Motivated by a physical interpretation of its correlation functions as membrane scattering amplitudes, we re-address whether the Lorentzian BLG theory can be quantized such that it preserves SO(8) superconformal symmetry. We find that this appears to be possible. While the model seems to adequately reproduce protected quantities such as chiral primary amplitudes and the four derivative effective action, we conclude that, as understood at present, it gives a relatively unpractical parametrization of the IR dynamics of M2-branes.
In this note we investigate quantum aspects of the newly proposed theory of multiple membranes put forward by Bagger and Lambert. In particular we analyse the possibility of a finite renormalisation of the coupling at one loop.
In this note, we discuss membrane scattering from the three dimensional N=8 superconformal theory with SO(8) global symmetry constructed by Bagger-Lambert and Gustavsson. We discuss whether the one loop effective potential consistently reproduces the Newton potential of membranes moving in an eleven dimensional orbifold space.
Membrane scattering in m(atrix) theory is related to dynamics in three-dimensional $SU(2)$ gauge theory, with transfer of $p^{11}$ being an instanton process. We calculate the instanton amplitude and find precise agreement with the amplitude in eleven dimensional supergravity.
We compute the tree-level potential between two parallel $p$-branes due to the exchange of scalars, gravitons and $(p+1)$-forms. In the case of BPS membranes in 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ supergravity, this provides an interesting reinterpretation of the classical Cremmer et al. formula for the F-term scalar potential in terms of scalar, graviton and 3-form exchange. In this way, we present a correspondence between the scalar potential at every point in scalar field space and a system of two interacting BPS membranes. This could potentially lead to interesting implications for the swampland program by…
Two topological issues on membranes in M-theory are studied: (1) Soliton is an important subject in M-theory. Under the framework of obstruction theory with the help from framed links in $S^3$, we give a complete enumeration of topological membrane solitons in a string-admissible target-space of the form a product of Minkowskian space-times, tori, and K3-surfaces. Patching of these solitons and their topological charges are also defined and discussed. (2) Loop order of membrane scatterings is the basis for a perturbative M-theory. We explore this concept with emphases on its distinct features …
We study membrane scattering in a curved space with non-zero M-momentum p_{11} transfer. In the low-energy short-distance region, the membrane dynamics is described by a three-dimensional N=4 supersymmetric gauge theory. We study an n-instanton process of the gauge theory, corresponding to the exchange of n units of p_{11}, and compare the result with the scattering amplitude computed in the low-energy long-distance region using supergravity. We find that they behave differently. We show that this result is not in contradiction with the large-N Matrix Theory conjecture, by pointing out that cu…
In this note we discuss various classical membrane solutions in AdS$_4$ spacetime: simple embeddings given by polynomials in ambient space, solutions with non-linear waves, and piecewise linear solutions.
Mass deformations of supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories in three spacetime dimensions are considered. The gluons of the theories are made massive by the inclusion of a non-local gauge and Poincare invariant mass term due to Alexanian and Nair, while the matter fields are given standard Gaussian mass-terms. It is shown that the dimensional reduction of such mass deformed gauge theories defined on $R^3$ or $R\times T^2$ produces matrix quantum mechanics with massive spectra. In particular, all known massive matrix quantum mechanical models obtained by the deformations of dimensional reductions o…
In this note, we have extended the result of \citep{radiation} to calculate the membrane stress tensor up to ${\cal O}\left(\frac{1}{D}\right)$ localized on the codimension-one membrane world volume propagating in asymptotically at/AdS/dS space-time. We have shown that the subleading order membrane equation follows from the conservation equation of this stress tensor.
This note covers various aspects of recent attempts to describe membranes ending on fivebranes using fuzzy geometry. In particular, we examine the Basu-Harvey equation and its relation to the Nahm equation as well as the consequences of using a non-associative algebra for the fuzzy three-sphere. This produces the tantalising result that the fuzzy funnel solution corresponding to Q coincident membranes ending on a five-brane has $Q^{3/2}$ degrees of freedom.
The motion of test membranes on which the group $G$ of isometries of a spacetime $M$ acts has been considered in general settings. It has been shown that the configuration of Nambu-Goto membranes is described by the Nambu-Goto membranes in the quotient manifold $M/G$ with an appropriate projected metric if (i) $G$ is Abelian, (ii) $G$ is semisimple and compact, or (iii) the orthogonal distribution of the orbit of $G$ is integrable, but in general not. It has also been shown that a similar result holds when the membranes couple with scalar maps or differential form fields.
These lecture notes introduce the multiple membrane theories known as BLG and ABJM. We assume the reader is familiar with string theory, but not with M-theory, 11-dimensional supergravity or membranes. We therefore start with a background on M-theory and its extended objects before discussing BLG and ABJM. The link to string theory via dimensional reduction will be maintained throughout.
We re-examine the question of the stability of quantum supermembranes. In the past, the instability of supermembranes was established by using a regulator, i.e. approximating the membrane by SU(N) super Yang-Mills theory and letting $N \rightarrow \infty$. In this paper, we (a) show that the instability persists even if we directly examine the continuum theory (b) give heuristic arguments that even a theory of unstable membranes at the Planck length may still be compatible with experiment (c) resolve a certain puzzling discrepancy between earlier works on the stability of supermembranes. Prese…
In this note we study M5-branes in the multiple membrane action which is recently proposed by Aharony-Bergman-Jafferis-Maldacena. We write down the N=6 supersymmetry transformation of the action and obtain 1/2 BPS equations and their solutions. They are expected to represent membranes ending on a M5-brane. We also consider the M5-M2 bound state in the action.
