Brane/anti-Brane Systems and U(N|M) Supergroup

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that brane/anti-brane systems in topological string theories lead to Chern-Simons theories with supergroup gauge symmetry, revealing a deformation linked to brane annihilation and trivial states when N equals M.

Contribution

It establishes a direct connection between brane/anti-brane configurations and supergroup Chern-Simons theories, introducing a deformation representing annihilation processes.

Findings

Brane/anti-brane systems produce U(N|M) supergroup gauge theories.

A deformation corresponds to brane/anti-brane annihilation.

All open string states are BRST trivial when N=M.

Abstract

We show that in the context of topological string theories N branes and M anti-branes give rise to Chern-Simons gauge theory with the gauge supergroup $U(N|M)$. We also identify a deformation of the theory which corresponds to brane/anti-brane annihilation. Furthermore we show that when $N=M$ all open string states are BRST trivial in the deformed theory.