On D0 brane polarization by tidal forces

TL;DR

This paper investigates how gravitational tidal forces can polarize D0 branes, exploring the stability of such states and their potential longevity in certain regimes, thus linking curved spacetime with non-commutative structures.

Contribution

It analyzes the classical stability of D0 brane polarization by tidal forces and suggests conditions under which these polarized states can be long-lived.

Findings

Polarized states are classically unstable but have limited decay channels.

Most decay channels are lifted, indicating potential long-lived states.

Long-lived polarization is expected at small string coupling and large D0 brane number.

Abstract

Gravitational tidal forces may induce polarization of D0 branes, in analogy to the same effects arising in the context of constant background gauge fields. Such phenomena can teach us about the correspondence between smooth curved spacetime and its underlying non-commutative structure. However, unlike polarization by gauge fields, the gravitational counterpart involves concerns regarding the classical stability of the corresponding polarized states. In this work, we study this issue with respect to the solutions presented in hep-th/0010237 and find that they are classically unstable. The instability however appears with intricate features with all but a few decay channels being lifted. Through a detailed analysis, we then argue that these polarized states may be expected to be long-lived in a regime where the string coupling is small and the number of D0 branes is large.