Branes are physical objects in string theory that generalize the notion of a point particle to higher dimensions. They can have mass and attributes like charge, and are dynamical objects that propagate through spacetime according to quantum mechanics. Mathematically, branes can be represented categorically and studied for insights into noncommutative geometry and homological mirror symmetry. Important classes of branes include p-branes, which sweep out (p+1)-dimensional volumes, and D-branes, where open strings attach and their dynamics are described by gauge theory.
Branes are physical objects in string theory that generalize the notion of a point particle to higher dimensions. They can have mass and attributes like charge, and are dynamical objects that propagate through spacetime according to quantum mechanics. Mathematically, branes can be represented categorically and studied for insights into noncommutative geometry and homological mirror symmetry. Important classes of branes include p-branes, which sweep out (p+1)-dimensional volumes, and D-branes, where open strings attach and their dynamics are described by gauge theory.
Branes are physical objects in string theory that generalize the notion of a point particle to higher dimensions. They can have mass and attributes like charge, and are dynamical objects that propagate through spacetime according to quantum mechanics. Mathematically, branes can be represented categorically and studied for insights into noncommutative geometry and homological mirror symmetry. Important classes of branes include p-branes, which sweep out (p+1)-dimensional volumes, and D-branes, where open strings attach and their dynamics are described by gauge theory.
Branes are physical objects in string theory that generalize the notion of a point particle to higher dimensions. They can have mass and attributes like charge, and are dynamical objects that propagate through spacetime according to quantum mechanics. Mathematically, branes can be represented categorically and studied for insights into noncommutative geometry and homological mirror symmetry. Important classes of branes include p-branes, which sweep out (p+1)-dimensional volumes, and D-branes, where open strings attach and their dynamics are described by gauge theory.
In string theory and related theories such as supergravity
theories, a brane is a physical object that general- izes the notion of a point particle to higher dimen- sions. Branes are dynamical objects which can propagate through spacetime according to the rules of quantum me- chanics. They have mass and can have other attributes such as charge. Mathematically, branes can be represented within categories, and are studied in pure mathematics for insight into homological mirror symmetry and Open strings attached to a pair of D-branes noncommutative geometry.
in the standard model of particle physics. This connec-
1 p-branes tion has led to important insights into gauge theory and quantum field theory. For example, it led to the discovery A point particle can be viewed as a brane of dimension of the AdS/CFT correspondence, a theoretical tool that zero, while a string can be viewed as a brane of dimension physicists use to translate difficult problems in gauge the- one. ory into more mathematically tractable problems in string theory.[4] In addition to point particles and strings, it is possible to consider higher-dimensional branes. A p-dimensional brane is generally called "p-brane”. The word “brane” comes from the word “membrane” which refers to a two- 3 Categorical description dimensional brane.[1] A p-brane sweeps out a (p+1)-dimensional volume in Mathematically, branes can be described using the notion spacetime called its worldvolume. Physicists often study of a category.[5] This is a mathematical structure con- fields analogous to the electromagnetic field, which live on sisting of objects, and for any pair of objects, a set of the worldvolume of a brane.[2] morphisms between them. In most examples, the objects are mathematical structures (such as sets, vector spaces, or topological spaces) and the morphisms are functions 2 D-branes between these structures.[6] One can also consider cate- gories where the objects are D-branes and the morphisms between two branes α and β are states of open strings Main article: D-brane stretched between α and β .[7] In one version of string theory known as the topological In string theory, a string may be open (forming a segment B-model, the D-branes are complex submanifolds of with two endpoints) or closed (forming a closed loop). D- certain six-dimensional shapes called Calabi–Yau man- branes are an important class of branes that arise when ifolds, together with additional data that arise physically one considers open strings. As an open string propagates from having charges at the endpoints of strings.[8] Intu- through spacetime, its endpoints are required to lie on a itively, one can think of a submanifold as a surface em- D-brane. The letter “D” in D-brane refers to Dirichlet bedded inside of a Calabi–Yau manifold, although sub- boundary condition, which the D-brane satisfies.[3] manifolds can also exist in dimensions different from One crucial point about D-branes is that the dynamics on two.[9] In mathematical language, the category having the D-brane worldvolume is described by a gauge the- these branes as its objects is known as the derived cat- ory, a kind of highly symmetric physical theory which is egory of coherent sheaves on the Calabi–Yau.[10] In an- also used to describe the behavior of elementary particles other version of string theory called the topological A-
1 2 6 REFERENCES
• M5-brane • NS5-brane
5 Notes [1] Moore 2005, p. 214
[2] Moore 2005, p. 214
[3] Moore 2005, p. 215
[4] Moore 2005, p. 215
[5] Aspinwall et al. 2009
[6] A basic reference on category theory is Mac Lane 1998.
[7] Zaslow 2008, p. 536
[8] Zaslow 2008, p. 536
A cross section of a Calabi–Yau manifold [9] Yau and Nadis 2010, p. 165
[10] Aspinwal et al. 2009, p. 575
model, the D-branes can again be viewed as submani- [11] Aspinwal et al. 2009, p. 575 folds of a Calabi–Yau manifold. Roughly speaking, they are what mathematicians call special Lagrangian subman- [12] Yau and Nadis 2010, p. 175 ifolds.[11] This means among other things that they have [13] Aspinwal et al. 2009, p. 575 half the dimension of the space in which they sit, and they are length-, area-, or volume-minimizing.[12] The cate- [14] Yau and Nadis 2010, pp. 180–1 gory having these branes as its objects is called the Fukaya [15] Zaslow 2008, p. 531 category.[13] [16] Aspinwall et al. 2009, p. 616 The derived category of coherent sheaves is constructed using tools from complex geometry, a branch of math- [17] Yau and Nadis 2010, p. 181 ematics that describes geometric curves in algebraic terms and solves geometric problems using algebraic equations.[14] On the other hand, the Fukaya category 6 References is constructed using symplectic geometry, a branch of mathematics that arose from studies of classical physics. • Aspinwall, Paul; Bridgeland, Tom; Craw, Alastair; Symplectic geometry studies spaces equipped with a Douglas, Michael; Gross, Mark; Kapustin, Anton; symplectic form, a mathematical tool that can be used Moore, Gregory; Segal, Graeme; Szendröi, Balázs; to compute area in two-dimensional examples.[15] Wilson, P.M.H., eds. (2009). Dirichlet Branes and The homological mirror symmetry conjecture of Maxim Mirror Symmetry. American Mathematical Society. Kontsevich states that the derived category of coherent ISBN 978-0-8218-3848-8. sheaves on one Calabi–Yau manifold is equivalent in a • Mac Lane, Saunders (1998). Categories for the certain sense to the Fukaya category of a completely Working Mathematician. ISBN 978-0-387-98403- different Calabi–Yau manifold.[16] This equivalence pro- 2. vides an unexpected bridge between two branches of ge- ometry, namely complex and symplectic geometry.[17] • Moore, Gregory (2005). “What is ... a Brane?" (PDF). Notices of the AMS. 52: 214. Retrieved June 2013. Check date values in: |access-date= (help) 4 See also • Yau, Shing-Tung; Nadis, Steve (2010). The Shape of Inner Space: String Theory and the Geometry of • Black brane the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02023-2. • Brane cosmology • Zaslow, Eric (2008). “Mirror Symmetry”. In Gow- • Dirac membrane ers, Timothy. The Princeton Companion to Mathe- matics. ISBN 978-0-691-11880-2. • M2-brane 3
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