In the first half of this note, after briefly motivating and reviewing membrane field theories, we consider their BPS funnel solutions. We discuss some aspects of embedding M-theory fuzzy funnels in these theories. In the second half, we focus on ABJM theory and explain a test of AdS4/CFT3 based on integrability. We discuss a numerical mismatch at one loop in worldsheet perturbation theory and its possible resolutions.
We discuss the low-energy dynamics of generalized extremal higher membrane black hole solutions of string theory and higher membrane theories following Manton's prescription for multi-soliton solutions. A flat metric is found for those solutions which possess $κ$-symmetry on the worldvolume.
We study the membrane scattering in the three-dimensional N=6 supersymmetric Chern-Simons theory recently constructed by Aharony, Bergman, Jafferis and Maldacena and conjectured to be dual to M-theory on $AdS_4 \times S^7/Z_k$. We compute the one-loop effective action up to the $v^4$ terms in the derivative expansion and find exact agreement with the results from the supergravity computations. In particular, our results imply that the $v^2$ term is not renormalized and tree-level exact.
In this note, it is shown that closed string graviton scattering amplitudes obey the same subleading soft limit as field theory graviton scattering amplitudes. The result is derived using a combination of recent results and methods including the subleading soft expansion for type I open string gluon disk scattering amplitudes, the single value projection for multiple $ζ$ values, and the KLT relations in field and string theory.
We study BPS dominated loop amplitudes in M-theory on T^2. For this purpose we generalize the concept of helicity supertraces to nine spacetime dimensions. These traces distinguish between various massive supermultiplets and appear as coefficients in their one-loop contributions to n-graviton scattering amplitudes. This can be used to show that only ultrashort BPS multiplets contribute to the R^4 term in the effective action, which was first computed by Green, Gutperle and Vanhove. There are two inequivalent ultrashort BPS multiplets which describe the Kaluza-Klein states and the wrapped membr…
We compute the simplest one-loop planar amplitudes in Higgsed ABJM theory at a generic point of the moduli space. We explicitly check that they can be expressed in terms of integrals which are invariant under dual conformal symmetry involving masses, in a similar fashion as in N=4 SYM.
We develop an operator formalism to compute scattering amplitudes of arbitrary bosonic string states in the background of many D-branes. Specifically, we construct a suitable boundary state which we use to saturate the multi-Reggeon vertex in order to obtain the generator of multi-membrane scattering amplitudes. We explicitly show that the amplitudes with $h$ parallel D-branes are similar to amplitudes with $h-1$ open string loops.
In the CHY-frame for the amplitudes, there are two kinds of singularities we need to deal with. The first one is the pole singularities when the kinematics is not general, such that some of $S_A\to 0$. The second one is the collapse of locations of points after solving scattering equations (i.e., the singular solutions). These two types of singularities are tightly related to each other, but the exact mapping is not well understood. In this paper, we have initiated the systematic study of the mapping. We have demonstrated the different mapping patterns using three typical situations, i.e., the…
We study bosonic closed string scattering amplitudes in the high-energy limit. We find that the methods of decoupling of high-energy zero-norm states and the high-energy Virasoro constraints, which were adopted in the previous works to calculate the ratios among high-energy open string scattering amplitudes of different string states, persist for the case of closed string. However, we clarify the previous saddle-point calculation for high-energy open string scattering amplitudes and claim that only (t,u) channel of the amplitudes is suitable for saddle-point calculation. We then discuss three …
We describe a way to compute scattering amplitudes in M(atrix) quantum mechanics, that involve the transverse five-brane. We then compute certain scattering processes and show that they have the expected SO(5) invariance, give the correct transverse-five-brane mass, and agree with the supergravity result.
We compute the S-matrix, for the scattering of two string states, on a noncommutative D3-brane in a path integral formalism. Our analysis attempts to resolve the issue of ``imaginary string'', originally raised by `t Hooft in a point-particle scattering at Planck energy, by incorporating a notion of signature change on an emerging semi-classical D-string in the theory.
We study the Regge and hard scattering limits of the one-loop amplitude for massless open string states in the type I theory. For hard scattering we find the exact coefficient multiplying the known exponential falloff in terms of the scattering angle, without relying on a saddle point approximation for the integration over the cross ratio. This bypasses the issues of estimating the contributions from flat directions, as well as those that arise from fluctuations of the gaussian integration about a saddle point. This result allows for a straightforward computation of the small- angle behavior o…
In these notes we use the recently found relation between facets of tropical Grassmannians and generalizations of Feynman diagrams to compute all "biadjoint amplitudes" for $n=7$ and $k=3$. We also study scattering equations on $X(3,7)$, the configuration space of seven points on $\mathbb{CP}^2$. We prove that the number of solutions is $1272$ in a two-step process. In the first step we obtain $1162$ explicit solutions to high precision using near-soft kinematics. In the second step we compute the matrix of $360\times 360$ biadjoint amplitudes obtained by using the facets of ${\rm Trop}\, G(3,…
