Brane Creation in M(atrix) Theory

TL;DR

This paper explores membrane creation in M(atrix) theory during five-brane crossings, linking it to off-diagonal degrees of freedom and fermionic zero modes, revealing insights into brane interactions and charge fractionalization.

Contribution

It demonstrates the connection between membrane creation and off-diagonal degrees of freedom, relating duality, zero modes, and fractional charges in brane systems.

Findings

Membrane creation occurs during five-brane crossings in M(atrix) theory.

Off-diagonal degrees of freedom are linked to fermionic zero modes and charge fractionalization.

Zero mode contributions dominate the potential at short distances between branes.

Abstract

We discuss, in the context of M(atrix) theory, the creation of a membrane suspendend between two longitudinal five-branes when they cross each other. It is shown that the membrane creation is closely related to the degrees of freedom in the off-diagonal blocks which are related via dualities to the chiral fermionic zero mode on a 0-8 string. In the dual system of a D0-brane and a D8-brane in type \IIA theory the half-integral charges associated with the ``half''-strings are found to be connected to the well-known fermion-number fractionalization in the presence of a fermionic zero mode. At sufficiently short distances, the effective potential between the two five-branes is dominated by the zero mode contribution to the vacuum energy.