Brane Gas Cosmology, M-theory and Little String Theory

TL;DR

This paper extends brane gas cosmology to M-theory, showing how brane intersections and little string theory dynamics can naturally lead to a 3+1 dimensional universe.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism involving M5 and M2 brane intersections and little string theory to explain the emergence of a 3+1 dimensional spacetime in M-theory.

Findings

Brane intersections can produce a large 4D spacetime instead of 6D.

LST thermodynamics corresponds to membrane gas behavior in M-theory.

A proposed annihilation mechanism favors a 3+1 dimensional universe.

Abstract

We generalize the Brane Gas Cosmological Scenario to M-theory degrees of freedom, namely $M5$ and $M2$ branes. Without brane intersections, the Brandenberger Vafa(BV) arguments applied to M-theory degrees of freedom generically predict a large 6 dimensional spacetime. We show that intersections of $M5$ and $M2$ branes can instead lead to a large 4 dimensional spacetime. One dimensional intersections in 11D is related to (2,0) little strings (LST) on NS5 branes in type IIA. The gas regime of membranes in M-theory corresponds to the thermodynamics of LST obtained from holography. We propose a mechanism whereby LST living on the worldvolume of NS5 (M5)-branes wrapping a five dimensional torus, annihilate most efficiently in 3+1 dimensions leading to a large 3+1 dimensional spacetime. We also show that this picture is consistent with the gas approximation in M-theory.