitative evidence that this merger is driven by properties of the horizon geometry. For larger values of the anti-brane charge the wrapped M5-brane solutions exhibit different patterns of finite-temperature transitions that have no known counterpart in the anti-D3 system in Klebanov-Strassler.